A U.S. Democratic congressman was detained by armed Israeli settlers for a time while visiting the West Bank, before he and his aide were released after police intervention.
On 11 Jul 2026, Ro Khanna, a 49-year-old U.S. Democratic congressman, revealed that he was held for 90 minutes by a fully armed group of Israeli settlers during his visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Khanna told Reuters that the incident occurred last Wednesday (8 Jul) while he and his team were inside a van surrounded by settlers carrying M4 rifles during a visit to the ruins of the village Khirbet Zanuta on a fact-finding mission to assess the impact of Israeli occupation.
“We were at a village destroyed by Israeli settlers. They destroyed the school and the village, and we were just walking around,” Khanna said on X.
“Then these thugs came with M4s—American-made rifles—and detained us. They blocked the road and called the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), and the IDF was on their side, not on the side of the Americans.”
However, the Israeli military stated that soldiers and police acted after reports of settlers blocking vehicles in the area. "Upon arrival, officers dispersed the Israeli civilians and allowed the vehicles to proceed," the statement said.
An aide traveling with Khanna said they requested assistance from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem while detained and were released after police intervened.
Since occupying the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel has established about 160 settlements housing approximately 700,000 Jewish settlers, despite international opposition, as the West Bank is claimed by Palestinians to form part of a future state alongside Gaza.
Furthermore, settlement construction is considered illegal under international law, but Israel has consistently ignored this.
Source:bbc