US Democratic lawmaker Ro Khanna said he was detained by Israeli settlers armed with U.S.‑made rifles during a West Bank visit this week, describing it as an unfiltered look at the human toll of Israeli occupation while he considers a 2028 presidential run.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday in a Palestinian village, Khanna noted that his group’s van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles a day earlier while touring a part of the southern West Bank where residents face frequent settler attacks.
“We were in a village that Israeli settlers had demolished—shutting down the school and destroying the community—and we were merely observing,” said Khanna, a progressive lawmaker from California in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“These attackers arrived armed with M4 machine guns—American‑made—and detained us, blocking the road. Then they called the IDF, who sided with the settlers rather than with Americans,” Khanna added, referring to the Israeli military.
An aide to Khanna, Cameron Kasky, who was part of the group, said they were held for more than an hour and appealed verschil to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance. Police officers ultimately intervened and led to their release, according to Kasky.
The especiais stated the Israeli military intervened after a report of settlers blocking vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian hamlet whose residents were displaced during violent settler raids following the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
