Ro Khanna Detained by Armed Israeli Settlers During West Bank Visit
U.S. Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) was detained for more than an hour by armed Israeli settlers on July 8 while visiting the destroyed Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta in the occupied West Bank, an incident that has drawn international attention to escalating settler violence and deepened divisions within the Democratic Party over U.S. policy toward Israel.
According to The Guardian, Khanna said settlers carrying U.S.-made M4 rifles surrounded his delegation’s van, blocked the road, and detained the group. The congressman described the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation.
The Incident
Khanna was visiting Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian Bedouin hamlet in the southern West Bank whose residents were forcibly displaced following violent settler raids after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. The village had a school funded by international donors, which was destroyed by settlers.
“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 Reuters from Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian village near Ramallah.
Khanna recounted that the settlers called the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and according to his account, the IDF initially sided with the settlers rather than the American delegation. “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,” he said.
Cameron Kasky, Khanna’s aide who was also in the group, confirmed they were held for more than an hour and made appeals to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help. A group of officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release, according to CBS News.
Conflicting Accounts
The IDF offered a different version of events. A spokesperson told CBS News that troops received a report of Israeli civilians “unlawfully blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the media,” were dispatched to the scene, “quickly dispersed the Israeli civilians, and reopened the blocked road.” The IDF also said soldiers “did not take part in blocking the road,” and the “identity of the armed individual is currently under review.”
Khanna, however, posted on X that “when the [Israeli army] arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention,” as reported by Al Jazeera.
Political Fallout
The incident comes at a moment of intense debate within the Democratic Party over Israel policy. Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California who is “strongly considering” a 2028 presidential run, said the experience strengthened his resolve to challenge U.S. military aid to Israel.
“I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life,” Khanna told The New York Times. “Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes.”
According to Reuters/Ipsos polling cited by The Jerusalem Post, Israel’s favorability rating among Democrats fell from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May 2026. An increasing number of Democrats in Congress are pressing to cut off or condition U.S. military aid to Israel, which amounts to $3.8 billion per year.
Khanna and Republican Thomas Massie have been pushing for legislation to end U.S. military aid to Israel, though a vote on the bill was reportedly cancelled by the House Rules Committee.
Broader Context of Settler Violence
The incident occurred against a backdrop of surging settler violence in the West Bank. According to Amnesty International, the destruction of Khirbet Zanuta was part of a broader pattern of “state-backed ethnic cleansing” in the West Bank. The United Nations says more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the war began in October 2023.
On the same day Khanna’s report was published, Israel Police arrested four settlers for an alleged attack on a CNN news crew near the West Bank village of Sinjil.
What to Watch
Khanna’s detention has amplified questions about accountability for settler violence and the future of U.S.-Israel relations. With the November 2026 midterm elections approaching and the 2028 presidential race already taking shape, the incident could accelerate efforts in Congress to condition military aid and reshape the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel.
“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.