US congressman says ‘IDF is lying’ about his detention by settlers and soldiers

Armed Israeli settlers were seen blocking the convoy of a visiting US congressman, Ro Khanna, in an image provided by another member of the delegation, Cameron Kasky. Photograph: Cameron Kasky/APView image in fullscreenArmed Israeli settlers were seen blocking the convoy of a visiting US congressman, Ro Khanna, in an image provided by another member of the delegation, Cameron Kasky. Photograph: Cameron Kasky/APUS congressman says ‘IDF is lying’ about his detention by settlers and soldiersIsraeli ambassador to US accuses Ro Khanna of political stunt to distract from support for Graham PlatnerRo Khanna accused the Israeli government and military of “lying” on Sunday about the US congressman’s detention by armed settlers and Israeli soldiers during a recent visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Khanna – a California Democrat – had posted video evidence on social media of Israeli settlers and soldiers blocking the path of his convoy on Wednesday in the South Hebron hills, near the village of Zanuta, where Israelis have driven Palestinians from their homes in what Amnesty International calls a government-backed “ethnic cleansing campaign”.During an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday, the California Democrat was asked about the Israeli military’s claim that its soldiers “quickly dispersed” the Israeli civilians and reopened the blocked road.“The IDF is lying,” Khanna said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

“What happened was unprecedented. They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official. You had these settlers brandishing M4 [rifles], kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us.

“We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful of our lives. Then the IDF comes, four soldiers. They tell our translator that they’re on the side of the settlers.

They further detain us and block us in.”Khanna was also asked about comments by Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who appeared before him on Meet the Press and called the armed settlers who stopped the congressman’s vehicle as a small band of “juvenile delinquents”. Netanyahu maintained they are not part of what he called the “law-abiding” community of Israeli settlers.

Every Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal under international law.“I heard the prime minister, and he said Israel is a country of law and order,” Khanna replied. “Let me be very specific: the prime minister needs to open an investigation on these violent settlers who are connected to Yinon Levi, who has destroyed Zanuta’s village and is a known person who has killed Palestinians,” Khanna added, invoking the name of an Israeli settler who was recorded on video about a year earlier firing what appeared to be a fatal shot that killed a Palestinian activist, Awdah Hathaleen, in the same region.

Despite video evidence, including images filmed by Hathaleen himself as he was shot, Levi was not prosecuted by Israeli authorities for the killing.Israeli settler violence aimed at driving Palestinians in the region from their homes was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which Hathaleen had worked on.Netanyahu “needs to have an investigation on these four IDF officers,” Khanna added.

“Security cameras can see that they were involved in the detention of American citizens. How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way?”Israeli officials responded to Khanna’s detention by claiming that he had rejected their effort to shape his visit to the region by adding a meeting with former Israeli hostages held in Gaza after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack.

They told the New York Post: “Congressman Khanna didn’t come to understand the situation – he came looking for a headline.”Khanna responded on social media: “The Israeli government is lying to cover up for 4 IDF soldiers who aided violent settlers.“I have met with Israeli hostages and condemned the brutal, terrorist attacks of Oct 7.

That does excuse the IDF from detaining American citizens.”In an interview on Sunday on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Israel’s US-born ambassador to the US, Michael Leiter, accused Khanna of visiting the West Bank as a political stunt – both to distract from his past support of Graham Platner, the former Maine US Senate candidate accused of sexual assault, and to promote his potential run for the White House in 2028.Leiter first complained that Khanna had shunned the Israeli government’s effort to help plan his trip, choosing instead to work with dissident groups like Breaking the Silence, an Israeli human rights group founded by former Israeli soldiers who oppose Israel’s six-decade occupation of Palestinian territories seized in 1967.

He then suggested that the timing of Khanna’s visit and revelation of his detention was suspicious. “To have this incident on Wednesday and wait to release it on Saturday, maybe this had more something to do with his support of Grah