U.S. Representative Ro Khanna was detained by Israeli settlers armed with M4 rifles for more than an hour during a West Bank visit earlier this week, an incident that underscored tensions between a prominent Democratic lawmaker and Israeli settlers as Khanna weighs a 2028 presidential run.
Khanna’s group was stopped while touring Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian hamlet whose residents were forcibly displaced by settler raids following the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. “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 said, according to Reuters. “And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. They block off the road.”
Cameron Kasky, an aide traveling with Khanna, confirmed they were held for more than an hour and made appeals to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help. A group of officers eventually intervened, leading to their release. The Israeli military said troops and police officers arrived after receiving a report of settlers blocking vehicles and dispersed the Israeli civilians to allow the vehicles to continue.
Khanna’s three-day visit to the Palestinian West Bank comes as Israel’s conduct toward Palestinians has become a flashpoint in Democratic politics. According to Reuters polling, Israel’s favorability rating among Democrats fell from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May 2026. The issue has contributed to primary defeats for some incumbent lawmakers targeted by left-wing challengers who accused them of supporting Israel’s right-wing government.
The U.S. provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid, which includes funding for light weaponry like M4 rifles and missile interceptors. An increasing number of Democrats in Congress are now pressing to cut off that aid. In June, Khanna became the first member of Congress to sign a pledge not to take money from pro-Israel groups, according to Democracy Now.
Khanna said he chose to conduct a visit exclusively to the West Bank, with programming led by Palestinians, to gain an unfiltered view of territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. “If you’re unwilling to speak up for Palestinian human rights, if you’re unwilling to speak up against the genocide in Gaza, the apartheid in the West Bank, then you are morally compromised,” he said. When asked if he was running for president, Khanna responded: “I’m strongly considering it and I’m more resolved to consider it after this trip.”
The West Bank is home to approximately 3 million Palestinians and around 500,000 Jewish settlers. Most countries and the United Nations regard Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition on transferring a civilian population into occupied territory. Israel rejects that position, saying the West Bank is disputed territory where there has been a Jewish presence for thousands of years.
Sources
- Reuters — Khanna’s detention by settlers, M4 rifles, Khirbet Zanuta location, aide Cameron Kasky’s account, Israeli military statement, $3.8 billion annual aid figure, West Bank population, Israel favorability polling, Khanna’s 2028 presidential consideration.
- Democracy Now — Khanna as first member of Congress to sign anti-AIPAC pledge in June 2026.
- The New York Times — 90-minute detention duration.
