A number of observers have complained that the Leahy Act has not been enacted in response to what they've claimed are human rights abuses by the Israeli military. In 2011, Haaretz reported that veteran U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a long-time human rights defender, after being approached by constituents in Vermont, was pushing clauses that would bar aid to three elite Israeli military units that have been accused of human rights violations in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. A spokesman for Senator Leahy denied this. Sen. Leahy's Senate page repeats his views that while "he has supported Israel's right to self-defense", "he disagrees with restrictions on imports of goods into Gaza as it amounts to collective punishment, with Israel's use of excessive force in Gaza which has caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians, and with home demolitions and settlement construction in the West Bank." In February 2016, 11 members of Congress, including Senator Leahy, sent a letter to the State Department demanding a review of the Leahy Act be conducted after reports of extrajudicial killings by Israeli and Egyptian military forces.