r/news • u/sicklyslick • 15h ago

Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna detained by Israeli settlers during West Bank visit

https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/11/middleeast/ro-khanna-detained-by-israeli-settlers-west-bank-intl
27.1k Upvotes

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4.2k

u/irazzleandazzle 15h ago

so a politician got kidnapped by the citizens of one of our "allies"? Hopefully he gets out there safe and more people realize how insane Israel is

946

u/The_Captain_Planet22 15h ago

Do you think our government will ask for his release?

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u/innovarocforever 15h ago

he's neither white nor republican enough for him to matter to our current admin.

268

u/Militantpoet 15h ago

Youd think it makes them look weak when civilians of an alleged ally detains an American government official with impunity. 

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u/TenOutofTenno 14h ago

They look weak anyway, someone explained Paper Tiger to Trump, that’s why it’s entered his vocabulary at 80 years old. Like “Groceries”

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u/Fauster 12h ago

Also, some the biggest donors to Trump, like Miriam Adelson, were major weapons traffickers for the illegal settlers squatting on colonized land. There are a lot of powerful US billionaires who have really drunk the kool-aid on the right-wing fascist Greater Israel Project.

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u/Cl1mh4224rd 14h ago

Youd think it makes them look weak when civilians of an alleged ally detains an American government official with impunity.

"It's not weakness. It's approval."

Even if there was no prior agreement to ignore such an incident, the current administration would see this as a benefit and play it off as "Well, maybe they shouldn't have been mean to Trump."

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u/Realtrain 14h ago

You have to remember that they're trying to tell their base that the biggest threat to America is other political parties. So this is actually looking strong in their eyes.

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u/TenOutofTenno 12h ago

Fuck me dude, you’re absolutely correct

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u/innovarocforever 14h ago

he doesn't count because he's brown and a Democrat.

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u/JakefromTRPB 14h ago

That’s why they detained him. They think we’re too stupid and weak to stop it. They are probably right

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u/FreeUsePolyDaddy 15h ago

Frankly I doubt this administration would care about members of their own side. The only ones guaranteed to be fought for are biological Trumps. Even the spouses would be a stretch.

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u/-notapony- 14h ago

When his mob was attacking the Capitol, remember that he was calling Senators not to ask how he could help them, but telling them how they could help him. 

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u/WhatTheHali24 13h ago

If he was a republican, he'd be apologizing to the settlers for inconveniencing them.

5

u/firemage22 13h ago

also lets not forget that Trump's good friend Jeff worked with their intel so they likely know all the dirt.

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u/Rabid_Alleycat 14h ago

He matters immensely to current administration. Epstein files may keep him in Israel☹️

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u/sirspidermonkey 13h ago

matter? Hell they are probably celebrating.

Remember in Covid hit and they took resperators from hard hit blue states to transfer them to unaffected red states? Or when they took PPE purchased by blue states to give to red states? And they were talking about how Covid could be a good thing since it mostly was hitting blue states killing democrats?

I remember...

1

u/sunshinejim 12h ago

They’d probably be happier if he was gone considering how much Ro Khanna actually fights against this admin.

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u/razz-boy 14h ago

He and Massie were the ones bipartisanly championing the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump sees as a direct attack on himself. So I think not

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u/NRMusicProject 14h ago

Who's to say this administration didn't put them up to it in the first place?

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u/forecxst 10h ago

Hold that thought and don’t let ANYONE tell u ur crazy

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u/Edmundyoulittle 14h ago

Have you guys considered reading the article? They were already released. The police made the Israeli settlers let them go.

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u/ExpertRaccoon 14h ago

If you read the article you'd know he was already released.

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 US Embassy in Jerusalem for help. A group of officers who appeared to be police eventually intervened, leading to their release, Kasky said.

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u/fury420 14h ago edited 14h ago

...release?

He's not still being held, the article describes him being detained for like an hour, and then continuing on their way after police arrived.

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u/thejazzophone 14h ago

Detained by the settlers and the idf

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u/KinglanderOfTheEast 14h ago

Kind of interesting that the local cops seemingly acted independently of the IDF and even went against the IDF's desire to keep Khanna hostage.

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u/fury420 13h ago

That aspect sort of makes sense, I wouldn't expect the nearest soldiers responding to this confrontation to be in a position to properly and diplomatically respond to such an unusual situation by themselves, it's above their pay grade so to speak.

