Nothing says "I'm ready to be president" quite like getting surrounded by armed settlers in the middle of the desert for 90 minutes. California Rep. Ro Khanna, the progressive Democrat who represents Silicon Valley, is now floating a 2028 White House bid after what might be the wildest congressional field trip in recent memory. As first reported by Trending Views, Khanna and his delegation were detained by armed Israeli settlers near the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet Zanuta in the southern West Bank on July 8.
The group had been looking at the ruins of a destroyed village, including a demolished school, when settlers rolled up and blocked the road with vehicles. The settlers were reportedly carrying American-made M4 rifles, which really adds a nice layer of irony when the people on the receiving end are American elected officials.
Khanna did not mince words when talking to Reuters about the encounter. "We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it. And these hoodlums come in with machine guns, M4, an American-made machine gun, and they detain us," he said. "They block off the road. And then they call the IDF and the IDF is on their side, not on the side of the Americans."
According to The New York Times, the settlers also taunted the group, swore at them in Hebrew and Arabic, and kicked the tires of their minibus. When two Israeli military vehicles showed up, the soldiers reportedly chatted with the settlers first and then one of them moved a vehicle to further block the road. So that went well.
The whole standoff lasted about 90 minutes before an aide contacted the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and Israeli police finally stepped in to get them out. Khanna noted he is "certainly probably the first American politician who's been detained by the IDF and Israeli settlers." That is one heck of a campaign trail story.
Khanna used the experience to highlight what ordinary Palestinians deal with on a regular basis. "If they will do this to an American congressman, imagine what is happening to Palestinian families who are just trying to live," he said. He also stated he expects Israel to prosecute the settlers involved and any IDF soldiers who participated in the incident.
The three day trip was organized by Khanna's own staff and focused entirely on the West Bank, including meetings with Palestinian residents and a stop in Turmus Ayya, a village near Ramallah that is home to many Palestinian-American dual nationals.
Whether this actually turns into a presidential campaign is anyone's guess. But you have to admit, "I got detained at gunpoint by guys with American rifles and the military backed them up" is a pretty unique stump speech opener. Most politicians just kiss babies and eat corn dogs at the state fair.
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