US Democrat Ro Khanna detained by Israeli settlers during West Bank visit
“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,” said Khanna, a progressive lawmaker from California in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. 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,” Khanna said, referring to the Israeli military.
An aide to Khanna who was in the group, Cameron Kasky, said they were held for more than an hour and made appeals to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help. A group of officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release, Kasky said.
104 replies
Stop using the word "settlers". It's a propaganda term meant to invoke an image of unclaimed, unoccupied territory.
They're burglars, robbers, and invaders. That's what you'd call someone who came to your house, stole your shit, and said it was theirs.
"Settler" is the word used to protect them.
In North America settler has a very obvious negative connotation.
Native American here: yes they do not like being called “settlers” they prefer “real white Americans”
We're referring to two different meanings here.
A settler, as in, someone who comes to settle land that has been emptied through war, disease, genocide, etc. This one, we see as negative
And settler in opposition to native. Of course in that sense it's not negative. At least, I, as a settler, don't see it as negative, it's just a neutral descriptive and useful term.
Please explain how 2. is any different from 1., as the "war", the diseases and the genocide all happened in direct opposition to the natives?
There's nothing neutral about the term.
E: Also, curious how the settler explains to the native, what the term settlers means.
2 is different because it's a term used nowadays, as in your reply. I've never uprooted myself and went somewhere empty to build a house. So, I'm not a settler in the first sense. I'm a settler in the second sense, as I'm not part of any native nation.
You gotta step outside of your college educated bubble and talk to the average person. There's a reason they use it.
And you should probably take your head out of your ass.
The reason the right is winning right now is because they know propaganda better than you.
Americans are very proud of their settler colonial founding...
It's not propaganda though? "Settler-Colonialism" is the term for what Israel is doing.
In The Wretched of The Earth by Frantz Fanon, essentially the ur text about anti-colonial movements, he regularly refers to settlers in a negative light.
Do you understand how far detached this is from the average American?
You're right, Americans are all illiterate, and cower in fear, if you show them a book
So you don't. Step outside your college educated bubble and talk to an average working class person.
In my mind, bc they always call them Israeli settlers, the word has morphed to mean all the things you listed. Also bc historically whenever a country would “settle” somewhere, it usually meant “colonize.” Like when people came over and “settled” in America
Yeah, but let's think about the couched language here, I can settle into that couch, but if I murder and pillage into the couch I'm not using soft language to placate fucking nazis
theyve actually changed the meaning of the word settlers from now on. I think Israelis will go down in history in a similar way as the nazis did.
Israeli settlers are the worst people on this planet.
Settlers isn't correct though, more like Israeli raiders. Israeders, if you will.
Invaders?
I fucking wish Iran would flatten every single Israeli settlement.
This is what I expect our leaders to do. People with far less privilege have been putting their lives on the line while congressional chuckle fucks write stern letters.
I don't agree with all his positions, and he does take a lot of money from big tech, but his heart is absolutely in the right place. He is a real public servant.
Not any more, he's been supporting the billionaire tax here so all the big tech money is turning against him.
Oh nice. I had looked on opensecrets and it showed a fair bit, but that must have been from a while back then. https://www.opensecrets.org/profiles/ro-khanna/us_congress/summary
Under Biden, our leaders had the capacity to preempt the genocide, remove the Netanyahu government from power, and establish a full sovereign Palestinian state.
This is very dangerous. And it's definitely bringing more attention to a horror show that's fallen out of the public eye. But it's a far cry from what the party needs to be doing
When do you think this genocide actually started?
That just sounds like more of the same. I want us to stop spending money on war in the middle east entirely. No more world police bullshit.
If we stopped giving Israel money they would either figure out how to make peace with their neighbors or they'd be attacked by them. Either way the Palestine issue would be solved.
I don't the US will stop meddling any time soon, but it'd be nice
With the tight link between the US and Israel, I think we'd need a regime change at home before we saw any progress abroad.
How would we "remove" Netanyahu from power? And why the hell should we? It isn't our job to fuck over another country's democracy just because we don't like the result.
I agree with stopping the war in Gaza but miss me with the regime change stuff.
We can start with economic sanctions and go from there.
US Congressman KIDNAPPED by Israeli supported terrorists in the West Bank.
God I hate these fucking passive language titles that are only ever used to describe Israeli's crimes.
Kidnapped at gunpoint
Better than being kidnapped from a tank!.
If you know, you know.
Headlines these days are annoying as hell! Constantly using words like SLAMMED, DESTROYED, HUMILIATED, SHOCKED etc. Always passive aggressive AF.
It reminds me of the I opening scene in Space Oddesey 2001. Humans create tools that make life easier, tools then become weapons to go to war against humanity itself.