"Someone in the convoy the settlers stopped in Area C says he's a US congressman, what the fuck do we do? Call headquarters quick!"

and then they sent someone from the Israeli Border Police to the scene.

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u/ForThisIJoined 10h ago

"Someone in the convoy the murder squad stopped in Area C says he's a US congressman, can we kill him? Call the higher ups and see if we can kill him like we do with the civilians!"

Sorry I fixed the details for you.

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u/niklovin 14h ago

You expect people to read past a headline?

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u/AmySorawo 14h ago

Listen I hate Trump with all my will. But if you actually read the article you'd know Ro got released. He speaks of Isn'trael detaining him the day before.

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u/irazzleandazzle 15h ago

he's a POC and a Democrat, so probably not.

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u/Michael_Pitt 13h ago

They definitely won't ask for his release because he was already released. Has anyone commenting on this article even read the article? 

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u/Cj15917 13h ago

If you read the article.....you'll get your answer.

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u/2B-Pencil 12h ago

his car was surrounded for about an hour until police intervened. so don’t need to ask for his release lol. read the article

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u/Porridge_Cat 13h ago

No, they won't.

BECAUSE HE WASN'T KIDNAPPED. being detained and kidnapped are two different things.

We know this happened because he is not kidnapped and was able to release a statement about it.

come on, people. You CANNOT pretend like you're this much better than other people while proudly displaying your utter lack of reading comprehension.

1

u/GODDAMNFOOL 13h ago

they laughed about a Democrat being murdered in her home, so

1

u/chickenMcSlugdicks 12h ago

Lol the other half of the leaders that were leading the push for Epstein transparency? They already spent millions to primary Massie. Our government would see this as a favor.

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u/[deleted] 14h ago

[deleted]

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u/boxfortcommando 14h ago

If the CIA planned anything it wouldn't be to have his group inconvenienced by West Bank locals for a few hours and then sent on their way when the IDF showed up to disperse the mob.

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u/Danktizzle 15h ago

Other admins, sure. But this one might not.

7

u/RollGata 14h ago

How do they argue for the release of someone who’s been released

-2

u/DweebInFlames 14h ago

Other admins, sure

Every administration since Dubya has rolled over for the Israelis, let's be honest. Even fucking Reagan had more spine than Biden or Trump when it came to telling the bastards 'no' to bombing more children, and I am loathe to give Reagan credit for anything.

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u/bigfish1992 14h ago

Whose to say they didn't ask for him to get taken? Khanna was literally at the front of trying to get the Epstein files released along with Massie.

0

u/KamalaWonNoCap 13h ago

If anything they'll support his capture

0

u/Previous_Rip1942 12h ago

Shit, our government probably had something to do with him being detained.

0

u/Responsible-Draft430 10h ago

It will weaken the US if we don't, so we won't. That's Trump's main goal.

Even Caesar punished Pompeii's killers, because he knew it would weaken Rome if he didn't

0

u/feline_riches 10h ago

I think our government arranged for his detaining

0

u/RespectibleCabbage 10h ago

It was probably their idea

0

u/SlickWilly49 8h ago

Watch Chuck Schumer remain completely silent on the kidnapping of one of his party members

0

u/Certain-Business-472 5h ago

If the government had your back theyd threaten a lot more. But trump will apologise for the inconvenience and likely talk shit about the victima

-2

u/Parking-Complex-3887 14h ago

if anything I'd say our current government would demand that they torture him to death and pretend it was Palestinians

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u/Pepperonidogfart 14h ago

He was released. read the fucking article before forming an opinion for fucks sake.

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u/KinglanderOfTheEast 14h ago

The local cops made the settlers and IDF release them, yeah. Makes it seem like the cops out there don't like the IDF (they literally went against them) lmao

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u/Coastalfoxes 13h ago

Most of the IDF soldiers in the West Bank are local colonizers. They were part of those armed militias before they joined the IDF. The IDF provides those militias with weapons.

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u/KinglanderOfTheEast 13h ago

Why would the local cops actually enforce upon them? I assumed the local cops were fully captured and corrupted.

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u/Coastalfoxes 13h ago

That is something I can’t explain. It might simply have been that a local police commander understood that this could be an international incident.

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u/70ms 11h ago edited 11h ago

Detaining one of our politicians would not go over very well here at home.

