2026-07-11T14:43:02+00:00
Shafaq News- Washington
US Representative Ro Khanna revealed on Saturday that armed
Israeli settlers detained him during a recent visit to the occupied West Bank,
where he was touring a Palestinian village that has faced repeated settler
attacks.
Speaking from a Palestinian village, the California Democrat
told Reuters that settlers carrying US-made M4 rifles surrounded the van
transporting his delegation while they were visiting an area in the southern
West Bank. “We were in a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed. They
destroyed the school and the village,” Khanna said, adding that “these hoodlums
come in with machine guns and block off the road.”
Cameron Kasky, one of Khanna’s aides who was part of the
delegation, said the group was held for more than an hour and appealed to the US
Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance, adding that a group of officers who
appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release.
The Israeli military responded that soldiers and police came
after receiving reports that Israeli settlers were blocking vehicles near
Khirbet Zanuta, a small Palestinian village whose residents were forcibly
displaced following settler attacks after Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel.
Khanna is the second Democratic politician considered a
potential 2028 presidential candidate to visit the region this week. On
Wednesday, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said in Tel Aviv that
Israeli policies toward Palestinians were undermining support for the US-Israel
alliance.
Israel’s policies toward Palestinians have become an
increasingly divisive issue within the Democratic Party ahead of the US midterm
elections in November. Several incumbent Democrats have lost primary elections
to progressive challengers who accused them of supporting Israel’s right-wing
government.
Meanwhile, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Democratic
support for Israel fell from 59% in 2018 to 22% in May.
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