U.S. Democratic congressman Ro Khanna of California was detained for 90 minutes by armed Israeli settlers during a West Bank visit this week, marking a rare incident involving a high-ranking American politician and raising fresh tensions over settler conduct in occupied Palestinian territory.
Khanna said his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles on Wednesday while touring Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian hamlet in the southern West Bank where residents face frequent 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,” he told Reuters. “And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us.”
According to Khanna’s account, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) arrived, they sided with the settlers rather than intervening on behalf of the Americans. “The IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans,” he said. An aide in his group, Cameron Kasky, said they were held for more than an hour and made appeals to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help before a group of police officers eventually intervened and allowed them to leave.
The Israeli military offered a different framing of events. It said troops and police officers took action after receiving a report of settlers blocking vehicles in the area. “Upon their arrival, the troops dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way,” the military said in a statement.
Khanna cast the visit as part of an effort to see the human toll of Israeli occupation firsthand. He is weighing a 2028 presidential run and said the experience has strengthened his resolve to address the issue. “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,” Khanna said. Israel rejects allegations of genocide in Gaza and denies that it institutes an apartheid regime in the West Bank.
The incident reflects broader shifts in Democratic politics over U.S. policy toward Israel. Israel’s favorability rating among Democrats fell sharply from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May 2026, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. An increasing number of Democratic lawmakers have called for cutting military aid to Israel, which totals $3.8 billion annually. The West Bank, occupied by Israel since the 1967 war, is home to approximately 3 million Palestinians and around 500,000 Jewish settlers. Most countries and the United Nations regard the settlements as illegal under international law, citing the Fourth Geneva Convention’s prohibition on transferring a civilian population into occupied territory.
Sources
- Reuters — Khanna’s account of the detention, the M4 rifles, Cameron Kasky’s statement, the IDF response, and his 2028 presidential deliberations
- BBC — Confirmation of the 90-minute detention, Khanna’s age (49), and the IDF statement on dispersing settlers
- Reuters/Ipsos polling — Israel’s favorability rating among Democrats (59% in 2018, 22% in May 2026) and annual U.S. military aid figure ($3.8 billion)
- Reuters — West Bank population figures (3 million Palestinians, 500,000 Jewish settlers) and international law regarding settlements
