Rep. Ro Khanna said he was briefly detained by Israeli settlers brandishing assault rifles during a visit this week to a southern part of the West Bank.
The California Democrat recounted the experience in interviews with The New York Times and Reuters. He told the Times he was touring Khirbet Zanuta, a destroyed Palestinian village that was abandoned by residents following attacks by Israeli settlers, on Wednesday afternoon when a car appeared with armed men.
The men swore in Hebrew and Arabic at Khanna and his group, he said. Khanna said the men carried M4s, a type of assault rifle manufactured in the United States, and blocked the road for over an hour. The settlers then called the Israel Defense Forces, who Khanna said sided with the settlers. In videos posted by Khanna to social media, a man in military uniform and another in civilian clothing with a firearm can be seen talking with one another.
An Israeli military spokesperson told the Times on Saturday that it had received a report of Israeli citizens unlawfully blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the press near the village on Wednesday. The military disputed that it had participated in blocking their exit and said dispatched troops had reopened the road.
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Khanna aide Cameron Kasky told Reuters his group was detained for more than an hour and that they requested assistance from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. The group was released after officers from what appeared to be Israeli law enforcement intervened, Kasky said.
Khanna told Reuters his visit to the West Bank was to provide him with an understanding of how Israeli occupation has impacted the area, and that the incident furthered his resolve to consider a presidential run in 2028.
Four settlers were arrested on Saturday after a separate incident involving an attack on CNN and other journalists in the West Bank.
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