US Congressman Slams Israeli Settlers After 90‑Minute Detention in West Bank
US Congressman Ro Khanna says he was detained for 90 minutes by armed Israeli settlers during a fact‑finding tour of the occupied West Bank. The congressman, who is 49, claimed that his van and team were surrounded by settlers wielding American‑made M4 rifles.
Khanna posted on X that when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) arrived, the soldiers “sided with the settlers and continued our detention”. The IDF later confirmed that it had dispersed the settlers and allowed the vehicles to move on, noting it had acted after receiving a report that settlers had blocked the road.
The incident took place as Khanna visited the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta, a village heavily damaged by Israeli settlement activity. Khanna said, “We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed; we were just looking at it.”
During the detention, aides appealed to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for assistance, and police eventually released the group after a security intervention.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem now house an estimated 700,000 Jews and are deemed illegal under international law. Roughly 3.3 million Palestinians live alongside these settlements, which have been a flashpoint in the ongoing conflict since the 1967 war.
