US lawmaker says Israeli settlers armed with US-made rifles detained him in West Bank
US Congressman Ro Khanna alleges he was detained by armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank while visiting a destroyed Palestinian village. The incident has sparked scrutiny regarding settler violence and the use of American-supplied weaponry in the region.
Why it matters
The involvement of a US lawmaker in a confrontation with armed settlers highlights ongoing tensions and the controversial role of US military aid in the Middle East.
A US Democratic lawmaker has alleged that he was briefly detained by Israeli settlers armed with US-made rifles during a visit to the occupied West Bank.California Representative Ro Khanna said the incident took place on Wednesday while he was touring the Palestinian hamlet of Khirbet Zanuta, where residents have previously been displaced following repeated settler attacks.According to Khanna, the group had travelled to inspect a village and school that had been destroyed when armed settlers surrounded their vehicle and blocked the road. "We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it," Khanna told Reuters."And these hoodlums come in with machine guns – M4, an American-made machine gun – and they detain us. They block off the road.
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