The US Has Opposed Settlements for Half a Century. This Bill Finally Means It.

For more than fifty years, American administrations of both parties have told Israel that settlement expansion is a problem. They have said it in press briefings, at the United Nations, and in private calls between presidents and prime ministers.

And for more than fifty years, the settlements have continued to grow.

Under the current Israeli government, they have expanded at an extraordinary pace. Since 2023, more than 100 new settlements have been advanced and 185 new outposts established. More than 58,000 housing units have been advanced, and nearly 26,000 dunams of land have been declared state land. The government is now moving to finalize construction in E-1, the corridor east of Jerusalem whose development would cut the West Bank in two and further isolate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

This is a systematic campaign of de facto annexation. And after decades of American expressions of concern, one thing is clear: expressions of concern have not stopped it.

The Stop the Settlements Act, introduced last week by Reps. Joaquin Castro, Madeleine Dean, Don Beyer, Greg Casar, Sara Jacobs and Veronica Escobar, along with dozens of their House colleagues, represents something different. It would move American policy from opposing settlement expansion in principle to imposing real costs on the people and businesses that are driving the annexation.

New Jewish Narrative is proud to support it.

This bill is unlike anything that came before because it for five reasons. 

First, it addresses that enterprise itself. One of the most significant American actions in recent years was President Biden’s 2024 executive order sanctioning violent settlers. It mattered, and we supported it. But settler violence and settlement expansion are not the same problem. Settlement expansion is a broader, systematic enterprise involving planning councils, government ministries, contractors, developers, and investors—much of it approved or facilitated by the Israeli government, and none of it requiring anyone to pick up a stone, a torch, or a rifle.

Second, it is mandatory and durable. President Biden’s order was revoked by the Trump administration on its first day in office with a single signature. This bill does not provide the president with that discretion. It requires the president to impose sanctions, including visa restrictions and asset freezes, subject to limited waivers. A future administration could not simply erase the policy with the stroke of a pen.

Third, Stop the Settlements Act also follows the money. Settlements are built with capital, and capital responds to risk. The bill directs the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network to issue guidance to banks on the activity it covers. That changes the calculation for every lender, developer, and investor deciding whether a project in the Occupied Territories is worth the risk. The choice becomes simple: build settlements and you risk your ability to do business in the United States. 

Fourth, the bill stops American markets from underwriting the settlement enterprise. It would prohibit the import of goods produced in settlements, bringing the United States closer to the approach taken by some of our closest allies. The United Kingdom has announced sanctions targeting West Bank settlements, while France, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and others have taken or announced measures of their own.

Fifth, and most importantly, the legislation draws a line that American policy has too often blurred: between Israel and the occupation.

This is not BDS. It does not target Israel, Israeli residents, or goods produced within Israel’s internationally recognized borders. It targets the settlement enterprise beyond the Green Line—the project that dispossesses Palestinians, forecloses the possibility of a viable Palestinian state, and with it any real chance of peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

As an Israeli-American who served in the IDF, I have spent my career arguing that opposing settlements is in Israel’s interest. This is one of the few pieces of legislation that gets that right.

Let’s be honest about the politics. This bill is not going  to become law in this Congress. But legislation does more than pass or fail. It establishes what is politically possible, and it sets the terms of the next debate. With the midterms four weeks away, the question for every House member who has said they oppose settlement expansion is now concrete: Do you mean it? Cosponsoring the Stop the Settlements Act is how a member of Congress answers yes.

For decades, American policymakers have opposed settlements, but their words were not backed up with meaningful actions. That failure has turned American opposition into a paper tiger. What does it look like when Congress gets serious about stopping settlements? It looks like the Stop the Settlements Act. 

Hadar Susskind is president and CEO of New Jewish Narrative.