US Congressman Ro Khanna Detained by Israeli Settlers in West Bank

US Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna says he and his delegation were detained by armed Israeli settlers during a visit to the occupied West Bank. The incident occurred while Khanna's group was visiting the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet Zanuta in the southern West Bank, which Khanna described as a fact-finding mission to witness the aftermath of settler attacks on the hamlet.

According to Khanna's account, the detention lasted approximately 90 minutes. Khanna's group was in a van and was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles. The group was eventually released after contacting the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Israeli police, who intervened.

More than 700,000 Israelis reside in approximately 160 settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, established since Israel took control in 1967. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, including by the United Nations. An estimated 3.3 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside Israeli settlements.

Residents of Khirbet Zanuta were forced to leave following violent settler raids after the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, according to left-leaning outlets. West Bank restrictions that intensified significantly after October 7, 2023 have prevented the territory from developing a self-sustaining economy, and nearly 300,000 Palestinians have lost employment, according to reporting from The Guardian.

Khanna is a progressive Democratic congressman from California. Multiple outlets across the political spectrum note his public criticism of the war in Gaza and Israeli settlements in the West Bank, though they characterize his stance differently: left-leaning and center-left sources describe him as an "outspoken critic," while center-right Israeli outlet i24 News labels him "anti-Israel."

Khanna said he is considering running for president in 2028, and stated the trip made him more resolved to consider it. According to center-left outlets, Khanna stated that one reason for the Democratic Party's 2024 election defeat was its support for Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu during the war in Gaza, and that the DNC's postmortem report on the defeat did not mention Gaza.

The role of the Israel Defense Forces in the incident is disputed. Khanna and his aide Cameron Kasky assert that when IDF troops arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued the detention rather than protecting the congressional delegation. The IDF, in its statement, characterizes its troops as having dispersed the settlers and allowed the vehicles to proceed after receiving a report that settlers had blocked vehicles in the area near Khirbet Zanuta. These are directly contradictory accounts of the IDF's actions during the same event.

A June 2026 UN independent international commission of inquiry concluded that Israeli authorities deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the West Bank, according to left-leaning outlets. According to human rights organization Yesh Din, as reported by The Guardian, no Israeli has been indicted for the killing of a Palestinian since October 2023.