Free Republic

The US congressman Ro Khanna says armed Israeli settlers detained him during a visit to the Israel-occupied West Bank recently, describing the experience as a first-hand view of the realities faced by Palestinians living under occupation. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday from a Palestinian village, the progressive US House Democrat from California said his detention happened the previous day while his delegation visited an area of the southern West Bank that has experienced repeated attacks by Israeli settlers. Khanna recounted how settlers carrying US-made M4 rifles surrounded the group’s van. “We were at a village that Israeli settlers...

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is extremely upset after being detained in the West Bank by armed Israeli settlers. This incident took place last Wednesday, but Khanna and The New York Times chose to report on it Saturday. Why Khanna was even there is another question. The 2028 election is still a long way off, and this soft launch was, frankly, awkward. The stunt got nuked by Israeli Ambassador Dr. Michael Leiter, who cooked Khanna’s stunt on CBS’ Face the Nation yesterday. Additionally, the California liberal was in a restricted military zone where civilians were not allowed. Lastly, Khanna refused to...

The army's account has one armed man. His tweet has settlers, plural, brandishing rifles. Somebody's description is wrong, and it can be checked. When Shabbat went out on Saturday night, I turned on my phone and found what everyone else in Israeli media found: Ro Khanna – a congressman from California – telling two million people that Israeli settlers with American-made M4s detained him in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and that when the IDF showed up, the soldiers sided with the settlers and kept him there. My first reaction was anger at the men who blocked that road....