00:11A sitting U.S. congressman surrounded by armed settlers in the middle of the West Bank.
00:18No, this isn't a movie plot.
00:20This happened this week.
00:22And the guy at the center of it?
00:24He might be running for president in 2028.
00:27His name is Ro Khanna.
00:30Progressive Democrat, represents Silicon Valley in Congress.
00:34And on July 9th, he was on a fact-finding trip through Israel and the occupied West Bank during Congress's
00:41recess.
00:41He wasn't there for a photo op at a checkpoint.
00:44He went to a village called Kirbet Zenuta, a small Palestinian hamlet that was forcibly displaced after violent settler raids
00:53following the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
00:57Khanna wanted to see the aftermath for himself.
01:00He got a lot more than he bargained for.
01:03According to Khanna, his group's van was surrounded by settlers wielding M4 rifles, American-made rifles, while they were touring
01:12the area.
01:13In his own words to Reuters, Khanna described arriving at a village settlers had allegedly destroyed, including the local school,
01:22and said armed men then blocked their vehicle and detained the group.
01:27Here's the part that stings.
01:29Khanna says the settlers called in the Israeli military, the IDF sided with the settlers, not with the Americans.
01:38His aide, Cameron Kasky, yes, the Parkland shooting survivor turned activist, says the group was held for more than an
01:45hour and had to appeal directly to the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem for help.
01:49Eventually, officers who appeared to be police intervened and let them go.
01:55Now, fairness matters here.
01:57The Israeli military tells a slightly different story.
02:01They say troops and police responded after getting a report of settlers blocking vehicles near Kirbit Zenuta, and that upon
02:09arrival, they dispersed the Israeli civilians and let the vehicles continue on.
02:14So, no denial that it happened, just a different framing of who resolved it and how fast.
02:20This isn't just a scary travel story.
02:23It's landing in the middle of a much bigger political moment.
02:27Israel's favorability among Democrats has cratered from 59% back in 2018 down to just 22% this past May.
02:37Democratic primaries this cycle have already claimed incumbents seen as too pro-Israel.
02:42And Kana, he didn't shy away from the moment, asked point-blank if this trip pushed him toward running for
02:49president, he said,
02:51I'm strongly considering it, and I'm more resolved to consider it after this trip.
02:56A U.S. lawmaker detained by armed civilians in territory most of the world calls illegally occupied, walking away more
03:06convinced he should run the country.
03:08Whatever your politics, that's a headline you don't scroll past.
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