US Congressman Says He Was Detained by Armed Israeli Settlers in West Bank
US congressman says he was detained – Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative from California, revealed that a US congressman says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers during a visit to the occupied West Bank. The incident provided the lawmaker with firsthand insight into the daily struggles faced by Palestinians under military occupation. Speaking with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian community, Khanna described how the confrontation unfolded the previous day as his delegation explored a southern West Bank area marked by frequent settler violence.
Confrontation Details and Settler Actions
Khanna recounted that the situation intensified when settlers armed with American-made M4 rifles surrounded the van carrying his group. The delegation was visiting a settlement that Israeli settlers had demolished, including its school building. “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 told reporters.
And these hoodlums … 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.
The congressman voiced strong criticism toward the Israel Defense Forces, pointing out that U.S. military aid helps finance the organization. He observed what he described as arrogance among the young settlers, many only twenty-one or twenty-two years old, who seemed entertained by detaining Americans. Khanna also noted comparable attitudes among IDF soldiers whose wages come from American taxpayers.
I saw the arrogance in the eyes of those settlers, 21- and 22-year-olds with guns, laughing that they had detained us, the arrogance of those young IDF soldiers that my tax dollars are funding – having no respect for the fact that they were detaining Americans, no respect that there was an American congressperson in that bus, and laughing when our translator told them that there are Americans there and the American embassy is concerned.
Cameron Kasky, an aide accompanying Khanna, posted about the detention on social media platform X, confirming he was present. He stressed that military forces came to assist the settlers rather than protect the American politician. Khanna later described the episode as revealing “the arrogance of power – of a power that has had no accountability, total impunity – and it’s created a toxic culture of oppression.”
The New York Times first published Khanna’s account on Saturday. In that interview, the congressman expressed feeling diminished despite his considerable privileges. He encouraged people to reflect on the ongoing helplessness Palestinians experience, noting the incident left him powerless for approximately ninety minutes. “Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes,” he said.
After contacting both the American embassy and Israeli authorities, Khanna and his party continued their travels. The Israeli military confirmed that personnel responded to reports of vehicles being blocked near Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian settlement whose residents were displaced after violent settler attacks following the October 2023 Hamas assault on Israel.
Broader Context and Political Implications
When asked about potential presidential ambitions, Khanna indicated he was seriously considering such a candidacy and felt more drawn to it after his travels. Currently, over seven hundred thousand Israelis reside in communities throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. International organizations have consistently labeled these settlements as unlawful, and Israel faces continuous examination regarding settler behavior.
Since taking control of the West Bank in 1967, regulatory restrictions have limited economic self-sufficiency for the region. These limitations expanded significantly after the October 2023 attacks. Approximately three hundred thousand Palestinians have lost employment across both territories. Furthermore, a June United Nations commission report concluded that Israeli forces deliberately targeted Palestinian youth, amounting to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. Human rights organization Yesh Din reports that zero Israeli citizens have been indicted for Palestinian deaths since October 2023.
Khanna has become one of Congress’s most outspoken critics of both the Gaza conflict and West Bank occupation, regularly questioning his party’s leadership. In May, he released video footage condemning the Democratic National Committee’s stance on Middle East policy.
