H.R. 7545 - The Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act
H.R. 7545, The Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act. was introduced on February 13 2026 by Representative Betty McCollum (D-MN). It is currently pending before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and has 14 co-sponsors on a partyline basis.
Related legislation:
Bill Summary: H.R. 7545 is a modified version of a Bill REP McCollum has introduced in each of the last four Congresses. It would prohibit the use of U.S. funding in the Occupied West Bank for the military detention, abuse, or ill treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention; the seizure and destruction of Palestinian property and homes in violation of international humanitarian law; or any assistance or support for unilateral annexation of Palestinian lands in violation of international humanitarian law. The Bill requires an annual certification that no U.S. funds provided to the Government of Israel have been used to support any of these activities, or if they have, how. The Bill also requires annual reporting by the U.S. Government on mistreatment of Palestinian children by Israeli forces; a description of Israeli seizures or destruction of Palestinian property in the West Bank; and, a description of Israeli settlement activities. It tasks the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report to Congress on how funds provided for Offshore Procurement (i.e. U.S. grant assistance spent by Israel on its own industrial base) have been used, and the associated end use monitoring requirements implicated by such funding; as well as, the impact of offshore procurement on Israel's defense budget and domestic economy, and whether that funding has supported illegal settlement activity.
Context: Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank has not only provided a cover for - indeed, an enablement of - illegal settlement expansion; it has also come at an immense cost to Palestinian children, thousands of whom have been held without charge under Administrative detention in conditions that are far below international standards. There have been repeated reports, rising to the level of systemic allegations, of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse of underage Palestinian detainees. Meanwhile, Israeli security forces have repeatedly not only been complicit in settler attacks resulting in the destruction of Palestinian homes and infrastructure, but also in the direct demolition of Palestinian homes in acts of collective punishment that are violations of the Geneva Conventions. Given that Israel’s occupation is itself illegal under international law, the intent that no U.S. funds should be used to enable it - let alone to carry out the violations against Palestinian children and property the Bill also identifies - very clearly aligns with existing U.S. policy and legal frameworks.
With regards to the reporting requirements on Offshore Procurement (OSP), for decades the U.S. Government has permitted Israel to use some portion of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) it receives in support of its own defense industrial base, contributing to an Israeli defense industry that is now a top-ten global arms exporter, frequently in competition with U.S. industry, and creating a blindspot in U.S. end use monitoring requirements which may attach to some of the Israeli-manufactured end-items.
The tracing of how U.S. military assistance is used by Israel has been a longstanding problem for the U.S. Government, and one that Congress attempted (but failed) to address through the untraceable assistance provisions of the 2020 State & Foreign Operations Appropriations Act (et. seq). This challenge, combined with the fungibility of money and the potential for the Notwithstanding Authority in Section 614 of the Foreign Assistance Act to overcome at least some part of the requirements of this Bill are notable, but should not impact the reporting requirements of the Bill, nor in any way reduce the vital accountability and oversight that this legislation would introduce.
American Values Analysis: The torture and abuse of children in military detention patently contradicts the most basic of American values, and that U.S. taxpayer funds should not be used to carry out such acts should go without saying.
American Interest Analysis: The use of U.S. taxpayer funds to perpetuate acts of cruelty against children causes deep harm to the global credibility of the United States in any claim it may make to moral leadership, while the use of such funds to deprive Palestinians of their lands or property, and to carry on the occupation of the West Bank, run counter to U.S. interests in a just and lasting peace in the region, as well as to U.S. regional relationships. The use of FMF OSP to strengthen Israel’s defense industrial base complicates enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act, and undermines the U.S. defense industrial base.
A New Policy’s Recommendation: SUPPORT
A New Policy supports H.R. 7545 because it would reduce the complicity of the U.S. in a host of illegal actions by the Israeli security forces, most notably the detention and abuse of Palestinian children, which is not only a moral outrage, but, along with the occupation of the West Bank and the other harms it does to Palestinian residents, does significant harm to U.S. regional and global interests, and directly contradicts U.S. objectives of a just and lasting peace.
For more information please contact:Josh Paul, (202) 770-0055, info@anewpolicy.org
