‘We’re only alive because I was in touch with US Embassy’: Congressman Ro Khanna recalls Israeli settlers’ attack

Days after escaping detention by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, Congressman Ro Khanna has said that he is only alive because the US embassy in Jerusalem succeeded in reaching a senior Israeli official, who was able to send police to the scene. He said the Israeli military had, until then, sided with the armed settlers.

Last week, armed Jewish settlers blocked Democratic Congressman Khanna's entourage in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and held them at gunpoint. When Israeli soldiers arrived at the scene, they sided with the settlers.

The attack on Khanna, a leading progressive voice in the Democratic Party, is the most high-profile attack by Jewish settlers, who otherwise frequently attack Palestinian villages and towns without any censure from the occupying Israeli authorities. Khanna was visiting one such village, Khirbet Zanuta, which stands abandoned after its Palestinian Bedouin residents were forced out by a string of attacks by Jewish settlers.

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"We're only alive and unarmed because I was in touch with the American Embassy. And David Brownstein [Deputy Chief of Mission] there finally got to a senior Israeli official who called the police. And before the police got there, these settlers dispersed and the IDF dispersed and we were able to go," Khanna said in an interview with broadcaster Mario Nawfal.

Khanna further disputed Israeli officials' version of the incident and said they were lying about it.

"As outrageous as that was that the IDF was on the side of the settlers when Prime Minister Netanyahu was asked about this on Meet the Press yesterday, when the Israeli ambassadors asked about it, instead of saying the obvious, which is that 'we're sorry Americans were detained, we feel terrible about it, we're going to prosecute these who detained them, and we're going to investigate the IDF, and we apologize to the congressman and the Americans who were detained', they lie about the situation. They say that the Israeli military actually dispersed the extremist settlers, which is contradicted with the very videos we've released. But of course, if you could have people lie about a genocide of Gaza, they're certainly willing to lie about what they're doing with Americans," said Khanna.

The Jerusalem Post has independently confirmed that armed settlers carrying M4 rifles had indeed detained Khanna's entourage while it was visiting Khirbet Zanuta. The newspaper also confirmed that Israeli soldiers did not try to disperse the attackers and appeared instead to help them detain Khanna's entourage.

'If they killed someone, no one would hear about it'

Khanna said that Israeli soldiers, who did not offer any help, took 20 minutes to arrive at the scene, and pointed out that the settlers were carrying rifles equipped with silencers.

"They surrounded our van. They started kicking the tyres. One of them had an M4. Another was also armed. It was an M4 with a silencer. So, if they killed someone, no one would hear about it. And they were laughing at us. They were wiping the windows. They were taunting us, videotaping, yes. And then about 20 minutes in, the IDF gets there and I thought, 'Okay, they're here to clear the road.' But the IDF actually takes the side of the settlers. They further blockade us in. They watch as the settlers call more of their friends. These cars arrive and they're all blocking in our van. We're detained for almost 75 minutes," said Khanna.

In the West Bank, around 500,000 Israeli Jewish settlers are estimated to be living in around 350 settlements. All of these settlements and settlers are illegal under international law. Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, settlers have frequently attacked Palestinian villages and towns with impunity.

Netanyahu's government —the most right wing in Israeli history— has expanded settlements in the West Bank. Critics say expanding settlements is a way to reduce the land available to Palestinians in the West Bank, which would eventually make the creation of a future Palestinian state more difficult.