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Congressman says he was detained by Israeli settlers in the West Bank

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Congressman Ro Khanna said he was detained by Israeli settlers for over an hour while visiting the West Bank. Khanna also said members of the Israel Defense Forces spoke with the settlers and moved a car to block the road. 

Khanna’s experience was first reported by The New York Times. A spokesperson for the congressman confirmed the details of the Times’ report to CBS News. The Times said a photojournalist from the publication also witnessed the interaction. 

CBS News has reached out to the IDF for comment. 

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Ro Khanna, a congressman from California, says he was detained by Israeli settlers for over an hour while visiting the West Bank on July 8, 2026. 

Staff of Rep. Ro Khanna

U.S. politicians from both sides of the aisle have visited the West Bank since the war in Gaza was sparked by a massive attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. House Speaker Mike Johnson visited the territory in September 2025 and dined with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Democrats Chris van Hollen and Jeff Merkley, of Maryland and Oregon, respectively, toured the region in August 2025. 

Several nations that have supported Israel during the war in Gaza criticized the country after IDF troops fired what they called “warning shots” near a group of diplomats visiting the territory in May 2025. The delegation included representatives from the European Union, Japan and Russia. The IDF said the shots were fired after the group wandered off an approved route and entered a restricted area. 

The United Nations said in May that more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem since the war began. CBS News has met Palestinian residents and Israeli activists in the West Bank who say violent attacks by Israeli settlers have increased significantly since the war in Gaza began, including attacks that have driven people from their land. Israel has also continued to expand its settlements in the territory. 

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Ro Khanna, a congressman from California, says he was detained by Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.

Staff of Rep. Ro Khanna

Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the West Bank are rarely penalized and were indicted in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024, according to Israeli rights group Yesh Din.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 from Jordan and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. About 15% of the settlers are Americans. 

The United Nations call Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal, and Israel has been criticized for the actions of settlers in the territory. Five long-time U.S. allies jointly imposed sanctions on two senior Israeli officials who they accused of “inciting violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the sanctions and called for their reversal. 

Four settlers arrested in attack on journalists, including CNN, in West Bank

(CNN) — Four settlers were arrested after an attack on CNN and other journalists in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, according to Israeli Police.The journalists were near the village of Sinjil north of Ramallah for the one-year anniversary of the killing of Saif Musallet last July, a Palestinian-American who was beaten to death by Jewish settlers.Within minutes of arriving at the location where Musallet was killed, Israeli settlers descended on the area. As the CNN team and other journalists tried to leave, a group of four settlers blocked the road with their car and tried to keep the vehicles from moving forward.The four settlers were wielding wooden and metal rods and stones. One settler brandished a knife and tried to puncture the tires of CNN’s vehicle.The settlers then began to jump on the vehicle behind CNN’s — carrying another group of journalists — and smashed the windshield of that vehicle. Another group of settlers tried to block a separate exit route before chasing the journalists towards the town of Sinjil.When police officers and Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene, police say they arrested four suspects before locating their vehicle nearby. They seized clubs and a knife from inside the vehicle, police said.“The Israel Police and the (Israel Defense Forces) view any manifestation of violence or causing damage to property very seriously, especially when it concerns media personnel performing their work,” police said in a statement.After the killing of Musallet in July 2025, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called it a “criminal and terrorist act,” calling on authorities to investigate. But Musallet’s father told CNN no one has been arrested since the killing.This attack on journalists comes just days after US Rep. Ro Khanna was detained by settlers near the village of Turmus Ayya in the West Bank. The village has a population of thousands of Palestinian-Americans who have come under repeated attack by settlers in the area.Khanna visited the village to show solidarity with American citizens who have told CNN they feel forgotten by their government.“I saw the arrogance in the eyes of those settlers, 21- and 22-year-olds with guns, laughing that they had detained us, the arrogance of those young IDF soldiers that my tax dollars are funding, having no respect for the fact that they were detaining Americans, no respect that there was an American congressperson in that bus, and laughing when our translator told them that there are Americans there and the American embassy is concerned,” Khanna told Reuters.In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the issue of settler violence has “blown up beyond belief.” He described the perpetrators as a group of 150 “juvenile delinquents.” He said the police and military “take actions,” but the courts in Israel “are very lenient” against those convicted of settler violence.Despite Netanyahu’s statements, the West Bank has seen a surge of settler violence – some with instances of Israeli soldiers standing idly by – in conjunction with the Israeli government rapidly expanding settlements throughout the territory.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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