Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat with presidential ambitions, says armed Israeli settlers blocked his delegation into the West Bank for more than an hour. Israeli soldiers arrived, but Khanna says they initially sided with the settlers instead of clearing the road.
His group eventually left after contacting the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and Israeli police. The Israel Defense Force disputes part of Khanna's account, saying troops dispersed the settlers and never detained the delegation. From the Associated Press:
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna said Saturday that he was detained by settlers and the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank and released only after calls to the American Embassy in Jerusalem. The Israeli Defense Forces denied detaining any visitors in the incident, the latest example of escalating political tensions involving Israel and its ally’s Democratic Party.
A representative for Khanna, a California Democrat who is an outspoken progressive, said the confrontation occurred Wednesday in the middle of a three-day tour of the West Bank. As the congressman visited a Palestinian village that had been abandoned after settler attacks, masked men with guns stopped his group and refused to let them leave.
The New York Times said the incident was witnessed by one of its photographers. Khanna’s office said it occurred in the town of Khirbet Zanuta.
You can always depend on the reliability of the New York Times, right?
A U.S. congressman says he was detained, and Khanna deserves to have his account investigated, and people shouldn't be able to stop an American congressman, or anybody, while soldiers stand nearby. Israel has a duty to investigate what happened near Khirbet Zanuta and determine who was carrying the American-made M4 rifles Khanna described.
Still, political events don't arrive in isolation. Khanna's frightening experience landed at almost the perfect moment for a Democratic politician considering a 2028 presidential campaign.
Khanna has already become one of Israel's sharper Democratic critics, saying the party's support for Israel contributed to its 2024 election loss. After the West Bank encounter, he said the experience had made him more interested in running for president.
His trip also drew criticism because Israeli officials say he declined opportunities to meet former hostages, survivors of the Oct. 7 massacre, Druze community members, and officials involved with humanitarian aid to Gaza. From the New York Post:
On Monday, the Israelis offered a meeting with Oct. 7 survivors and former hostages to Khanna’s team, but they blew them off, the source said.
The Israelis followed up the next day and Khanna’s team never got back to them, the source said.
“Congressman Khanna didn’t come to understand the situation — he came looking for a headline. Israel went out of its way to provide Congressman Khanna with access to communities that reflected the complexity of the situation, he chose a different path,” the source said.
Over 1,200 Israelis were murdered and 250 taken captive during Hamas’ barbaric Oct. 7 terrorist attack, some were held hostage for as long as 843 days.
The Israelis also offered for Khanna to meet with Druze communities in the Golan Heights, representatives from Israeli border communities and to set up a briefing on aid getting into Gaza, but the Congressman never took them up on it, the source added.
Khanna's office confirmed campaign funds paid for the visit.
A politician seeking an honest view of the conflict should hear from Palestinians living under “military occupation” while also hearing from Israelis whose family members Hamas murdered, raped, kidnapped, and terrorized.
Choosing only one side's pain produces a campaign narrative, not a complete picture.
Khanna isn't moving by himself. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel delivered a blistering speech at Tel Aviv University on July 8. Emanuel, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan and yet another possible 2028 presidential candidate, warned Israel had become a “territorial pariah.”
The speech was well-received by the liberal Tel Aviv University crowd, who applauded even when Emanuel condemned Israel’s policies, such as Netanyahu’s role in not preparing for the day after in Gaza. He said “true friends tell each other the truth.”
Israeli media, however, preoccupied with the NATO conference in Turkey and a possible flare-up of conflict with Iran, barely registered Emanuel’s visit.
Rather than a two-state solution, Emanuel wants to push a 23-state solution, involving 21 Arab states, that would hold the Palestinians accountable for progressing toward a sovereign nation while accepting the historic Jewish connection to the land. The new, three-pronged U.S. policy would leverage the Arab world’s desire for stability, Israel’s need for security, and Palestinian demands for sovereignty, he said.
He called for an end to unconditional American support, proposed replacing defense subsidies with arms sales, and backed sanctions against people involved in violence against Palestinians.
Emanuel's speech carried special weight; his father was born in Jerusalem and fought in Israel's 1948 war of independence. Emanuel spent decades inside the Democratic establishment and never belonged to the party's anti-Israel fringe.
When a politician with his history gives such a speech in Tel Aviv, he's measuring where Democratic voters are headed.
A recent poll found 58% of Democrats believe the United States supports Israel too much. Israel once enjoyed durable backing across both parties. Its relationship with Washington now rests increasingly on Republicans, while younger and more progressive Democrats move toward open hostility.
Khanna's West Bank account may be entirely accurate. The political value of the encounter is equally real, giving an ambitious Democrat a vivid personal story at the exact moment his party is reconsidering its alliance with Israel.
The settlers who blocked his van may have done more than frighten a congressman; they may have handed the Democratic Party its next argument.
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