U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)

Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna demanded prosecution of the armed settlers and soldiers who allegedly detained him in the West Bank.

Settlers carrying American-made M4 rifles blocked Khanna’s van Wednesday, near a demolished Palestinian village, he told Kristen Welker on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sided with the settlers when they arrived, Khanna said. His group was held for roughly 75 minutes before being released. The IDF rejects Khanna’s claims, according to The Associated Press.

“The IDF is lying. What happened was unprecedented,” Khanna said, recalling the incident.

“They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official. You had these settlers brandishing M4s, kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us. We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful of our lives,” he told Welker.

“Then the IDF comes, four soldiers. They tell our translator that they’re on the side of the settlers. They further detain us and block us in. We had to call the American Embassy,” Khanna added. “And 75 minutes after the detention by the IDF soldiers and by these settlers, we were let through.”

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Israeli citizens were “unlawfully blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the media,” an IDF spokesperson said, according to CBS News. “[T]he identity of the armed individual is currently under review,” the IDF told Newsweek.

“We’re a country of laws, and people who break the law, we take them to court,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier in that “Meet the Press” episode. “[The settlers are] 99.9 percent … law-abiding citizens,” he added. “There are 150 juvenile delinquents that are not part of that community. They come from the other parts of Israel. I don’t want vigilantes of any kind. And we are working to put them under the law.”

“The prime minister needs to open an investigation on these violent settlers who are connected to Yinon Levi, who has destroyed Zanuta’s village [Khirbet Zanuta] and is a known person who has killed Palestinians,” Khanna later said in response.

Prosecutors announced their intention to charge Israeli settler Yinon Levi with reckless homicide in February, The Times of Israel reported. Levi allegedly shot and killed Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist, in July 2025.

“And these settlers were connected to him. They need to be prosecuted in colluding Yinon Levi. Their outpost needs to be investigated and he needs to have an investigation on these four IDF officers,” Khanna said. “How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way.”

Khanna’s three-day tour of the West Bank made him “more resolved” to consider a 2028 presidential run, he told Reuters.

Leftist millionaire congressman claims he was unlawfully detained in West Bank

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