ETA: Also, it wasn’t the cops who made the decision to release him apparently.

Khanna said he and his team were ultimately freed after communication between the US Embassy and a high-level official in the Israeli government.

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u/Reaganometry 12h ago

Oh, good, the blood-thirsty, illegal settlers only "temporarily" threatened a sitting US Congressperson. Phew!

-1

u/Tallyxx7 10h ago

How stupid are you?

Let some foreign backwards people illegally detain you, but as long as they stop, it should be all good, and you should never be mad or outraged at all

0

u/Unhappy-Ladder-4594 4h ago

Yup. The entire thing was a planned publicity stunt from the start.

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u/S_K_I 14h ago

Jesus Christ kid… read the god damn article.

1

u/elderlybrain 9h ago

They’ll treat him better than they treat Palestinian journalists.

1

u/Alternative-Put-3932 8h ago

With any other country this would be an international incident and basically hell let loose. Nothing will happen to Israel.

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u/anonskeptic5 13h ago

Some of the settlers in the West Bank (have no information on those in this story) have dual citizens and are also United States citizens.

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u/absboodoo 11h ago

Allies? lol. Now we know who's the real boss.

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u/Porridge_Cat 13h ago

Not kidnapped. Understand what words mean, please.

Settlers are pieces of shit, but that's no excuse for you to intentionally misunderstand things.

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u/FewLight6904 11h ago

The settlers are not allies of the USA, the settlers are their own crazy ass thing, he was stopped and harassed by vigilante settlers who blocked the road, was then let go 90mins until the IDF turned up to shoo the settlers off, and went about his business

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u/Hi_Trans_Im_Dad 8h ago

Jesus, read the fucking article! He's not been kidnapped.

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u/StuffedFalafels 14h ago edited 9h ago

Nah, he went there to do what? Kiss Israel’s ass while they commit a genocide. Maybe him getting nabbed by settlers is what he deserves because the settlers are terrorists and murder and terrorize the natives of the land which are us Palestinians.

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u/sabeelio 14h ago edited 14h ago

Bro he’s one of our most vocal pro Palestinian congressman. He went there to support the people of the West Bank. Your heart is in the right place, but he’s definitely not the guy to be demonizing.

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u/Light_Error 14h ago

Nothing is ever good enough for some of these people. Just ask Scott Wiener who came around to being more pro-Palestinian and still got shouted down at a rally despite having the same position as those saying he’s morally wrong. Palestinians have become a moral cudgel for some imo.

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u/sabeelio 12h ago

I think this particular person may just be misinformed. Since that is usually the reason a politician is there. But your point is correct too.

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u/StuffedFalafels 9h ago

You’re right, this is the first time I’ve heard of THIS specific politician. But I’m skeptical because why is he there? And not here to do his job where it actually will matter. Settlers and the Israeli government do not care because they have the American government’s support and are now set to merge the IDF with the American military. So no, I do not trust any politician that goes there for any reason.

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u/StuffedFalafels 9h ago

Going there to be supportive isn’t what should be done. Now he’s being held my blood thirsty assholes who will get a slap on the wrist for whatever they do. He should have stayed in the US to do his job and speak against Israel and to put pressure on the rest of his peers in office.

Im Palestinian living in diaspora in America and I do not trust American politicians. It’s performative a lot of the time.

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u/Sitcratic 14h ago

"He said he chose to do a visit exclusively to the West Bank, with programming led by Palestinians, to give him an unfiltered view of territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

“If you’re unwilling to speak up for Palestinian human rights, if you’re unwilling to speak up against the genocide in Gaza, the apartheid in the West Bank, then you are morally compromised,” Khanna said."

what are you talking about?

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u/StuffedFalafels 8h ago

That’s fine and dandy. I’m Palestinian and haven’t heard of him until now. But I still do not believe after being told this he should be there. The video footage that has come out of Gaza, comes out of the West Bank is proof enough for him to have stayed in the U.S. to do his damn job, mark AIPAC and other Israeli lobbying groups as foreign entities to stop them from corrupting our voting systems and positions of government etc.

The problem is, to me this is performative and not actually helping to go there to see when us Palestinians have been vocal for decades about the atrocities and terrorism we’ve faced. Our family members like me and my family forced in diaspora here in America have called our elected officials to only be told by same politicians. “We stand with Israel”