U.S. Democratic Representative Ro Khanna was detained by armed Israeli settlers for more than an hour during a West Bank visit on Wednesday while touring a Palestinian hamlet, in an incident that highlights tensions over Israeli settlement expansion as Khanna weighs a 2028 presidential run.
Speaking with Reuters on Thursday in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya, Khanna said his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles—U.S.-made weapons—while visiting Khirbet Zanuta, a small community whose residents were forcibly displaced by violent settler raids following Hamas’s 2023 attacks on Israel. “These hoodlums come in with machine guns—M4, an American-made machine gun—and they detain us,” Khanna said, according to Reuters. “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.”
Cameron Kasky, an aide traveling with Khanna, confirmed the delegation appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem after settlers blocked their vehicle. A group of officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release, Kasky said. The Israeli military said troops and police officers dispersed the settlers after receiving a report of vehicles being blocked near Khirbet Zanuta, according to Reuters.
Khanna, a progressive lawmaker representing California’s 17th District, has emerged as one of the most vocal Democratic critics of Israeli policy toward Palestinians. In June 2026, he became the first member of Congress to sign a pledge refusing donations from pro-Israel groups, according to Democracy Now. His West Bank visit was designed to provide what he described as “an unfiltered look” at the human toll of Israeli occupation, conducted entirely through Palestinian-led programming.
The detention underscores escalating settler violence in the West Bank, which has intensified dramatically in 2026. The Guardian reported in March that even pro-Israel Democrats have begun denouncing what they call “extremist” settler violence as support for Israel becomes a political liability. In April, the Atlantic Council warned that “extremist Israeli settler violence in the West Bank has sharply escalated during the Iran war, including killings, raids, and property destruction.” The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported in March that settler violence had displaced more Palestinians in early 2026 than in all of 2025, according to the UN.
Democratic Division on Israel Policy
Khanna’s detention comes as the Democratic Party grapples with deepening divisions over Israel policy ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Israel’s favorability among Democrats has plummeted from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May 2026, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling cited in the original reporting. An increasing number of Democratic lawmakers are pressing to cut military aid to Israel, which amounts to $3.8 billion annually and includes funding for the M4 rifles and other weaponry, Reuters reported.
The same week Khanna was detained, fellow Democrat Rahm Emanuel—the former Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff—visited Tel Aviv to deliver a sharply critical message. On July 8, Emanuel told Israeli leaders that the U.S.-Israeli alliance “cannot survive as it has been,” calling for an end to unconditional American support and warning that “Israel will be alone if its leaders choose to attempt to annex the West Bank,” according to Reuters. Both Emanuel and Khanna are exploring 2028 presidential bids.
Khanna rejected characterizations that his criticism of Israeli policy represents a departure from Democratic support for the country. “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, according to Reuters. Israel rejects allegations of genocide in Gaza and denies that it operates an apartheid system in the West Bank, where approximately 3 million Palestinians and 500,000 Jewish settlers live.
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, according to Reuters.
Sources
- Reuters — Khanna’s account of detention, settler weapons, embassy appeal, military response, Democratic favorability polling, military aid figures, and Khanna’s quoted statements on Palestinian rights
- Democracy Now — Khanna’s pledge refusing pro-Israel donations in June 2026
- The Guardian — Democratic lawmakers condemning settler violence in March 2026
- Atlantic Council — Escalation of settler violence in West Bank during Iran war
- UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — Settler violence displacement figures for 2026
