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As rights advocates decry the detention of United States Congressman Ro Khanna by armed Israeli settlers, Israel and its allies are launching political attacks to discredit the progressive legislator.
Israeli officials have already ruled out apologising to Khanna or holding the settlers accountable. Instead, several have gone on the offensive against the congressman.
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Khanna said he was travelling to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday when armed settlers stopped his van for ۲۰ minutes. The settlers were later joined by Israeli soldiers who continued to block the road.
The whole ordeal lasted more than an hour, according to Khanna, and was only resolved after he reached out to the US embassy in Israel.
On Sunday, Michael Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, appeared to blame Khanna for the mistreatment he received, saying that the California Democrat had failed to coordinate his trip with the Israeli government.
“He decided to coordinate his trip not with Israel, but with Palestinian activists and with J Street,” Leiter told CBS News, referencing a Jewish nonprofit.
Leiter went on to claim, without evidence, that Khanna may have waited to release his video of Wednesday’s incident to distract from his support for politician Graham Platner.
Platner dropped out of the Senate race in Maine on Friday amid sexual misconduct allegations. Khanna published his video on Saturday.
“Maybe this had more something to do with his support of Graham Platner beforehand and the difficulties he had with that, and trying to shift the focus to something else. Perhaps? I’m asking a question,” Leiter said.
Khanna is not backing down, however. He said he did inform Israel of his travel and has called for the arrest of settlers who held up his van.
Khanna responds
The Israeli military has disputed Khanna’s version of the events, saying that it “dispersed” civilians who were blocking the road. But in an appearance on Sunday with NBC News, Khanna refuted that account.
“The [Israeli military] is lying,” Khanna said.
“What happened was unprecedented. They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official. You had these settlers brandishing M۴s [rifles], kicking the tyres of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us.”
He added that the Israeli military participated in blocking their path and detaining them.
“How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?” Khanna said.
Pro-Israel politicians, however, claimed that Khanna provoked his own detention by carrying out a political stunt.
“Sounds like another plea for publicity. Anything to get in front of the camera. Why else would you be there? It isn’t your country,” Republican Congressman Greg Murphy wrote in a social media post.
Critics were quick to point out that Murphy’s first trip as part of a congressional delegation was to Israel.
Khanna also responded to Murphy, urging him to be on “Team America” and join the push for any settlers and soldiers who mistreat US citizens to face consequences.
“I would be calling for that if you had been in our shoes,” Khanna said.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson was among those who came to Khanna’s defence. He criticised Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, for failing to speak out about the incident.
“An American member of congress is threatened by foreign terrorists carrying American rifles, backed by a foreign military paid for by American taxpayers, and the US ambassador to that country says not a word in defense of his own countryman,” Carlson wrote on the social media platform X.
“It’s too much, too insulting and humiliating to America.”
Still, many pro-Israel figures in the US expressed scepticism about Khanna’s experience. David Friedman, a former US envoy to Israel, accused Khanna of “self-victimization”.
Friedman argued, without evidence, that Khanna had purposely entered a restricted zone to provoke the incident.
“As was entirely predictable, he was asked a few questions and sent on his way. But he got the photo op and all he needed for his pre-conceived false narrative,” Friedman said in a social media post. “Well played Ro.”
Several other pro-Israel advocates echoed that take.
Attacks on US citizens
Israel’s military and settler presence in the occupied West Bank is illegal under international law.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in ۲۰۲۴ that the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory, including Gaza, is unlawful.
“Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the top United Nations tribunal said.
Israeli settlers – often under the protection of the Israeli military – regularly attack Palestinian communities in the West Bank, ransacking farms and property and assaulting people who come in their way. That includes Americans.
One year ago, for instance, Israeli settlers beat ۲۰-year-old US citizen Sayfollah Musallet to death.
Three weeks later, another American citizen, a father of five from Chicago named Khamis Ayyad, was also killed in a settler attack.
No suspects have been charged with crimes after the two attacks.
Despite well-documented abuses against US citizens, Israel was added to the US visa waiver programme in ۲۰۲۳, allowing Israelis to travel visa-free to the US.
Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US military aid in history, having received more than $۲۱bn in the last two years alone.
