Rep. Ro Khanna says Israeli settlers detained him in the West Bank

Rep. Ro Khanna says Israeli settlers detained him in the West Bank

Representative Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he and his delegation were detained for over an hour by armed Israeli settlers during a visit to the occupied West Bank this week. The congressman described the encounter as an unfiltered look at the realities of life under Israeli occupation.

The incident occurred Wednesday while Khanna was touring Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian hamlet in the southern West Bank. According to Khanna, the group was visiting a village that settlers had destroyed, including its school, when they were surrounded by individuals wielding M4 rifles. Khanna identified the weapons as American-made machine guns.

"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,"

Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative, via Reuters

Cameron Kasky, an aide traveling with the congressman, stated the delegation was prevented from leaving for more than an hour. Kasky said the group contacted the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance before police officers eventually intervened to secure their release. A photojournalist from The New York Times also witnessed the interaction.

The Israeli military acknowledged receiving reports of civilians blocking vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta. The military stated that troops and police officers dispersed the settlers and allowed the vehicles to proceed, though it did not address Khanna's claims regarding the conduct of security forces during the standoff.

Khanna's visit comes as he weighs a potential run for the 2028 U.S. Presidential election. He told Reuters he is strongly considering it and that the trip has increased his resolve. Speaking from Turmus Ayya, a village with thousands of Palestinian American dual nationals, Khanna criticized his party's establishment as clueless regarding the moral implications of the situation in Gaza, Palestine, and Israel.

"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,"

Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative, via NBC News

Israel rejects allegations of genocide in Gaza or an apartheid regime in the West Bank. The Israeli government also disputes the position of the United Nations and most other countries that regard West Bank settlements as illegal under international law, asserting instead that the West Bank is disputed territory with a millennia-long Jewish presence.

The incident occurs amid heightened tensions in the region. The United Nations reported in May that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem since the war began following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. CBS News reported meeting residents and activists who say violent settler attacks have increased significantly since that time, including raids that have driven people from their land. Khirbet Zanuta is one such hamlet where residents were forcibly displaced by violent settler raids after the 2023 attacks.

Settlement dynamics in the territory remain a point of contention. More than 700,000 Israelis live in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories captured from Jordan in 1967. About 15% of these settlers are Americans. While the UN considers these settlements illegal, Israel continues to expand them.

Accountability for security forces has also been questioned. The Israeli rights group Yesh Din found that Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the West Bank are rarely penalized, with indictments occurring in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints between 2016 and 2024.

Khanna's visit follows other high-profile U.S. Political trips to the region. House Speaker Mike Johnson visited in September 2025, where he dined with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Democrats Jeff Merkley and Chris van Hollen toured the region in August 2025. Additionally, Rahm Emanuel visited Tel Aviv on Wednesday, stating that Israeli policies toward Palestinians are eroding support for the U.S.-Israeli alliance.

The political fallout continues to manifest in U.S. Policy and elections. Five long-time U.S. Allies recently imposed sanctions on two senior Israeli officials accused of inciting violence against Palestinians; Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned these sanctions and called for their reversal. Meanwhile, some Democrats in Congress are pushing to cut off $3.8 billion in annual military aid, which funds the type of M4 rifles used by the settlers who detained Khanna.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and Israel's police have not yet responded to requests for comment on the detention.