US Congressman Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, has accused the Israeli government and military of "lying" about his detention by armed settlers and Israeli soldiers during a visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Khanna shared video evidence on social media showing Israeli settlers and soldiers blocking his convoy on Wednesday, July 8th, 2026, near the village of Zanuta in the South Hebron hills. Amnesty International has described the displacement of Palestinians in this area as a government-backed "ethnic cleansing campaign."

During a Sunday, July 12th, 2026 interview on NBC News' Meet the Press, Khanna rejected the Israeli military's claim that soldiers "quickly dispersed" the settlers and reopened the blocked road, stating, "The IDF is lying. What happened was unprecedented."

Khanna also responded to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's characterization of the armed settlers as a small band of "juvenile delinquents," calling for an investigation into these settlers, specifically naming Yinon Levi, an Israeli settler linked to violence against Palestinians in the region.

Israeli officials countered Khanna's account by saying he had rejected their efforts to shape his visit, including a proposed meeting with former Israeli hostages held in Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. In a Sunday interview on CBS News' Face the Nation, Israel's US-born ambassador to the US, Michael Leiter, accused Khanna of using the visit as a political stunt to distract from his past support of Graham Platner, a former Maine US Senate candidate accused of sexual assault, and to bolster a potential 2028 presidential run.

Leiter questioned the timing of Khanna's revelation of the detention, noting the incident occurred on Wednesday but was only made public on Saturday. After it was noted that Khanna requested the news be held until he left Israeli-controlled territory, Leiter further accused him of appealing to Democratic voters in the US through the visit.

Sources