Why the fuck do we tolerate this?
Would it be acceptable for a fucking Mexican Cartel to kidnap congressmen who go to the border on a fact-finding trip?
Because Zionists have money and sway in American politics.
And they have the bullshit accusation of anti Semitism to stop anyone talking about it.
If anyone ever calls you anti Semitic for criticizing Zionists, just tell them you have nothing at all against Akkadians, Phoenicians, Arabs, Hebrews, and Ethiopians who don't espouse genocidal ideologies.
And lots and lots of blackmail from filming members of the American elites raping children as well as from all sorts of evidence of criminality I'm sure they caught with the smartphone hacking they've been doing over the years.
The Epstein network didn't set itself up and the various companies based in Israel selling hacking of smartphones services for governments don't just appear out of nowhere.
More like because Zionists enact US foreign policy and make it possible for western imperialism to destabilize the Middle East, which would otherwise oppose imperial interests. Israel is the puppet, not the US.
If this happened we'd probably bomb Cuba or Venezuela again for some reason.
I think that's a poor comparison because the cartel are illegal in Mexico while the settlers are legal in Israel - and I don't meant that positively! The IDF were even present during this kidnapping, just for context.
Well I'm not surprised that the war criminals would side with terrorists
Boy our allies sure are great! I'd say we better pick our next ally carefully!
So this is a fucking act of war at this point. Anyone supporting Israel is a fucking nutsack.
Edit: Ok so it’s not an act of war but some truly egregious fuckery and if you support Israel you’re still a rotten nutsack.
Democratic Rep. Khanna says Israeli settlers and IDF soldiers blockaded him in West Bank for over an hour
Even worse happened to those flotilla activists, who wanted to bring aid and food to palestinians, and then u get raped and tortured by IDF, and trump protects the rape and torture from european sanctions ofcourse... sad world, good this representative is checking it and showing people what happends when u wanna show an objective truth... IDF hates the objective truth, cause they need false narratives for them to have a fake reason to use violence, smh
Not surprised, especially from an apartheid state.
Water is wet. While US and Germany keep allowing they will continue doing whatever they want.
Nah. fuck that guy.
You people are such fucking idiots…
Zionist detained by Zionist is pretty funny, NGL. 😂
Ah yes, classic Zionist rhetoric
He stopped taking naked aipac money and is now taking it from a superpac that hides it.
Specific names and amounts?
All you're going to get is links that mean nothing and a promise to provide evidence later.
OP is a liar and IDK why you're bothering to engage.
Unless someone has really caught my attention I usually don’t pay attention to or remember usernames tbh
Op has a life with other things to do than argue with infantile minds who can't* do an iota of critical thinking or reading. Ftfy
Still waiting on all that sweet evidence you promised and have yet to deliver.
https://forward.com/fast-forward/777256/ro-khanna-democratic-critic-of-israel-says-he-supports-zionism-and-the-right-for-israel-to-exist/
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/30/aipac-campaigns-elections-israel-congress/
Can't* ftfy
Thank you.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J_Street
https://jstreetpac.org/candidate/ro-khanna/
This is one. superpac that hides... I'll look later, if .world mods haven't removed it.
You’ve shown they have a page for other people to donate money to him, not the PAC itself, and not how much he’s received. I’ll wait for actual evidence.
You're describing every PAC. Khanna can still deny the money.
I’m still waiting for anyone to show me how much money he’s received. Or explain why I should be upset about what amounts to a gofundme page.
You are disingenuous. A Zionist org support Khanna. Why?
Go ask them. Maybe they can also give you those numbers you swore you were looking up.
For anyone who doesn’t know about the TrackAIPAC website, it’s keeps track of which congressmen and candidates take aipac money. Khanna has signed the peace pledge and does not support Israel
It only tracks AIPAC money though. Bernie is taking J-street money and is somehow still green. TrackAIPAC is very corrupt.
No Bernie is a hardcore Zionist.
https://youtu.be/nC6xiDKnMzA?t=23s
Yes, classic liberal Zionist rhetoric.
He's towing the party line, and the Democratic Party is very much a Zionist organisation. He doesn't like the optics of the genocide, blames the current regime and complains about the lost support of the younger generation and that a foreign prime minister sits in the holy US-American situation room, as only US-American presidents decide which war crimes (in the name of the USA) are to be made. He what's to reduce open pro Israel spending, as he's advocating America First ideology.
He's supporting the Zionist project. Stop coping.
We could use more ‘Zionists’ that denounce genocide, apartheid, and go to Palestine to draw attention to the issue 🤷♂️ I’m not impressed by you trotting out the party position and blaming it on him personally, especially when he’s specifically calling out his own party in the article I guess you didn’t read. What has he said and done that’s Zionist?
