Ro Khanna says Israeli settlers detained him in West Bank

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him and his group for more than an hour during a visit to the occupied West Bank, an encounter the California Democrat described as a firsthand glimpse of the powerlessness Palestinians face under occupation.

Khanna said the incident took place Wednesday near Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian hamlet in the southern West Bank whose residents were forced to leave after violent settler raids following the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. He was traveling with a delegation through an area that has seen repeated settler attacks.

“We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed — they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it,” Khanna told Reuters from a Palestinian village Thursday. He said settlers carrying U.S.-made M4 rifles surrounded the group’s van and blocked the road.

“And these hoodlums … detain us,” Khanna said. “They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans.”

Khanna said on X that when the Israeli army arrived, “they sided with the settlers and continued our detention.” Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna who was in the group, said they were held for more than an hour and appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help before officers who appeared to be police intervened.

The Israeli military gave a different account. In a statement to CBS News, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson said troops received a report that Israeli civilians were “unlawfully blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the media,” and that troops “were dispatched to the scene, quickly dispersed the Israeli civilians, and reopened the blocked road.” The IDF said soldiers “did not take part in blocking the road” and that the “identity of the armed individual is currently under review.” Reuters reported that the Israeli military said troops and police responded after receiving a report that settlers were obstructing vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta.

Khanna told The New York Times, which first reported his account, that the group was detained for 90 minutes. “I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life,” he said. “Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes.”

He also described young settlers and soldiers laughing during the encounter. “I saw the arrogance in the eyes of those settlers, 21- and 22-year-olds with guns, laughing that they had detained us,” Khanna told Reuters, adding that young IDF soldiers funded in part by U.S. tax dollars showed “no respect” that Americans, including a member of Congress, were in the vehicle.

The incident has renewed scrutiny of settler violence in the West Bank. More than 700,000 Israelis live in settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967. The United Nations considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal, while Israel has faced repeated criticism over settler violence and settlement expansion.

The United Nations said in May that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Gaza war began. Israeli rights group Yesh Din says no Israeli has been indicted for killing a Palestinian since October 2023, according to The Guardian. CBS News reported that Yesh Din found Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the West Bank were indicted in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints from 2016 to 2024.

Khanna, one of Congress’ most outspoken critics of the war in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, is considering a 2028 presidential run. Asked by Reuters whether he intends to run, he said, “I’m strongly considering it. And I’m more resolved to consider it after this trip.”