Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) plans to capitalize on this incident: he was detained by armed settlers in the West Bank, and a New York Times reporter was there to document it all. Of course, he had a meltdown, but sir, you’re a congressman—take it a few notches down. This isn’t as if the US Ambassador or the vice president was detained, so take a chill pill. Second, why were you there? Yes, Khanna is mulling a presidential run, but my brother in Christ, I think there’s a little deflection going on here, and it involves Graham Platner (via NYT):
Ro Khanna, who for some reason was in the West Bank, is melting down over being detained pic.twitter.com/p1RSGruCgI
— DSA Watch (@DSA_Watch) July 11, 2026
He was looking to bank this photo op and by God, he banked this photo op. https://t.co/D3Vhr9li9G
— Liz Mair (@LizMair) July 11, 2026
Ro Khanna happened to have a NYT reporter traveling with him when he says he was detained by Israeli settlers in the West Bank this week. https://t.co/NpgzuRBmks
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) July 11, 2026
Ok I’m a Zionist now https://t.co/K83sxb0ne8
— The Drunk Republican (@DrunkRepub) July 11, 2026
On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Khanna, the congressman from Silicon Valley who is exploring a 2028 presidential run, was visiting the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta, a tiny Palestinian Bedouin village in the southern West Bank that was abandoned after escalating attacks from settlers and then demolished.
Suddenly, a car of men holding guns pulled up and blocked the narrow road out of the village. The men began taunting the congressman and his team, swearing at them in Hebrew and Arabic and kicking the tires of their minibus, according to accounts, photographs and video footage from Mr. Khanna, an aide and his security guard. A photographer for The New York Times traveling in a different vehicle also saw the interaction. Soon, a Jeep with more men arrived.
When two cars from the Israeli military pulled up, Mr. Khanna assumed the soldiers were there to help him pass. Instead, the soldiers smoked cigarettes, chatted with the men and after the settlers left, moved a car to block the road, he recounted.
“I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life,” said Mr. Khanna, who was eventually allowed to continue his journey after calls to the U.S. embassy and Israeli police. “Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes.”
[…]
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said that it had received a report of Israeli civilians unlawfully blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the news media near the village on Wednesday. Troops were dispatched and reopened the road, the spokesperson said. The military disputed that its soldiers had participated in blocking the exit and said that the identity of the armed civilian was being reviewed.
At a time when Israel is hemorrhaging support among Americans and particularly among Democrats, a tour of the West Bank is a new way for progressive politicians to signal their concern.
For decades, potential presidential aspirants made pilgrimages to Israel in hopes of burnishing their foreign policy credentials. Their trips followed a familiar itinerary: meetings with Israeli political leaders, sightseeing at the Western Wall, a tour of an Israel city damaged by Palestinian rocket fire and visits with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah, a city in the West Bank. The goal was to demonstrate their commitment to the United States’ special relationship with a longtime ally.
[…]
“In Palestine, I felt first as someone who was brown,” he said. “We really saw the apartheidlike conditions, the inequality.”
He added: “No American would support this if they knew the details of what was going on here.”
First, no, Khanna, we’d still support Israel because we’re not idiots like you. Arab-Israelis have voting rights, can be elected president or prime minister, and face no barriers to job opportunities. If you must use the word apartheid, understand its meaning—black South Africans under that system had no rights that are guaranteed to all Israeli citizens. Second, and it’s not like you didn’t know this, but this was prime content to gin up more hate against Israel from the progressive Left.
I’m not going to discount anything, but please—I’m just rolling my eyes at this whole circus.
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