US Congressman Ro Khanna has reported being detained for approximately 90 minutes by armed Israeli settlers during a visit to the occupied West Bank. The 49-year-old Democrat, who is reportedly considering a presidential bid in 2028, stated that he and his team were surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles last Wednesday. The incident unfolded as they visited the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta, a site Khanna described as a village that settlers had destroyed.
Writing on social media platform X, Khanna claimed that when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) arrived, they "sided with the settlers and continued our detention." An aide accompanying Khanna indicated that appeals were made to the US Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance during their detention, with release eventually secured after the intervention of police officers. The Israeli military, in a statement, confirmed that troops and police officers responded to reports of settlers blocking vehicles in the area, stating that upon arrival, they "dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to continue on their way."
Khanna's visit was part of a fact-finding mission to observe the impact of the Israeli occupation in the region. He described the scene: "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. 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."
The West Bank and East Jerusalem have been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war. Since then, Israel has constructed approximately 160 settlements, which house an estimated 700,000 Jewish residents. These settlements are considered illegal under international law. Around 3.3 million Palestinians reside in the same areas, which Palestinians envision, along with Gaza, as part of a future independent state.
This incident highlights the ongoing tensions and complexities in the occupied Palestinian territories. The presence and actions of Israeli settlers, alongside the role of the Israeli military, remain a significant point of contention internationally. For the UK, such events underscore the challenges to regional stability and the difficulties in achieving a lasting peace settlement.