II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1126
To require the imposition of sanctions on the Popular Resistance Committees
and other associated entities, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH25, 2025
Mr. R
ICKETTS(for himself and Mr. SCHIFF) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To require the imposition of sanctions on the Popular Resist-
ance Committees and other associated entities, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accountability for Ter-4
rorist Perpetrators of October 7th Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. IMPOSITION OF TERRORISM SANCTIONS WITH RE-6
SPECT TO THE POPULAR RESISTANCE COM-7
MITTEES. 8
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 9
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(1) Since its founding in 2000, during the sec-1
ond intifada, the Popular Resistance Committees 2
has regularly carried out terror attacks against 3
Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians. 4
(2) The ranks of the Popular Resistance Com-5
mittees include former operatives from Hamas, Pal-6
estinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for 7
the Liberation of Palestine, all of which are des-8
ignated by the United States as foreign terrorist or-9
ganizations. 10
(3) The Popular Resistance Committees carried 11
out an attack in 2003 on a United States diplomatic 12
convoy that injured a diplomat and killed 3 security 13
guards from the United States. The Popular Resist-14
ance Committees has also carried out the 2004 mur-15
der of a pregnant Israeli woman and her 4 daugh-16
ters, aged 11, 9, 7 and 2, and the executions of Pal-17
estinians, including the former Palestinian Authority 18
Gaza security chief. 19
(4) The Popular Resistance Committees has 20
been the third-largest terror group in the Gaza strip, 21
after Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, since as 22
early as 2011. 23
(5) On October 7, 2023, Hamas, Palestinian Is-24
lamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees 25
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terrorists launched a massive, unprovoked war on 1
Israel by air, land, and sea, including firing thou-2
sands of rockets, resulting in the deaths of 1,200 in-3
nocent Israelis, Americans, and others, the abduc-4
tion of 250 hostages, and widespread torture and 5
sexual violence. 6
(6) On October 7, 2023, the Popular Resistance 7
Committees issued a statement claiming responsi-8
bility for participating in the terrorist attack against 9
Israel alongside Hamas and their affiliates, includ-10
ing the kidnaping of soldiers of the Israel Defense 11
Forces, and posted photos of items taken from sol-12
diers killed and captured by the group as evidence. 13
(7) On October 8, 2023, the Popular Resistance 14
Committees issued a statement claiming responsi-15
bility for dispatching kamikaze drones during the at-16
tack on Israel. 17
(b) I
NGENERAL.—On and after the date that is 90 18
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presi-19
dent shall impose the sanctions described under subsection 20
(c) with respect to— 21
(1) the Popular Resistance Committees; 22
(2) any foreign person that is an official, agent, 23
or affiliate of a foreign person described in para-24
graph (1); 25
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(3) any foreign person that is owned or con-1
trolled by a foreign person described in paragraph 2
(1) or (2); and 3
(4) any current or future armed organization 4
the President determines is operating under the um-5
brella of the Popular Resistance Committees or any 6
other person described in this subsection. 7
(c) S
ANCTIONSDESCRIBED.—The sanctions de-8
scribed in this subsection are the following: 9
(1) B
LOCKING OF PROPERTY .—The President 10
shall exercise all of the powers granted to the Presi-11
dent under the International Emergency Economic 12
Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) to the extent 13
necessary to block and prohibit all transactions in 14
property and interests in property of a foreign per-15
son described in subsection (b) if such property and 16
interests in property are in the United States, come 17
within the United States, or are or come within the 18
possession or control of a United States person. 19
(2) A
LIENS INADMISSABLE FOR VISAS , ADMIS-20
SION, OR PAROLE.— 21
(A) V
ISAS, ADMISSION, OR PAROLE.—An 22
alien who the Secretary of State or the Sec-23
retary of Homeland Security (or a designee of 24
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one of such Secretaries) knows, or has reason 1
to believe, is described in subsection (b) is— 2
(i) inadmissible to the United States; 3
(ii) ineligible to receive a visa or other 4
documentation to enter the United States; 5
and 6
(iii) otherwise ineligible to be admitted 7
or paroled into the United States or to re-8
ceive any other benefit under the Immigra-9
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1101 et 10
seq.). 11
(B) C
URRENT VISAS REVOKED .— 12
(i) I
N GENERAL.—The issuing con-13
sular officer, the Secretary of State, or the 14
Secretary of Homeland Security (or a des-15
ignee of one of such Secretaries) shall, in 16
accordance with section 221(i) of the Im-17
migration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 18
1201(i)), revoke any visa or other entry 19
documentation issued to an alien described 20
in subparagraph (A) regardless of when 21
the visa or other entry documentation is 22
issued. 23
(ii) E
FFECT OF REVOCATION .—A rev-24
ocation under clause (i) shall take effect 25
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immediately and shall automatically cancel 1
any other valid visa or entry documenta-2
tion that is in the alien’s possession. 3
(d) E
XCEPTIONS.— 4
(1) U
NITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS AGREE -5
MENT.—The sanctions described in subsection (c) 6
shall not apply with respect to an alien if admitting 7
or paroling the alien into the United States is nec-8
essary to permit the United States to comply with 9
the Agreement regarding the Headquarters of the 10
United Nations, signed at Lake Success June 26, 11
1947, and entered into force November 21, 1947, 12
between the United Nations and the United States, 13
or other applicable international obligations. 14
(2) E
XCEPTION FOR INTELLIGENCE , LAW EN-15
FORCEMENT, AND NATIONAL SECURITY ACTIVI -16
TIES.—The sanctions in subsection (c) shall not 17
apply to any authorized intelligence, law enforce-18
ment, or national security activities of the United 19
States. 20
(e) P
ENALTIES.—The penalties provided for in sub-21
sections (b) and (c) of section 206 of the International 22
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) shall 23
apply to a person that violates, attempts to violate, con-24
spires to violate, or causes a violation of this section, regu-25
