AMP Condemns Israel’s Detention of Representative Ro Khanna

Last week, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) was detained by violent, illegal Israeli settlers armed with American-manufactured M4 assault rifles during his trip to Khirbet Zatuna, a village located in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank. When the Israel Occupation Forces (IOF) arrived at the scene, they sided with the armed settlers over an American congressman. This is an insult to the 340 million Americans who are forced to fund the criminal Israeli regime.

To the Congressman’s point: “If settlers and the IDF can do this to an American congressman, imagine what life is like for an ordinary Palestinian living under Israel’s occupation. I have never felt more powerless my whole life…. It is apartheid.”

Not only has the majority of Congress and mainstream media willfully ignored the horrors Israel imposes on Palestinians, but their silence has helped cultivate a nefarious culture of Israeli impunity, one that has resulted in the murders of nine American citizens in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers since 2022.

This is not the first time the Israeli government has mistreated American officials. In 2019, the Israeli government barred Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib (Palestinian-American) and Ilhan Omar from making an official visit to the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem. Last year, Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley stated that Israel denied a Jordanian aircraft authorization to fly over Gaza, with the Senators to see the devastation Israel has inflicted upon Gaza.

As a major recipient of U.S. aid and a member of the Visa Waiver Program, Israel is obligated to treat Palestinians, American lawmakers, and American citizens with respect and dignity. These acts are not done in isolation, but are part of a state-backed effort to silence criticism of Israel.

The U.S. must recalibrate the unbalanced dynamics in its relationship with Israel  - which has long granted Israel an undeserved sense of exceptionalism - by imposing a full arms embargo on Israel and targeted economic sanctions against the illegal Israeli settlement enterprise and any Israeli officials promoting violence against civilians. Failure to do so will further embolden Israel’s extremists. Today, it is a detained American congressman. Without action, we fear that tomorrow it will be a dead one.

What is even more disgraceful is the conduct of U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who should be fired for making it unmistakably clear that he places the Israeli government’s priorities ahead of the American people’s. Huckabee went so far as to publicly counter President Trump's own statement asserting that Israel’s survival is tied to the actions his administration has taken to protect it.

AMP sends a firm message to lawmakers and media personalities who wrongfully frame Rep. Khanna as an "agitator." You do not care for the American people or the rule of law. Turning on your fellow colleague for challenging American deference to Israel should be admonished, not applauded. As representatives of the American people, your job is to serve the American people, not Israel.

This issue is not about a single member of Congress, nor is it merely a reflection of the extremist Israeli government’s stance toward the Democratic Party—whose base, according to recent polling, has grown increasingly distant from Israel. This is fundamentally a matter of America’s dignity and the dignity of the American people. It is a bipartisan concern, transcending Democrats and Republicans alike. It is an affront to the United States and to all Americans by a state whose very existence relies on U.S. support and the hard‑earned tax dollars of American citizens.