Van Hollen accuses US Embassy in Israel of hiding killings of Americans

Sen. Chris Van Hollen accused the U.S. Embassy in Israel of hiding information about American citizens killed in the occupied West Bank and called for a Senate hearing, after a New York Times report on a senior aide to Ambassador Mike Huckabee.

“The American embassy in Israel is hiding information about the killing of American citizens,” Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said on X, accusing Huckabee and his point person of covering up the information to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. He urged the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing.

His remarks followed a New York Times investigation, based on 15 people who work with Huckabee aide David Milstein and on internal cables and memos, reporting that embassy staff had compiled a report on the status of Israel’s investigations into the deaths of nine U.S. citizens killed in the West Bank since 2022, and that Milstein pushed instead for a reply saying Israel was handling the cases properly.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem (file photo)

Nine Americans killed since 2022

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (file photo)

The most recent was Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a 19-year-old Palestinian American who was shot dead in February in the village of Mukhmas while trying to stop settlers from taking livestock. In March, Van Hollen and 30 other senators asked the State Department to press Israel for details on the cases; a resolution he introduced to require a report was rejected by the Senate 47-51.

In a letter to the senator, the State Department said the embassy was working with Israel to “ensure accountability for these deaths” and that its reduced staff had been focused on security cooperation during the Iran war. Huckabee and Milstein have not publicly responded to the allegations. The U.N. has recorded more than 1,600 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage in the West Bank this year.

Van Hollen accuses US Embassy in Israel of hiding killings of Americans