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lations promulgated to carry out this section, or the sanc-1
tions imposed pursuant to this section to the same extent 2
that such penalties apply to a person that commits an un-3
lawful act described in section 206(a) of that Act. 4
(f) I
MPLEMENTATION AUTHORITY.—The President 5
may exercise all authorities provided to the President 6
under sections 203 and 205 of the International Emer-7
gency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) 8
for purposes of carrying out this section. 9
(g) W
AIVER.—The President may, for 1 or more peri-10
ods of not more than 180 days each, waive the application 11
of sanctions imposed with respect to a foreign person 12
under this section if the President certifies to the appro-13
priate committees of Congress, not later than 15 days be-14
fore such waiver takes effect, that the waiver is vital to 15
the national security interests of the United States. 16
(h) T
ERMINATION.—The President may terminate 17
sanctions imposed with respect to any foreign person 18
under this section if the President certifies to the appro-19
priate committees of Congress that— 20
(1) such foreign person is no longer engaging in 21
acts of terrorism, as defined for purposes of Execu-22
tive Order 13224 (relating to blocking property and 23
prohibiting transactions with persons who commit, 24
threaten to commit, or support terrorism); or 25
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(2) with respect to a foreign person that is an 1
entity, such entity has wound down. 2
SEC. 3. REPORT ON THE DESIGNATION OF THE LIONS’ DEN 3
AND THE POPULAR RESISTANCE COMMIT-4
TEES AS SPECIALLY DESIGNATED GLOBAL 5
TERRORISTS. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
(1) Since its founding in 2022, Lions’ Den has 8
carried out a number of terror attacks including 9
more than 61 shooting attacks against Israeli sol-10
diers and civilians. 11
(2) The ranks of the Lions’ Den include former 12
operatives from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, 13
and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Pal-14
estine, all of which are designated foreign terrorist 15
organizations. 16
(3) Lions’ Den receives funds from designated 17
foreign terrorist organizations Hamas and Pales-18
tinian Islamic Jihad. 19
(b) I
NITIALREPORT.— 20
(1) R
EPORT REQUIRED .—Not later than 90 21
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 22
Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate 23
committees of Congress— 24
(A) a detailed report on whether— 25
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(i) the Lions’ Den meets— 1
(I) the criteria for designation as 2
a specially designated global terrorist 3
pursuant to Executive Order 13224 4
(relating to blocking property and 5
prohibiting transactions with persons 6
who commit, threaten to commit, or 7
support terrorism); and 8
(II) the criteria for designation 9
as a foreign terrorist organization 10
under section 219 of the Immigration 11
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); 12
and 13
(ii) the Popular Resistance Commit-14
tees meet the criteria for designation as a 15
specially designated global terrorist pursu-16
ant to Executive Order 13224; and 17
(B) if the Secretary reaches a negative de-18
termination with respect to any entity under 19
subparagraph (A), a detailed justification as to 20
which criteria have not been met. 21
(2) F
ORM.—The report required by paragraph 22
(1) shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 23
include a classified annex. 24
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(c) ONGOINGDETERMINATIONS REQUIRED.—Not 1
later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 2
Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Secretary of State 3
shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 4
a report that— 5
(1) identifies each new entity operating under 6
the umbrella of the Popular Resistance Committees, 7
or any successor of the Popular Resistance Commit-8
tees; 9
(2) includes a determination as to whether each 10
such entity meets the criteria— 11
(A) for designation as a specially des-12
ignated global terrorist pursuant to Executive 13
Order 13224 (relating to blocking property and 14
prohibiting transactions with persons who com-15
mit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism); 16
(B) for designation as a foreign terrorist 17
organization under section 219 of the Immigra-18
tion and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189); or 19
(C) for the imposition of sanctions under 20
section 2; and 21
(3) provides a detailed justification in the event 22
that the Secretary identifies a new entity pursuant 23
to paragraph (1), but does not determine that the 24
entity meets the criteria for designation as a spe-25
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cially designated global terrorist or a foreign ter-1
rorist organization or for imposition of sanctions 2
under section 2. 3
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) A
DMITTED; ALIEN; LAWFULLY ADMITTED 6
FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE .—The terms ‘‘admit-7
ted’’, ‘‘alien’’, and ‘‘lawfully admitted for permanent 8
residence’’ have the meanings given those terms in 9
section 101 of the Immigration and Nationality Act 10
(8 U.S.C. 1101). 11
(2) A
PPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON -12
GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con-13
gress’’ means— 14
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations 15
and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Sen-16
ate; and 17
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 18
the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 19
Representatives. 20
(3) E
NTITY.—The term ‘‘entity’’ means a part-21
nership, association, corporation, or other organiza-22
tion, group, or subgroup. 23
(4) F
OREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per-24
son’’— 25
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(A) means an individual or entity that is 1
not a United States person; and 2
(B) does not include the government of a 3
foreign country. 4
(5) F
OREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION .—The 5
term ‘‘foreign terrorist organization’’ means an enti-6
ty designated as a foreign terrorist organization pur-7
suant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nation-8
ality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189). 9
(6) U
NITED STATES PERSON .—The term 10
‘‘United States person’’ means— 11
(A) an individual who is a United States 12
citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for perma-13
nent residence to the United States; 14
(B) an entity organized under the laws of 15
the United States or any jurisdiction within the 16
United States, including a foreign branch of 17
such an entity; or 18
(C) any person in the United States. 19
Æ
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