A Democratic congressman, held by settlers in the West Bank
Half of the Democratic congresspeople in the United States voted on Thursday to end aid to Israel. Previously, sixty had boycotted Benjamin Netanyahu's speech at the Capitol in Washington in 2024, an action that was supported by Democrat Ro Khanna. Khanna is, in fact, one of the most critical US politicians regarding Israeli policies in the occupied territories and has often denounced the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu's government towards Palestinians.
In the last Gaza war, Khanna repeatedly called for a ceasefire and even questioned the massive transfer of American weapons to the Jewish state. He has also expressed support for the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state that guarantees Israel's security.
Similarly, he has opposed the annexation of the West Bank, even though Netanyahu's policies are advancing in this direction in a clear and consistent manner. Even so, Israel is considering the permanent occupation and annexation of most of the Gaza Strip, or the entire Strip, according to what some government members have said.
In this context, Ro Khanna was detained this July by a cell of Jewish settlers while on a tour of the West Bank to learn about the reality on the ground. He publicly denounced the incident, which led to a series of statements and counter-statements by Israeli institutions and Khanna himself, some of them heated and even accusatory.
Khanna said his vehicle was stopped by Jewish settlers armed with M4 rifles, precisely of American manufacture, and when the American delegation was being held by the settlers, army soldiers arrived. Subsequently, a military source said that the military detachment dispersed the settlers.
The Democratic representative denied this and said the soldiers sided with the settlers. "The Israeli government is lying," he said. CBS television channel asked Netanyahu about the incident, and the prime minister said it was caused by a small number of settlers, and that the case cannot be generalized by drawing wrong conclusions about all the hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers living in the West Bank.
Khanna is considering running for US president in the upcoming elections. His behavior reflects the attitude of a large number of American politicians, including Republicans, who are moving away from Israel's maximalist ambitions, a position shared by a growing part of the American people.
The annexation of the West Bank
The Israeli annexation of the West Bank is an increasingly irreversible fact. And while all this commotion occupied the news space, Netanyahu's government approved the investment of 400 million euros in 34 new Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Two Israeli ministers said it was a "day of celebration," because in this way the possibility of a Palestinian state is being "killed."
This will allow the creation and expansion of a good handful of new settlements, dozens of cities that will soon be inhabited by settlers who will buy their homes at a very reasonable price. There will be settlers who will go to live in the West Bank because they are radicals, and others because the prices are affordable for their income, but all will contribute to "killing" the Palestinian state.
An Israeli minister has said: "There has never been a Zionist decision on settlements as important as this since the founding of Zionism," words that reveal the magnitude of the offensive against the creation of a Palestinian state.