如果民主党人夺回众议院控制权，他们表示已准备好在人权问题上向以色列发起挑战。长期以来，这一议题一直是该党面临的挑战，它使坚定的以色列捍卫者与批评以色列对待巴勒斯坦人方式的自由派议员产生了对立。民主党领导层一直极力避免提出可能凸显这些分歧的立法。但随着中期选举临近，民主党有望赢得众议院控制权，党内领导人现在表示，他们正准备在巴勒斯坦自治和更广泛的人权问题上，与以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡正面交锋。
If they flip the House, Democrats say they’re ready to confront Israel on human rights. The issue has long challenged the party, pitting staunch Israel defenders against more liberal lawmakers critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Democratic leaders have taken pains to avoid legislation that might highlight those divisions. But heading into the midterms, when Democrats are expected to win control of the lower chamber, party leaders now say they’re preparing to confront head-on Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, when it comes to Palestinian autonomy and broader issues of human rights.
如果众议院易主，有望成为议长的众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯（纽约州民主党人）指出，民主党打算解决的一个具体领域是：约旦河西岸定居者暴力事件的抬头。“这种情况不能再继续下去了，”杰弗里斯上周在国会大厦对记者说。杰弗里斯及其高级副手——众议员凯瑟琳·克拉克（马萨诸塞州）和皮特·阿吉拉尔（加利福尼亚州）——都支持一项法案，该法案将对任何在被占领的约旦河西岸参与暴力活动的人实施经济制裁，并禁止他们进入美国。
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who’s in line to become Speaker if the House changes hands, is pointing to one area in particular that Democrats intend to tackle: the rise of settler violence in the West Bank. “That cannot continue,” Jeffries told reporters last week in the Capitol. Jeffries and his top deputies — Reps. Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Pete Aguilar (Calif.) — have all endorsed a bill that would slap economic sanctions on anyone who engages in violence in the occupied West Bank, while barring them from entering the United States.
这项由知名犹太裔议员、众议员杰里·纳德勒（纽约州民主党人）发起的提案，已获得174名众议院民主党人的正式支持。杰弗里斯暗示，如果民主党明年控制众议院，这将成为优先事项。“它在众议院民主党党团大家庭中得到了广泛支持，这无疑是应该考虑采取的一项立法举措，旨在积极反击约旦河西岸失控的定居者暴力行为，”他说。
Sponsored by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), a prominent Jewish lawmaker, the proposal is formally endorsed by 174 House Democrats, and Jeffries suggested it would be a priority next year if Democrats control the chamber. “[It] has broad support across the House Democratic Caucus family [and] is certainly a legislative step that should be considered in order to push back aggressively against the out-of-control settler violence in the West Bank,” he said.
这些言论反映出国会山政治格局的剧烈转变，在这里，捍卫美国在中东最亲密的盟友以色列，曾一度被两党绝大多数议员视为神圣不可侵犯的原则。
The remarks reflect a stark shift in the politics of Capitol Hill, where the defense of Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, was once viewed as sacrosanct for a vast majority of lawmakers in both parties.
在内塔尼亚胡的执政期间，这种情况发生了变化。内塔尼亚胡是一位保守派政治家，他组建了以色列历史上最右翼的政府联盟——该联盟反对建立巴勒斯坦国，并主张在占领区建设定居点，以此作为阻碍巴勒斯坦国家成立的手段。自2023年10月哈马斯对以色列发动恐怖袭击以来（那次袭击导致约1200人死亡、250人被绑架），以色列在占领区的定居点建设速度进一步加快。
That has changed under the tenure of Netanyahu, a conservative who has assembled the most right-wing governing coalition in the nation’s history — one that opposes a Palestinian state and promotes settlements in the occupied territories as a barrier to creating one. The construction has only accelerated since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel in October 2023, when the group killed roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more.
民主党人虽然迅速支持以色列的自卫权，但也谴责了内塔尼亚胡的激进反应；这种反应已在加沙地带造成超过7万人死亡，并加速了约旦河西岸新的定居点建设。这些发展甚至促使一些以色列民主党人的坚定支持者开始支持纳德勒提出的制裁法案，其中包括最近签署该法案的众议员斯坦尼·霍耶（Steny Hoyer，来自马里兰州）和洛伊丝·弗兰克尔（Lois Frankel，来自佛罗里达州）。
Democrats are quick to advocate for Israel’s right to self-defense. But they’ve also condemned Netanyahu’s aggressive response, which has killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza while accelerating new settlement construction in the West Bank. The developments have caused even some of Israel’s most vocal Democratic supporters to endorse Nadler’s sanctions bill, including the two most recent signatures: Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.).
“这清楚地表明了当前的政治风向，”反对以色列定居点的组织J Street的政府事务副总裁汉娜·莫里斯（Hannah Morris）说道。“在内塔尼亚胡这个极右翼政府的领导下，以色列定居点的扩张速度实在令人震惊，”她补充道，“民主党人很清楚必须制止这种趋势，而且许多错误行为必须得到纠正。”这项立法的出台，正是为了应对近年来以色列在约旦河西岸定居点规模的爆炸性增长——这种扩张行为得到了内塔尼亚胡及其极右翼政府的支持，完全无视国际法。
“It certainly just tells you where the winds are blowing,” Hannah Morris, vice president of government affairs at J Street, a pro-Israel group that opposes the settlements, said of the latest endorsements. “We have seen such a rapid growth in outposts during the period of this far-right Netanyahu government,” she added. “And Democrats rightly understand that there has to be a stop to this, and a lot of this has to be reversed.”The legislation comes in response to the explosive growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank in recent years, which has been backed by Netanyahu and his far-right governing coalition in defiance of international law.
