The Ro Khanna Incident

Ro Khanna’s car stopped near the West Bank village of Khirbet Zanuta

As lefties in Congress go, Ro Khanna is a moderate. By that I mean he does believe that Israel has the right - not only to exist but to defend itself against terrorist organizations like Hamas. I therefore applaud his willingness to resist the growing trend among progressive Democrats who increasingly embrace the view that Israel never had a right to exist in the first p;ace, that it is a colonial enterprise created to dispossess the indigenous population and subjugate it through a brutal occupation.

But my appreciation ends there.

His professed support for Israel’s right to defend itself amounts to little more than rhetoric, since he has repeatedly characterized Israel’s actual efforts to defend itself after the brutal attack by Hamas on October 7 - as genocide. And while he may not explicitly describe Israel as a colonial entity, he nevertheless portrays it as a brutal occupier of Palestinians on the West Bank, where, according to him, settlers routinely terrorize Palestinians while the Netanyahu government either looks the other way or tacitly encourages it.

And he is far from alone in making these accusations.

Last Sunday, Face the Nation host Margaret Brennan interviewed Israel’s Kipa wearing ambassador to the United States, Dr. Yechiel Leiter. She referred to an incident Congressman Khanna said happened to him during his recent visit to the West Bank:

“There was... an incident with Ro Khanna, the congressman from California, who said the vehicles he was in were stopped by Israeli settlers, and then when the IDF showed up, they were on the side of the settlers, not him.”

There are, unfortunately, a small number of extremist settlers who have engaged in exactly the kind of conduct of which they are accused. So Khanna’s account is not beyond the realm of possibility. Whenever such incidents occur, they lend credence to the nefarious accustions of Israel’s harshest critics in media. Outlets like the BBC and CNN. Those organizations eagerly seize upon these incidents because they reinforce the narrative they consistently promote.

But it is far too easy to blame a sitting prime minister who supports the peaceful settlement movement for every criminal act committed by a tiny minority of vigilantes. I am convinced that Prime Minister Netanyahu would not approve of what allegedly happened to Congressman Khanna if it occurred as described. That some members of his cabinet have expressed sympathy for extremist settlers is a separate issue. One that deserves serious discussion, but is beyond the scope of this post.

The real question is whether the incident happened as Khanna described it and what the facts really are.

The media, however, largely accepted Khanna’s version without question, consistent with its eagerness to portray Israel in the worst possible light.

So what is Israel’s response…

To continue reading - and/or to comment on this post  - click on this link: substack. You must subscribe to receive new posts. It's easy and it's free.