Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said Israeli settlers detained him while visiting the West Bank.

“Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine. When the IDF arrived, they sided with the settlers & continued our detention. They made a huge mistake. You will be hearing more soon,” Khanna said.

More from The New York Times:

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.

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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.”

Mr. Khanna said the experience was the most frightening part of a three-day trip organized by a member of his staff.

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.

“The arrogance of those young IDF soldiers that my tax dollars are funding, having no respect for the fact that they were detaining Americans. No respect that there was an American congressperson in that bus and laughing when our translator told them that there are Americans there, and the American Embassy is concerned,” Khanna said.

“Being in the West Bank and in Israel is the first time that I have really been acutely aware of being brown. I feel like people have seen me first as brown, second as an American congressman, and third, as an American citizen,” he continued.

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CBS News shared further:

U.S. politicians from both sides of the aisle have visited the West Bank since the war in Gaza was sparked by a massive attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. House Speaker Mike Johnson visited the territory in September 2025 and dined with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Democrats Chris van Hollen and Jeff Merkley, of Maryland and Oregon, respectively, toured the region in August 2025.

Several nations that have supported Israel during the war in Gaza criticized the country after IDF troops fired what they called “warning shots” near a group of diplomats visiting the territory in May 2025. The delegation included representatives from the European Union, Japan and Russia. The IDF said the shots were fired after the group wandered off an approved route and entered a restricted area.

The United Nations said in May that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem since the war began. CBS News has met Palestinian residents and Israeli activists in the West Bank who say violent attacks by Israeli settlers have increased significantly since the war in Gaza began, including attacks that have driven people from their land. Israel has also continued to expand its settlements in the territory.

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