Israeli forces block Palestinian farmers harvesting olives in Sa’ir, near Hebron. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
Hello, my name is Mahmoud El‑Yousseph. I am a retired U.S. Air Force veteran and a 50‑year resident of central Ohio.
I am writing to urge you — U.S. Representative Joyce Birdson Beatty and Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted — to take immediate action in response to the escalating violence against Palestinians in the Israeli‑occupied West Bank.
In recent weeks, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and settlers have intensified attacks on Palestinian communities, including the killing of seven‑month‑old Sam Abu Haikal, who was shot and killed by the IDF while riding in a car with his parents near Hebron.
The Leahy Laws prohibit the U.S. government from providing military assistance to foreign security forces that are credibly implicated in gross human rights violations, including torture and extrajudicial killings. Israel meets these criteria.
Israeli Settler Violence Is Increasing in the West Bank
According to reporting from The Guardian, Israel’s army has increasingly become a vehicle for violent settlers to escalate attacks against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, with reserve units drawn from settlements functioning as vigilante militias. Source: The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/30/settler-only-idf-units-functioning-as-vigilante-militias-in-west-bank
How the Leahy Laws Apply to U.S. Support for Israel
NPR host Leila Fadel recently reported: “As Palestinians in Gaza live with daily bombardments, mass displacement, and widespread hunger, there are growing calls for the U.S. to stop or condition military aid and weapons supplies to Israel over its conduct in this war.”
As an American citizen, I do not want my tax dollars to fund what I view as genocide, ethnic cleansing, land theft, imprisonment, torture, rape, and the harvesting of organs and skin from Palestinians by Israel.
I urge my U.S. Representative and Senators to:
- Vote NO on the U.S.–Israel FUTURES Act and any similar measures that deepen military cooperation with Israel.
- Support sanctions on violent Israeli settlers and on U.S. organizations that enable or fund them.
- Publicly condemn settlement expansion and escalating settler violence in the West Bank.
I would also like to know where you stand on the issue of Israeli forces and settlers terrorizing Palestinians daily in the West Bank.
I look forward to your response.
secondary caption: Israeli forces and armed settlers guard a bulldozer reportedly operating on Palestinian lands as local Palestinian landowners (unseen) gather in protest against land confiscations near the village of Dura, west of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on June 9, 2026 [Hazem Bader/AFP]
Mahmoud El‑Yousseph Palestinian freelance writer and retired U.S. Air Force veteran Writes on U.S. foreign policy, Middle East affairs, and justice Email: elyousseph6@yahoo.com
