Rep. Khanna says he was held by armed Israeli settlers in West Bank

World admin July 13, 2026 0 Comments

Rep. Khanna says he was held by armed Israeli settlers in West Bank

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., was held by armed Israeli settlers during his trip to the occupied West Bank, who told a translator they did not care that he was a member of the U.S. Congress, a spokesperson with his office told MS NOW.

During an appearance Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Khanna called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to open an investigation into the incident. “What happened was unprecedented,” he said. “They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official.”

In a post on X about the Wednesday incident, Khanna shared a video of armed uniformed troops standing by a vehicle and a photo of a soldier standing with what appeared to be armed settlers.

“Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine,” he wrote. “When the IDF arrived, they sided with the settlers & continued our detention. They made a huge mistake. You will be hearing more soon.”

The incident took place at the ruins of the Bedouin village of Khirbet Zanuta, which was abandoned in October 2023 after a series of Israeli settler attacks, according to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

Citing accounts, photos and video from Khanna and his team, The New York Times reported that a car had pulled up and blocked the road out of the village. Armed men from the car taunted the California Democrat and his companions, swore at them in Hebrew and Arabic and kicked the tires of their vehicle, according to The Times, whose photographer reportedly witnessed the interaction.

Israeli military vehicles then approached, and the soldiers smoked cigarettes and chatted with the settlers. After the men left, the soldiers blocked the road with their car, Khanna told The Times.

A spokesperson for Khanna told MS NOW that a translator had informed the settlers that he was a member of the United States Congress and that he was in contact with the American embassy in Jerusalem. The settlers laughed and said they did not care, the spokesperson said.

“If they will do this to an American congressman, imagine what is happening to Palestinian families who are just trying to live,” Khanna told MS NOW in a statement. “I expect Israel will prosecute the violent settlers and IDF soldiers who detained American citizens.”

“How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?” he told NBC on Sunday.

Israeli settlers in the West Bank have become more violent and emboldened since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack and Israel’s retaliation. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in the past two and a half years, according to data collected by the United Nations.

At least nine Americans have been killed in the West Bank since 2022. Thirty-one Democratic senators signed a in March expressing “grave concern regarding the ongoing lack of accountability for the deaths of Americans in the West Bank” and demanding that the Trump administration investigate the killing of 19-year-old Nasrallah Abu Siyam, a U.S. citizen, in February and that of other Americans.

Netanyahu has that every such violent incident is investigated. A vast majority of those investigations ended without an indictment, and only 3% of those led to a conviction, Israeli human rights group found. The Israeli government has also approved illegal settlement expansion and annexation of large swaths of the West Bank, according to a U.N. report.

Khanna, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has been an increasingly vocal advocate for Palestinian rights. U.S. opposition to Israel has grown in recent years, especially among Democrats, in large part because of the war in Gaza and treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Khanna told The Times that what he witnessed in the West Bank would inform his 2028 campaign if he decided to run. “No American would support this if they knew the details of what was going on here,” he added.