Utolsó frissítés: 2026.07.12. — Szerző: Anti-Propaganda News Blog
Settlers armed with American-made rifles blocked the path of a congressman's delegation as they visited a Palestinian village that had been ethnically cleansed by Israeli settlers.
Written by: Elis Gjevori
Armed Israeli settlers – carrying American-made weapons – forced Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna to stop at gunpoint in the occupied West Bank while the politician was visiting Palestinian communities to see firsthand the human rights abuses committed by Israel.
„Israeli settlers brandishing American-made M4s detained me and other Americans during my trip to Palestine,” Khanna wrote on X on Saturday.
„When the IDF (Israeli army) arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention,” he added.
„They made a huge mistake,” he noted.
Khanna, a progressive California lawmaker, was visiting the village of Khirbet Zanuta, a Palestinian community whose residents were ethnically cleansed by Israeli settlers: they burned down their school, looted their homes, attacked residents with rifles and stones, broke windows and solar panels, emptied water tanks, and pumped raw sewage onto farmland.
„We were in a village that was being destroyed by Israeli settlers – they destroyed the school, they destroyed the village – and we just watched,” Khanna told Reuters.
„"And then these mobs come with machine guns — M4, American-made machine guns — and they hold us captive. They block the road. Then they call the IDF, and the IDF is on their side, not the Americans'," he added.
Cameron Kasky, Khanna's traveling aide, said the settlers held the delegation for more than an hour. The group contacted the US embassy in Jerusalem several times for help.
According to Kasky, Israeli police eventually intervened and secured their release.
It is unclear whether Mike Huckabee, the hardline, pro-Israel US ambassador to Israel, intervened on their behalf or protested their treatment.
The Israeli army confirmed that settlers blocked vehicles near Khirbet Zanuta, but claimed that their troops ended the confrontation.
Israel receives $3.8 billion in US military aid annually, which includes funding for weapons such as the M4 rifles carried by settlers.
Following the Gaza genocide and growing awareness of Israel's apartheid policies in the West Bank, support for Israel among Democratic voters collapsed.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, Israel's approval rating among Democrats was 59 percent in 2018, but by May 2026 it had fallen to 22 percent.
