A California congressman is floating a potential run for the White House in 2028, and the catalyst may be one of the most dramatic moments of his political career: being detained by armed settlers in the West Bank.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat representing Silicon Valley and a consistent critic of Israeli policies, said he is strongly considering a presidential bid following a recent congressional trip to the occupied West Bank.
The detention happened on July 8, near the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet Zanuta in the southern West Bank. Settlers blocked the road with vehicles and surrounded the group’s van for more than an hour. Khanna and his delegation had been viewing the ruins of a village, including a destroyed school, that residents had abandoned after prior settler attacks and subsequent demolition.
As originally reported, the settlers who carried out the blockade were armed with American-made M4 rifles.
Khanna described the confrontation bluntly to Reuters. “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. And these hoodlums come in with machine guns, M4, an American-made machine gun, and they detain us,” he said. “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.”
He added that he is “certainly probably the first American politician who’s been detained by the IDF and Israeli settlers.”
The New York Times reported additional details from the scene. Settlers reportedly taunted the group, swore at them in Hebrew and Arabic, and kicked the tires of their minibus. When two Israeli military vehicles arrived, soldiers initially interacted with the settlers before one moved a vehicle to further block the road.
The standoff lasted approximately 90 minutes. It ended after an aide to Khanna contacted the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and Israeli police intervened to secure the group’s release.
Khanna used the experience to make a broader point about conditions facing ordinary Palestinians. “If they will do this to an American congressman, imagine what is happening to Palestinian families who are just trying to live,” he said. He also stated that he expects Israel to prosecute the settlers involved, as well as any IDF soldiers who participated.
The three-day trip was organized by Khanna’s own staff and focused exclusively on the West Bank. It included meetings with Palestinian residents and a stop in Turmus Ayya, a village near Ramallah home to many Palestinian-American dual nationals.
Whether Khanna ultimately launches a 2028 campaign remains to be seen. But his West Bank experience has clearly sharpened his message, and he is not staying quiet about it.