<p class="wp-block-paragraph">House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stated on Wednesday that Democrats should consider legislation aimed at reducing violence in the West Bank and imposing sanctions on those responsible if they regain control of the House in November.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The West Bank Violence Prevention Act, sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), would authorize sanctions against any foreign individual deemed to be threatening U.S. national security and “undermining prospects” for a “two-state solution” between Israel and the West Bank “by committing illegal violent acts.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jeffries mentioned to reporters that the legislation has “broad support across the House Democratic Caucus family” and indicated it is “certainly a legislative step that should be considered in order to push back aggressively against the out-of-control settler violence in the West Bank that cannot continue.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Nadler introduced the legislation in 2025 following Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to the United States, during which Nadler accused Ben-Gvir of being an “inciter-in-chief of settler violence in the West Bank.” The bill aims to codify a similar executive order issued by former President Joe Biden that was later repealed by President Donald Trump.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jeffries’s statement regarding the potential legislation comes amid divisions among Democrats concerning support for Israel and the situation in Gaza, particularly from the party’s left wing.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Jeffries acknowledged the existence of “a host of other challenges that need to be resolved in the Middle East” and emphasized that a resolution should be “anchored in two different principles.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“One, we support — I support — Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, and support Israel’s ability to live side by side in peace and prosperity with a Palestinian state,” Jeffries stated. “And we need to lean into the notion that creating a Palestinian state so that the Palestinian people can achieve the dignity and self-determination that they long deserved needs to be a twin priority, and I think that’s a view broadly shared within the House Democratic Caucus.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The consideration of the legislation follows Jeffries’s opposition to an amendment to an annual foreign affairs spending bill that sought to cut off aid to Israel in July, a measure supported by more than 100 Democrats.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">At that time, Jeffries wrote in a letter to his colleagues that the amendment was “overly broad” and could restrict “humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and U.S. embassy operations.”</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">After the vote, Jeffries denied that there was tension within his caucus regarding the amendment.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">If Democrats regain control of the House in November and Jeffries becomes Speaker, he will face a larger left flank that is more vocal in its opposition to Israel than he currently encounters.</p>