BIDDU, West Bank: When Sayfollah Musallet of Tampa, Florida, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the West Bank two weeks ago, he became the fourth Palestinian-American killed in the occupied territory since the war in Gaza began.
No one has been arrested or charged in Musallet’s slaying – and if Israel’s track record on the other three deaths is any guide, it seems unlikely to happen. Yet Musallet’s father and a growing number of US politicians want to flip the script.
“We demand justice,” Kamel Musallet said at his 20-year-old son’s funeral earlier this week. “We demand the US government do something about it.”
Still, Musallet and relatives of the other Palestinian-Americans say they doubt anyone will be held accountable, either by Israel or the US.
They believe the first word in their hyphenated identity undercuts the power of the second.
BACKGROUND
They believe the first word in their hyphenated identity undercuts the power of the second.
And they say Israel and its law enforcement have made them feel like culprits — by imposing travel bans and, in some cases, detaining and interrogating them.
Although the Trump administration has stopped short of promising investigations of its own, the US Embassy in Jerusalem has urged Israel to investigate the circumstances of each American’s death.
Writing on X on July 15, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he’d asked Israel to “aggressively investigate the murder” of Musallet and that “there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and 28 other Democratic senators have also called for an investigation.
In a letter this week to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi, they pointed to the “repeated lack of accountability” after the deaths of Musallet and other Americans killed in the West Bank.
Israel’s military, police and Shin Bet domestic security agency did not offer comment on the Palestinian-Americans’ deaths. Families have demanded independent investigations
American-born teenagers Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour were killed in early 2024 by Israeli fire while driving in the West Bank.
In April 2025, 14-year-old Amer Rabee, a New Jersey native, was shot in the head at least nine times by Israeli forces as he stood among a grove of green almond trees in his family’s village.