一些反对以色列定居点的组织一直在密切关注这些动向。根据这些组织的统计，仅去年一年，以色列就在约旦河西岸新建了约2.8万套住房单元，这一数字是此前年度记录的两倍多。最近，以色列官员还在推进另一个极具争议的定居点项目（名为“E-1”），该项目实际上会将约旦河西岸的大片地区与东耶路撒冷分隔开来。
Several Israeli anti-settlement groups monitor those expansions. By their count, Israeli settlers advanced roughly 28,000 new housing units in the West Bank last year alone, more than doubling the previous annual record. More recently, Israeli officials are moving on another highly controversial settlement project, known as E-1, that would effectively detach much of the West Bank from East Jerusalem.
新建筑的建设引发了定居者对巴勒斯坦人的暴力行为激增。根据联合国的数据，2025年1月至2026年6月期间，共有2,803起定居者袭击事件，导致巴勒斯坦人伤亡或财产损失。在同一时期，有295名巴勒斯坦人被以色列定居者或以色列军队杀害，而18名以色列人则被巴勒斯坦人杀害。大多数民主党人认为，这些定居点实际上是对巴勒斯坦人土地的非法侵占，这破坏了通过建立巴勒斯坦自治国家来实现和平协议的希望；他们认为这才是实现持久和平的唯一途径。
The new construction has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence against Palestinians. Between January 2025 and June 2026, there were 2,803 recorded instances of settler attacks that led to Palestinian casualties, the destruction of property, or both, according to the United Nations. Over the same span, 295 Palestinians were killed by either Israeli settlers or military forces, the U.N. found, while 18 Israelis were killed by Palestinians.
杰弗里斯表示：“我支持以色列作为一个犹太民主国家的存在权利，但我们也必须认识到：建立巴勒斯坦国家、让巴勒斯坦人民获得应有的尊严和自决权，同样是一项至关重要的任务。我认为这种观点在众议院民主党内部得到了广泛认同。”反对这些定居点的并不只是民主党人。本周在参议院，四位民主党议员——克里斯·库恩斯（特拉华州）、鲁本·加列戈（亚利桑那州）、罗恩·怀登（俄勒冈州）和伊丽莎白·沃伦（马萨诸塞州）——提出了立法，旨在制裁任何参与E-1项目开发的公司。
库恩斯在一份声明中称：“当巴勒斯坦平民面临极端主义定居者的破坏和恐吓时，美国必须明确表示：这种行为是不可接受的，并且美国仍然致力于保障所有以色列人和巴勒斯坦人的自由、安全与繁荣，以及他们的自决权。”以色列官员则为他们对哈马斯袭击的强硬回应进行了辩护，他们认为以色列的生存直接取决于能否消除来自地区敌人的威胁。
Most Democrats say the settlements represent a simple theft of real estate, undermining the prospects of a negotiated peace agreement founded on the creation of an autonomous Palestinian state, which they see as the only path to a lasting deal. “I support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state,” Jeffries said. “And we need to lean into the notion that creating a Palestinian state — so that the Palestinian people can achieve the dignity and self-determination that they long deserve — needs to be a twin priority. “And I think that's a view broadly shared within the House Democratic Caucus.” House Democrats are not alone in pushing back against the settlements. In the Senate this week, four Democrats — Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Ruben Gallego (Ariz.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) — introduced legislation to sanction any company involved in the development of the E-1 project. “As Palestinian civilians face a campaign of devastation and fear from violent extremist settlers, the United States must send a strong message that this behavior is unacceptable and that it remains committed to freedom, security, prosperity and self-determination for all Israelis and Palestinians,” Coons said in a statement. Israeli officials have defended their aggressive response to the Hamas attacks, arguing that the country’s very existence hinges on the alleviation of the threats posed by regional enemies. Netanyahu amplified those positions during this past week’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he lashed out at critics who are questioning his handling of Gaza and the West Bank. "They accuse Israel, tiny Israel, of colonialism,” he said.
内塔尼亚胡在过去一周出席纽约联合国大会期间强化了这些立场，并猛烈抨击了质疑他处理加沙和西岸事务方式的批评者。“他们指责以色列，这个小小的以色列，搞殖民主义，”他说。“是谁在指责我们？其中就包括英国和法国的人。看在上帝的份上，这个词可是他们发明的。”尽管如此，许多代表在他演讲开始时离场，这表明以色列正面临日益严重的全球孤立。
“And who's accusing us? Among them are people in Britain and in France. For God's sake, they invented the term.”Still, in a sign that Israel is facing growing isolation globally, many delegates walked out at the start of his speech. And President Trump, who spoke at the event earlier in the week, was not even in New York during Netanyahu’s speech.
而本周早些时候在会上发言的特朗普总统，在内塔尼亚胡演讲时甚至不在纽约。两人曾是亲密的盟友，但随着由美国和以色列共同发起、却已比特朗普承诺的时间多拖延了数月的伊朗战争持续进行，他们的关系变得紧张起来。
The two have been close allies, but those relations have become strained amid the ongoing Iran war, which was launched jointly by the United States and Israel but has since dragged on months longer than Trump had promised.