Ro Khanna barred from leaving Israel amid West Bank tensions

Ro Khanna was barred from leaving for 90 minutes in the West Bank during a trip through Israel and the occupied territory this week. The episode landed as Khanna has become one of the House’s most vocal critics of Israeli settlement policy, and it underscored how differently some Democrats are now approaching the conflict.

Khanna’s trip came during Congress’s summer recess, and it was his first reported travel to Israel since October 2024. By then, the California Democrat had already begun building a sharper record on the issue. In February 2026, he introduced H.Res. 1092, a House resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion, settler violence, and related human rights abuses in the West Bank, while calling for U.S. policy responses to deter further violations and protect the viability of a negotiated two-state solution.

That followed a January 2026 letter in which Khanna and Peter Welch led 74 bicameral lawmakers urging the Trump administration to push back against Israeli efforts to annex the West Bank. The lawmakers singled out settlement construction in E-1 and pro-annexation bills in the Knesset, putting one of the party’s most prominent younger lawmakers squarely in the camp pressing for a tougher line from Washington.

The broader backdrop has grown more volatile. A March 2026 report from the United Nations Human Rights Office said Israel had accelerated unlawful settlement expansion and annexation across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and forcibly displaced more than 36,000 Palestinians over the 12 months ending Oct. 31, 2025. In June 2026, six countries imposed sanctions on networks enabling settler violence, as Palestinian communities continued to describe blocked roads, attacks near villages, pressure on schools, and seizures of homes.

For Democratic politics, Khanna’s treatment in the West Bank points to a shift that goes beyond one trip. Past generations of U.S. politicians often traveled to the region to signal solidarity with Israel; Khanna’s travel, and the reception he received, show how West Bank visits are increasingly being used to test and sharpen criticism of Israeli policy. That is becoming part of campaign positioning as well as policy debate, with settlement expansion, annexation, and Palestinian displacement now central to the arguments Democrats are making about the U.S. role in the conflict.