H.R. 3045 - The West Bank Violence Prevention Act of 2025
H.R. 3045 was introduced on April 28 by Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY). It is currently pending before the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.
Related legislation: None
Bill Summary: H.R. 3045 is based on the Biden Administration’s Executive Order 14115, which was revoked on January 20th, 2025 by President Trump. It would require the President to impose sanctions on any foreign person determined as being involved in certain acts of violence in the West Bank, to include Israeli settlers and members of the Israeli government. Sanctions include asset blocking, and visa denials and revocations. The Bill includes a waiver provision and 90-day recurring report requirement.
Context: Attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank against the indigenous Palestinian population have spiked in recent years – before October 2023, that year had already become the deadliest for Palestinian children in the territory since the Oslo Accords of 1995, and the rate of attacks has increased since then, driven by a vicious combination of ideology with a continually reinforced sense of impunity. This violence is often designed to forcibly displace Palestinians from their homes, and its continuation and expansion weakens the legitimacy of Palestinian governance, helps the Government of Israel position itself for an annexation of the West Bank, and undermines U.S. goals of a just and lasting peace.
Executive Order 14115 was created to address escalating Israeli settler violence and destabilizing actions in the West Bank, which were deemed a serious threat to peace, security, and stability in the region, including the West Bank, Gaza, Israel, and the broader Middle East. As such, this legislation, like the Order it is based on, is designed both to discourage the continuation of such acts and their support by the Government of Israel, while also signaling a U.S. commitment to Palestinian safety and the broader global rule of law. Under the Executive Order, sanctions were applied against individual settlers, a corporation providing vehicles in support of settlement expansions, and a charitable organization funding the settlement enterprise. Under this legislation, any of these could be sanctioned, as well as settlement coordinating mechanisms (such as Settlement councils) and Government of Israel officials.
This legislation provides what may be to some a politically palatable alternative to designating certain settlers or settler organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), a tool already available under existing statute, and to some extent may serve to shield such entities from such designations, creating fractures among those in Congress who do wish to see more action taken against settler violence. At the same time, it provides a vehicle that may be acceptable to a wider range of Members of Congress in the current political environment, in part because it reflects an EO already directed and exercised by a sitting Democratic President.
In practice, this legislation, should it be adopted, would provide the President with a targeted capability to highlight and oppose the settler violence, settlement expansion, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank that is all inimical to a just and last peace.
American Values Analysis: This Bill reflects our founding values of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” by seeking to curb attacks on Palestinians in their homes and on their territory. It also aligns with American desires for peace and the rule of law.
American Interest Analysis: Increasing settler violence not only undermines America’s interest in a just and lasting resolution to the conflict, but also, in the absence of any tangible American steps to push Israel to end that violence, continues to damage American relations across the region and contribute to destabilization, particularly in the neighboring country of Jordan. Creating a specific tool to address this problem would demonstrate a more balanced approach on the part of the United States, would reduce a key driver of regional instability, and is in the U.S. national interest.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: SUPPORT
A New Policy supports H.R. 3045 because it creates a targeted mechanism for the President to address a type of political violence that is not only being directed against civilians, but which is undermining U.S. regional goals and broader U.S. national security.
A New Policy believes this Bill could be further perfected by providing a forcing function for the Presidential determination provided under Section 3, or by creating a mechanism for Congress to require such determinations, as it can under Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act.
For more information please contact: Josh Paul, (202) 770-0055, info@anewpolicy.org
