American lawmaker Ro Khanna detained by Israeli settlers armed with US-made rifles in the West Bank? What did he say

Democratic US lawmaker Ro Khanna said he was detained by armed Israeli settlers this week during a visit to the occupied West Bank, describing the incident as a first-hand look at the human impact of Israel’s occupation as he considers a possible 2028 presidential run.

Khanna told Reuters from a Palestinian village on Thursday that the incident occurred a day earlier when the van carrying his delegation was surrounded by settlers armed with M4 rifles as they toured an area in the southern West Bank where Palestinian residents are said to be enduring settler violence.

Khanna, a progressive Democratic lawmaker from California, said he and his delegation visited a Palestinian village allegedly destroyed by Israeli settlers.

“We were in a village that the Israeli settlers destroyed, destroyed the school, destroyed the village and we just watched,” he said.

Describing the incident, Khanna added: “And these hooligans come with machine guns – an M4, an American-made machine gun – and they hold us back. They block the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the American side,” referring to the Israeli military.

Cameron Kasky, an assistant accompanying Khanna, said the group was detained for more than an hour and asked the US Embassy in Jerusalem for help. According to Kaska, officers who appeared to be police officers later intervened, after which the group was allowed to leave.

In response to the incident, the Israeli military said its soldiers and police were dispatched after receiving reports that settlers had blocked vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian village whose residents were forcibly displaced following violent settler raids following Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023.

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“Upon their arrival, the troops dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way,” the army said.

Israeli police and the US embassy in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident, according to Reuters.

Khanna is the second prominent Democrat to consider an offer from the White House to visit the region this week. Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to former President Barack Obama, said earlier in Tel Aviv that Israel’s policy toward the Palestinians is weakening support for the US-Israel alliance.

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Asked if he plans to run for president, Khanna said, “I am strongly considering it and I am determined to consider it down that path.”

According to the poll, Israel’s approval rating among Democrats has fallen

Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians has become a key issue in the Democratic Party ahead of November’s US elections. The issue also played a role in the primary defeats of some incumbent lawmakers who were challenged by leftist candidates for their support of Israel’s right-wing government.

Israel’s favorability rating among Democratic voters fell from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Although Israel has traditionally enjoyed broad bipartisan support in the United States, a growing number of Democratic lawmakers are calling for an end to $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid, which includes funding for equipment such as M4 rifles and missile interceptors used by Israel during its conflict with Iran.

Speaking from the suburb of Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian village with a large population of Palestinian American citizens with dual citizenship, Khanna said he believed the Democratic Party establishment “has no idea how much of a moral test Palestine, Gaza and Israel have become.”

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He mentioned that he deliberately limited his visit to the occupied West Bank to an itinerary organized by the Palestinians so that he could get what he described as an unfiltered view of the territory captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.

“If you’re not willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights, if you’re not willing to speak out against the genocide in Gaza, apartheid in the West Bank, then you’re morally compromised,” Khanna noted.

Israel has denied accusations that it committed genocide in Gaza or maintains an apartheid system in the occupied West Bank, home to about 3 million Palestinians and roughly 500,000 Jewish settlers.

(With inputs from Reuters)