California lawyer Ro Khanna was arrested by armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) said armed Israeli settlers detained him and other US citizens on a recent trip to the West Bank in an incident that included a California congressman in an international debate on human rights in the Palestinian territories and US foreign aid to Israel as he laid out his 2028 presidential bid.
Khanna said settlers surrounded his group’s van on Wednesday near the Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta in the southern West Bank. He explained about visiting an area that was destroyed by settlers, including a school. He said immigrants carrying US-made weapons detained him and his group.
The congressman said that later the Israeli security forces arrived but killed the settlers as well. A team of policemen who appeared to be policemen finally secured the release of the group, he said.
“If they are going to do this to the US Congress, imagine what happens to Palestinian families trying to survive,” Khanna said in a statement. “I expect that Israel will prosecute violent settlers and IDF soldiers who arrest American citizens.”
Khanna said the residents “made a big mistake.”
Visiting Israel has been a bipartisan tradition for members of Congress for decades. Khanna instead opted for a West Bank tour. His visit comes amid growing unease among Democrats over the conduct of the Israeli military since Oct. 7, 2023, the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli war on Gaza.
At least one congressman condemned the incident – on grounds other than detention. Attorney Greg Murphy (RN.C.) spent the journey through the post at X.
“Sounds like another disclosure request,” Murphy wrote. “Anything you can get in front of the camera. Why not be there again? It’s not your country.”
Cameron Kasky, Khanna’s assistant who was on the team, told X that the visit included meetings with “many Palestinian Americans” and that the group was held for more than an hour.
The West Bank is an area that Israel captured in 1967 and has occupied ever since. About 3 million Palestinians live there and hundreds of thousands of Israeli residents. Many nations have condemned the settlements, and in June, six countries, including Britain and France, issued new sanctions against Israeli settlements and settlements in the West Bank.
Israel sees the area as disputed territory with a long history of Jewish residents.
In a statement about the incident involving Khanna, the Israeli military said soldiers and police intervened after receiving a report about settlers blocking vehicles. “Upon their arrival, the soldiers dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way,” it said.
In a video interview he sent to X, Khanna described the residents as young men who were “laughing.”
“I saw the arrogance of those who arrived, 21 and 22 years old, carrying guns, laughing and saying they are going to arrest us,” said Khanna. “The arrogance of power, power that has not responded, is completely unpunished, and creates a toxic culture of oppression.”
The congressman is the second Democrat to put together a White House bid to visit the region in recent days. Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and former White House chief of staff under President Obama, spoke Wednesday at Tel Aviv University. In his speech, Emanuel said that the US-Israel alliance is “at a crossroads,” and that it “cannot stand still or live as it was.”
