US Democratic Representative says Israeli settlers detained him during West Bank visit
US Democratic Representative Ro Khanna says he was detained for over an hour by Israeli settlers armed with M4 rifles during a West Bank visit, as he weighs a potential 2028 presidential run.
- Ro Khanna says settlers with M4 rifles detained his group for over an hour.
- Israeli military says it dispersed the settlers and let the group proceed.
- Khanna, weighing a 2028 run, says the trip hardened his resolve.
US Representative Ro Khanna (Democratic-CA) says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers during a visit to the occupied West Bank this week, an encounter he described as exposing the human toll of Israel's occupation as he considers a 2028 presidential run.
Speaking to Reuters on Thursday, 9 July 2026, in the Palestinian village of Turmus Ayya, Khanna said his group's van was surrounded a day earlier by settlers carrying M4 rifles near Khirbet Zanuta, a hamlet in the southern West Bank whose residents had fled violent settler raids after the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
"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," Khanna said. "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."
Cameron Kasky, an aide who was travelling with Khanna, said the group was held for more than an hour and appealed to the US Embassy in Jerusalem for help. Officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, securing their release, Kasky said.
The Israeli military said troops and police intervened after receiving reports of settlers blocking vehicles near the hamlet. "Upon their arrival, the troops dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way," it said. Israel's police and the US Embassy in Jerusalem did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khanna wrote on X that the settlers "made a huge mistake" by detaining Americans, and that the IDF "sided with the settlers" upon arrival.
Khanna is the second Democrat weighing a White House bid to visit the region this week. Rahm Emanuel, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, told reporters in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, 8 July 2026, that Israeli policies toward Palestinians were eroding support for the US-Israeli alliance.
Asked whether he was running for president, Khanna said: "I'm strongly considering it and I'm more resolved to consider it after this trip." He said he had designed the visit to focus solely on the West Bank, with programming led by Palestinians, to give him what he called an unfiltered view of the territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
"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 that it has carried out genocide in Gaza or maintains an apartheid system in the West Bank.
The West Bank trip came days after the House Rules Committee blocked a floor vote on a separate, bipartisan Khanna amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill setting US defence policy and spending. The amendment, co-sponsored with Republican Representative Thomas Massie, sought to strike Section 219, a provision establishing a "United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative" within the Department of Defense.
"Congress has blocked the amendment Thomas Massie and I introduced to stop the integration of our military with Israel's," Khanna wrote on X. "It is unconscionable to not even have a vote. We will be continuing on and will not be intimidated by the pro-Israel lobby." Massie called the provision "an unprecedented escalation of foreign involvement in our military," while supporters, including the lobbying group AIPAC, say it strengthens an established alliance.
Israel's conduct toward Palestinians has become a flashpoint within the Democratic Party ahead of November's US midterm elections, contributing to primary defeats for incumbents accused by left-wing challengers of backing Israel's right-wing government. Reuters/Ipsos polling found Israel's favourability rating among Democrats fell from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May 2026.
A growing number of congressional Democrats are pushing to cut US military aid to Israel, currently US$3.8 billion annually, which funds light weaponry including M4 rifles as well as missile interceptors used during the Iran war. Support for Israel remains strong among Republicans, though some in President Trump's coalition have also called for cuts.
The West Bank is home to roughly 3 million Palestinians and about 700,000 Israeli settlers, including in East Jerusalem, of whom around 15% are American citizens.
Most countries and the United Nations regard the settlements as illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention's prohibition on transferring civilian populations into occupied territory. Israel disputes this, describing the West Bank as disputed territory with a longstanding Jewish presence.
The United Nations has said more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the Gaza war began in October 2023. According to Israeli rights group Yesh Din, soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the West Bank were indicted in fewer than 1% of 2,427 complaints filed between 2016 and 2024.
Five allied nations, including the United Kingdom, previously imposed sanctions on two senior Israeli officials accused of inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, a move Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned and called to reverse.
