Ro Khanna on X - "Israeli settlers, brandishing American made M4s, detained me & other Americans on my trip to Palestine. When the IDF arrived, they sided with the settlers & continued our detention. They made a huge mistake. You will be hearing more soon."
AG on X - "I am very critical of settler violence and think Israel needs to do far more to punish it. But that’s not what this is about. So what appears to have happened here was an intentional political stunt by someone who has built his entire career on stunts. @RoKhanna had his Palestinian guides take him into a restricted area that is closed off to civilians without requesting access or coordinating with anyone. Local security (which Khanna intentionally misrepresents as random settlers) then stopped them. IDF arrived and spent time evaluating the situation. Then Israeli police showed up, determined what had happened, and let them go on their way. No one was hurt or attacked. No one was threatened. Khanna knew going to a restricted area would get a response and he got exactly what he wanted. I will note that if a random group goes onto a military restricted area in the U.S., they would also be detained and questioned. Israel is to blame for letting Khanna plan out this stunt, but that’s exactly what it was. And it was predictably coordinated with the press as he had a NYT photographer with him and waited until they released a story days later to even post about it. Khanna wants to run for president on this nonsense because he has nothing to offer Americans."
Emily Schrader - אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر on X - "US Rep. Ro Khanna is a charlatan and dishonest. His tour was halted on the bus because they entered a closed military zone (CMZ) which is prohibited (due to safety) to civilians. Police were called in to discuss the problem with the tour organizer who had repeatedly attempted to enter the CMZ in the past as well. The bus has to wait until the arrival of the officers to the scene, which is what caused the delay. It was not a "detainment" and no one was arrested. Police stated they have already reviewed the body cam footage of police at the scene confirming this account. The tour participants were also briefed and then continued on their way. Much like Rahm Emanuel, this is another example of a propagandist (who behaves as if he is paid by America's enemies) intentionally orchestrating a scene to provoke attention and whine about Israel. Ro Khanna you are truly pathetic."
Left wingers claim Americans are arrogant for going overseas and expecting special treatment. But if you push the left wing agenda you need to get special treatment and if you don't, it's an outrage
Max 📟 on X - "Let me get this straight: Ro Khanna was taking a lot of heat at home because he was propping up a Nazi-sympathizing rapist (Graham Platner). So in order to take the heat off of the fact that he had propped up a Nazi rapist, he flew to Israel to fabricate a diplomatic incident with an ally on behalf of a different group of Nazi-sympathizing rapists (Arab-Islamic supremacists). And all of this could have been avoided if he had simply coordinated his visit with Israeli authorities instead of having a tour guide sneak him into a military-protected zone. Do I have that right?"
Zvika Klein צביקה קליין on X - "Rep. Ro Khanna was blocked on a road near Khirbet Zanuta on Wednesday. That happened, a NYT photographer saw it, and if the armed men who did it broke the law, prosecute them. Now the rest of the story. The IDF says its troops and police dispersed the civilians and let his vehicles drive on. His own aide says the group was released when officers arrived. Yet the tweet claims the IDF "sided with the settlers and continued our detention." Both cannot be true. The "M4 machine guns": the M4 is a carbine, and it is precisely the rifle the IDF issues to civilian rapid-response squads in the area. Nobody, including Khanna, has established whether these were "hoodlums" or local security members reacting to an unidentified convoy that no one knew was coming. Because no one did know. Israeli security officials confirm the congressman never coordinated the visit, which is why he had no protection. He toured Area C with programming run exclusively by Palestinian hosts, by his own description, to get an "unfiltered" view. Unfiltered also means unverified. And the timing tells its own story. Incident Wednesday. Tweet Saturday, minutes behind a New York Times article, from a politician who told Reuters this trip made him "more resolved" to run for president in 2028, and who declared anyone unwilling to use the words genocide and apartheid "morally compromised" before he ever got in the van. An hour on a blocked road is not Israel's finest moment, and settler violence, including Saturday's attack on a CNN crew near Sinjil where four suspects were arrested, deserves condemnation and prosecution. But a presidential launch video dressed up as a human rights report deserves scrutiny too. Congressman, our studio in Jerusalem is open. Come tell the full story, on the record, with the IDF statement on the table."
Yael Bar tur on X - "This is the best thing that could have happened to Ro Khanna. A bunch of assholes harassed him, true, but then you know what happened? The police and IDF were called, and broke it up. So really the Israeli authorities protected him from a violent minority group, which of course Israel is the only country in which this problem exists. Anyway, enjoy telling your heroic tale to the guy who thinks 9/11 was awesome."