Yes, it's a good thing he calls the things that are the things that are, after almost 3 years of relentless barbarism, I'd say that's approaching the bare minimum threshold. clap clap. I don't give a shit, what position he takes in his Zionist party in order to shape the brand of said party to soften the outrage of their voter base and position himself as the reasonable presidential candidate.
He expresses support for a political ideology based on racism, aiming for an ethno-nationalist state.
He repeatedly supports the notion of a "right to exist", which is not a real thing; it's only an argument in the context of defending the Zionist project. He's proclaiming a right to exist for a settler colonial project based on ethnic cleansing and occupation of Palestinian land.
He expresses support for an etno-nationalist idea and also conflated anti-semitism with anti-zionism, which itself is anti-semitic.
Previously, I quoted him expressing support for a two-state solution under Israeli term. A two-state solution that requires Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state enshrines its ethno-nationalist character. A "demilitarized" Palestinian state would lack genuine sovereignty while Israel retains full military capacity—making it a subordinate entity, not a state of equals. The very premise accepts the legitimacy of a Jewish state on Palestinian land.
As I already quoted several things he said that are Zionist by definition in my previous comment, I suspect you don't really have an understanding of what it even means. I'm not willing to descent into some back-and-forth with a person that's primarily looking for excuses. Either learn, or stop pretending.
On Zionism:
Interview:
Let them praise him. He doesn't have to be an antizionist. He's a symbol of antizionism here. That's whats being praised.
Like, I have my criticisms of the "two state - right to exist" Liberals. But, what did you expect progress to look like comrade? The same Liberals that spent years talking about October 7th in every sentence and "right to defend itself". Those liberals are being forced to acknowledge the crimes of Israel. This is a win. You're making those that advocate for Palestinians look unreasonable and irrational.
I understand being upset at these libs. I understand why you still call him a Zionist. But, my friend, please, we have a long way to go still; criticizing a Congressman felt a fraction of a fraction of the oppression Palestinians feel every day in the West Bank. It's not productive in this context. There are plenty of context to criticize him. The libs see this and dislike Israel. Just let that be the discussion.
Apartheid South Africa ended when the liberals of the West were finally forced by activist and leftist into performative things just like this. This is a good sign. Let it happen.
The liberals praising anything against Israel is good. We're gonna have to cringe and bite our tongue when they treat Congressman as heroic for this. They are treating action against Israel as a positive. They are treating West Bank settlers as enemies. That's amazing. Remember where we came from just three years ago; and where we are today. They'll understand your current criticism one day. But this is not the context in which to educate them.
Weird plea, sorry. This post has more than enough praise for the guy. I'm merely stating facts to rebuke naive or false narratives and to stop Zionist normalization. It's not my job to appease Liberals or refrain from stating inconvenient truths.
Some Libs might see this and break through. Let it happen.
I don't give a shit about congressmen in the imperialist core and I'm certainly not going to support controlled opposition of a system I reject outright. This system has to end. Fuck off.
My "plea" is simply that when you talk to people that are ripe for radicalization, you ask yourself first "is this helpful" rather than just caring only about "being correct".
It's the "coffee shop" test mate. If you overheard a conversation about the OP in a coffee shop would you bust in and start screaming about how much of a Zionist the Congressman is? Or would you act like a normal human being and try to meet people where they are at? You don't convince people that are just finally becoming critical of Israel of your (our) position by not first acknowledging where they are correct in their thinking. We are humans. They're gonna close their minds when you say shit like this. You're not saying something to be helpful. You're saying something to be "shocking" to them for your own self self aggrandizement.
You started this with "the zionist is getting attacked by Zionist". You said that for yourself. You only started "educating" people after you got the reaction you were looking for. So you could argue with someone that would never agree with you because you essentially screamed at them in a coffee shop.
I'm literally commenting here in response to you only because of how badly you're communicating something I agree with. I don't think I deserve a "fuck off" for that. But, I guess if you were good at communicating we wouldn't have gotten to that point in the first place.
You‘re ridiculous. Please stop wasting my time with your fantasy arguments.
You need to go outside mate. I'm not reading all that. You're proving my point of being bad at communicating with people. THATS MY CRITICISM. Which you didn't address from a quick glance of your novel. You're doing the thing I'm critizing you for. Good day.
This is why people don't leave their abusers. They keep listening to what they say, instead of watching what they do.
Ro Khanna literally went to the West Bank to experience things first hand where he was effectively kidnapped by Israeli terrorists and the IDF. Is that not doing?
Theatre.
Next up we’re gonna have my little boi Bernie telling us it’s wrong to own stolen land. Ehi ehi, why aren’t you clapping him?