Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and a delegation including congressional aide Cameron Kasky visited the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet Zanuta in the occupied West Bank on July 9, 2026. The group had gone to see a school that settlers demolished in 2023. On the way out, settlers carrying M4 assault rifles blocked their vehicles, brandished their weapons, and prevented the group from leaving for 75-90 minutes. Kasky called the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem; police eventually intervened and freed them.

1. The IDF Stood With the Settlers, and There's Video (Rep. Ro Khanna, Cameron Kasky)

Khanna's camp says this wasn't a citizen dispute that got resolved — IDF soldiers sided with the settlers, and U.S. weapons made it possible.

The settlers blocked the group at gunpoint for over an hour. The settlers — allegedly from the Hilltop Youth extremist group — carried M4 assault rifles and "brandished their rifles, laughed and yelled taunts" the whole time. Cameron Kasky, a Parkland shooting survivor who works for Khanna, described the moment the IDF arrived: "I'm a Jewish school shooting survivor, and I'm sitting here looking at Jewish kids who have the eyes of a school shooter."

The soldiers didn't free them. Khanna and Kasky say that when IDF soldiers arrived, they "laughed, talked, and smoked with the settlers" while the group remained blocked. Kasky says he has it on video. The group was only freed after Kasky called the U.S. Embassy.

Those M4s are American. The U.S. gives Israel $3.8 billion per year in military aid under a 2019-2028 Memorandum of Understanding. Khanna: "We're supplying them the M4s that they're using to detain American citizens." He's calling for the U.S. to halt arms transfers and demand the IDF demolish settler outposts in the West Bank. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has co-sponsored similar legislation.

2. But the IDF Broke Up the Standoff (Israel Defense Forces)

The IDF says it responded correctly — and says Khanna's core claim about soldiers siding with settlers is false.

The standoff ended quickly. The IDF issued a statement saying it received a report of "Israeli citizens blocking the vehicles of foreign nationals and members of the media," dispatched troops, and "quickly dispersed the Israeli civilians and reopened the blocked road." Soldiers "did not take part in blocking the road," the statement said.

There was no coordination and no follow-up. IDF sources told the Jerusalem Post that Khanna didn't coordinate the visit beforehand and didn't speak to them after it ended — and they say that undercuts his account of how soldiers behaved. The IDF said it sent no senior officials because "it was resolved quickly." The IDF says it's reviewing the identity of the armed settler.

3. Still, Conservatives See a 2028 Campaign Launch (David Manney, Matt Vespa)

The right doesn't dispute that settlers blocked the road. It disputes what the trip was actually about.

The trip included a New York Times reporter. Khanna brought a NYT journalist along — notable for a congressman who told Reuters he's "strongly considering" a 2028 presidential run and was "more resolved to consider it" after the trip.

October 7 survivor meetings apparently didn't happen. Israeli officials told PJ Media's David Manney that Khanna declined meetings with October 7 survivors, hostage families, and humanitarian aid representatives. "Choosing only one side's pain produces a campaign narrative, not a complete picture," Manney wrote.

"Detained" is doing a lot of work. Townhall's Matt Vespa argued that "being stopped from continuing down a closed security road is not being detained." Conservatives say calling the West Bank occupation "apartheid" is inflammatory: Arab-Israelis have voting rights and legal protections that people under apartheid did not have. A recent poll found 58% of Democrats think the U.S. is too supportive of Israel — the core audience Khanna would need in a Democratic primary.

Where This Lands

Khanna and the IDF agree armed settlers blocked his group at Khirbet Zanuta on July 9. They dispute whether IDF soldiers dispersed the settlers or stood by, and whether 90 minutes at gunpoint constitutes "detention" at all. Khanna wants to cut the $3.8 billion annual arms package; a bipartisan group in Congress is pushing the same thing. Conservatives argue the whole trip was a 2028 campaign move, not a fact-finding mission.

Sources