New Actor: Ro Khanna Detained by Israeli Settlers in West

On July 8 at the ruins of Khirbet Zanuta in the southern West Bank, Rep. Ro Khanna and a small delegation were blocked in by armed Israeli settlers. Cars were parked across a narrow dirt road and men with M4‑style rifles surrounded their van for roughly 75 to 90 minutes. The settlers laughed, taunted, kicked the tires, and filmed through the windows.

Soldiers arrived during the standoff. Khanna says they sided with the settlers and kept the vehicles in place; the army says troops dispersed the civilians, reopened the road, and that the soldiers did not help block it, adding that the identity of one armed man is under review. Khanna contacted the U.S. Embassy from the van and later thanked an embassy official for help.

After about an hour the cars moved and the group left; police then told them not to return to the area under threat of arrest. Khanna is pressing for charges against the settlers and the four soldiers involved. Israel is now reviewing at least one armed settler’s identity, and the episode puts a public dispute on the record over what the soldiers did at the scene.

AI-synthesized from multiple reported sources