Ro Khanna Got the VIP Version of What West Bank Palestinians Face Every Day - Haaretz
Settlers harassed a U.S. congressman, Rep. Ro Khanna, while he was touring the abandoned Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta in the South Hebron Hills last week. According to a New York Times report, armed settlers blocked the minibus in which Khanna and his aides were traveling for around an hour and a half, kicked the wheels and swore at him. Khanna told the paper that the soldiers who were at the scene didn't lift a finger to rescue him and even palled around with the assailants. Following this incident, he pledged to go to every corner of the United States and tell people about what is happening in the West Bank.
To the congressman's credit, he didn't lose his sense of proportion. "Imagine how people feel every day, Palestinians under the occupation, if they could make an American congressperson feel powerless for 90 minutes," he said. And indeed, settler thugs gave the U.S. lawmaker the treatment "appropriate" to such a high-level visitor; this was "VIP abuse." Had he been a Palestinian, or even an Israeli human rights activist, the situation would have looked very different. His car might have been smashed to pieces, or blood might even have been shed.
Following this incident, Khanna wrote on X: "Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans. ... They made a huge mistake. You will be hearing more soon." But it isn't enough to post about his experience or make threats. We have to hope that Khanna will also return to the United States with political conclusions drawn from what he experienced. He got a closeup view of one of the criminal uses Israel makes of the arms his country gives it – distributing them to members of armed militias that don't consider themselves subject to any law. And he also saw that the Palestinians in the West Bank are helpless. There is no one to protect them, their lives, their property or their dignity from the rioters.
Somebody ought to protect them. But the Palestinian security forces are prevented from protecting their own people, while the military has proved over and over that its commanders think its only job in the West Bank is to protect the settlers, regardless of the situation.
A small, determined group of Israelis has begun over the last few months to mobilize to help the Palestinians through various organizations, including Looking the Occupation in the Eye. This activity is called a "protective presence," and it is admirable. But it isn't sufficient to protect helpless Palestinians.
The current government is not merely failing to deal with the violence in the West Bank, but is actually deliberately enabling it. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim that the violence stems merely from "150 juvenile delinquents" is proof of this. Thus, in addition to the security forces, which must come to their senses and resume dealing with such nationalist crimes, we also need "protective intervention" – either American or European – that will increase pressure on the government until the pogroms by lawbreaking settlers come to an end.