Ro Khanna, the Democratic Representative from California, announced that he was detained by Israeli settlers during a visit to the West Bank. Khanna recounted the incident to the Reuters news agency.
He stated that on Wednesday, while they were in a village in the southern West Bank where Palestinians frequently face settler attacks, their minibus was surrounded by settlers carrying US-made M4 rifles. Khanna said, 'We were in a village, Israeli settlers had destroyed the village, demolished the school. We were just looking. Then these thugs came with machine guns - M4, American-made machine guns - and detained us. They blocked the road. Then they called the Israeli army, and the army sided with them, not the Americans.'
Cameron Kasky, an aide on Khanna's team, said they were detained for over an hour and sought help from the US Embassy in Jerusalem. He added that they were released after the intervention of a group that appeared to be police officers.
The Israeli army said in a statement that soldiers and police officers arrived at the scene after a report that settlers were blocking vehicles near Hirbet Zanuta, and dispersed the Israeli civilians, allowing the vehicles to continue on their way.
The Democratic Representative described Israel's actions in Gaza as 'genocide' and its practices in the West Bank as 'apartheid.' Khanna, who said he is strongly considering running in the 2028 presidential election, stated that this trip strengthened his resolve.
Ahead of the November midterm elections in the US, Israel's Palestine policy has become a major topic of debate within the Democratic Party. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, Israel's favorability rating among Democratic voters dropped from 59 percent in 2018 to 22 percent in May of this year.
Israel receives $3.8 billion in annual military aid from the US. This package includes light weapons such as M4 rifles, as well as missile defense systems used against Iran. A growing number of Democratic members of Congress are calling for this aid to be conditioned or cut.
Ro Khanna stated that he deliberately chose a trip focused solely on the West Bank and organized by Palestinians, saying that his party's establishment is 'unaware of how great a moral test Palestine, Gaza, and Israel have become.'
