US Congressman Ro Khanna says he was detained by armed Israeli settlers during a recent trip in the occupied West Bank.
"Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine," Khanna, a Democrat from California, wrote on X.
"When the IDF arrived, they sided with the settlers & continued our detention," the congressman said, referring to the Israel Defence Forces.
Khanna also linked a New York Times article which states that a photographer for the paper present on the trip also witnessed the incident.
According to the report, Khanna was visiting the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta on Wednesday, a Palestinian village in the southern West Bank that has been abandoned due to growing settler attacks, when armed men pulled up in a car and began harassing the congressman and his delegation.
Two cars from the IDF then appeared, but instead of helping Khanna's group pass, they chatted with the men and moved a car to block the road after the settlers had left, according to the report.
Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna, also confirmed the incident on X, adding that Israeli soldiers "showed up to back up the settlers, not the US congressman".
"I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life," Khanna told the Times, which said that he was eventually allowed to continue his journey following calls to the US embassy and Israeli police.
"Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes."
In a statement on Saturday, a spokesperson for the Israeli military said that it had received a report of Israeli civilians unlawfully blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the news media near the village on Wednesday, the paper reported.
Troops were dispatched and reopened the road, the spokesperson said.
The military disputed that its soldiers had participated in blocking the exit and said that the identity of the armed civilian was being reviewed.
Since the Hamas-led massacre on October 7, 2023 in Israel and the ensuing Gaza war, violence by radical Israeli settlers against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank has increased significantly.
