Congressman Ro Khanna Says Armed Israeli Settlers Detained Him In West Bank
Congressman Ro Khanna Says Armed Israeli Settlers Detained Him In West Bank
Mark Tanos Sun, July 12, 2026 at 6:46 PM UTC
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Congressman Ro Khanna Says Armed Israeli Settlers Detained Him In West Bank ©(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
A California congressman weighing a 2028 presidential bid says armed Israeli settlers detained him for over an hour in the West Bank this week.
Democrat California Rep. Ro Khanna told Reuters that settlers surrounded his group's van near the Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta. The confrontation happened July 8, according to CBS News. The men carried American-made M4 rifles, Khanna said.
The Israeli military told a different story. Soldiers and police stepped in after being told settlers blocked traffic, broke up the group, and let the vehicles pass, the military told Reuters. Khanna's claim that troops backed the settlers rests on his own account. (RELATED: Swamp's Military-Industrial Complex Merger With Israel Inches Closer To Becoming Reality)
"And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. 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 told Reuters, referring to the Israeli military.
Cameron Kasky, an aide traveling with the congressman, said the group was kept for more than an hour and appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem before a group the delegation took for police arrived and freed them, Reuters reported.
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Khanna framed the trip as motivation for a possible campaign. "I'm strongly considering it," he said in a Reuters video, "and I'm more resolved to consider it after this trip. We need a new moral direction in our party. A new moral vision that respects the dignity and human rights of people around the world," Khanna said, according to Fox News Digital.
Support for Israel among Democrats has fallen hard. The party's favorable rating slipped from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May, Reuters/Ipsos polling found. More congressional Democrats now push to cut the $3.8 billion in yearly U.S. military aid to Israel, which funds weapons including M4 rifles, according to Reuters.
Khanna has charged Israel with genocide in Gaza and apartheid in the West Bank. The country rejects both accusations, Reuters reported.
Lawmakers from both parties have toured the West Bank since the Gaza war began, CBS News reported. House Speaker Mike Johnson dined with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there in September 2025.
Khanna left the Israeli government a parting shot. "Free advice to the Israelis: It's not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates," he told The New York Times. "Not how you're going to build good will with the next American president, whoever that is."
Source: “AOL Breaking”