Albert Aaron | Facebook - "I received a lot of questions about the Ro Khanna incident and I want to provide an update with additional information that came out today. People also asked me for sources so I will try to be more deliberate with my sourcing for this one. Based on everything I reviewed, here’s what happened:
1. According to Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Yechiel Leiter, the Israeli Embassy reached out to Ro Khanna when they learned that he was going to Israel in order to coordinate a trip. Khanna ignored Israel’s request (Source: Face the Nation). He instead coordinated the trip without Israel’s knowledge and with a left-leaning organization named “Breaking the Silence” (Source: Jerusalem Post). The group advocates for an effective displacement of Jews in Judea and Samaria. Now, what specifically happened on the ground.
2. While in Area C, Ro Khanna entered a Closed Military Zone (CMZ). NBC confirmed this and Khanna’s trip organizer from Breaking the Silence did not dispute this fact to the Jerusalem Post. According to the Israeli government, which controls Area C, “when an area is formally declared a closed military zone, Israeli military orders generally prohibit entry or presence without permission from the military commander…. A foreign visitor (including an American or European citizen) who enters a CMZ without permission can potentially be removed, detained for questioning, fined, or face other legal consequences depending on circumstances.” So according to this, Ro Khanna acted contrary to Israeli military regulations governing closed military zones and against diplomatic norms of a U.S. congressman.
3. It was at that point, that local civilian guards saw a bus in a CMZ area, and took matters into their own hands by stopping the bus and calling up the IDF. Israeli officials criticized this intervention by local civilians, with Prime Minister Netanyahu referring to them as “vigilantes.” Jerusalem Post also cited Israeli officials who said that initial stop by the local guards was a “failure on the Israeli side,” implying that the initial stop by local civilians was outside of their jurisdiction. Nevertheless, these local guards immediately called the IDF according to numerous sources, including Ro Khanna’s own account. The IDF arrived promptly within 20 minutes.
4. When the IDF arrived, they began to investigate. According to the Jerusalem Post report, at this point, the people on Khanna’s bus also called the Israeli police to resolve the dispute. The precise division of authority between the two agencies at this point was not publicly explained. The New York Times added this: “Mr. Khanna assumed the soldiers were there to help him pass. Instead, the soldiers smoked cigarettes, chatted with the men.” Khanna adds, “I felt powerless in that situation, which is not an easy thing, as I have a lot of privilege in life.” I could not decipher if it was the female soldiers smoking cigarettes, their conversation with the men, or both that made Khanna feel “powerless,” based on the New York Times reporting. [Yes, I’m kidding.]
5. About an hour later from the start of the incident, Israel’s police arrived. “Israel Police told NBC News that it responded to a report that a group was blocking a route inside a ‘closed military zone’ [CMZ] that’s technically controlled by the Israel Defense Forces.” [it should be noted that for this particular incident, it appears that the IDF controls the military zone, while the Israeli police controls the traffic and detention matters.]
6. The police also added that they reviewed camera footage and added this about the group leader, likely a reference to Breaking the Silence activist. “A review of body-worn camera footage confirms that the group leader was explicitly warned by officers, as this was not his first time violating the Closed Military Zone order,” police said. “He was issued a final warning that any future violations would result in immediate arrest.” (Source: NBC) About an hour and some minutes later, local police cleared the area, and Khanna continued on his way. These are the facts. That is exactly how it went down on Wednesday. With sources. But what happened after that is important too.
7. Ro Khanna sat on the story for several days and coordinated with major networks in the United States to provide an incomplete picture of what happened. He did not disclose, for instance, that he himself was acting outside of military laws by being inside a CMZ. Khanna also described the incident to networks as him being held at gunpoint. While militarily personnel were armed because that is the nature of military personnel in closed military zones, there is absolutely no evidence that firearms were ever pointed at anyone or that anyone was threatened with anything gun-related.
8. In my view, these deliberate material omissions and egregious overstatements by Khanna were designed to paint him as a victim of something (I’m not sure what exactly) instead of stating the facts about exactly what happened. For instance, Khanna specifically didn’t report to any of the networks in his initial media blitz that he was in a restricted area controlled by Israel pulling a stunt against Israel. Aside for NBC, none of the networks disclosed that important fact. Khanna also fundraised off of this media blitz.
9. Another piece of information to have emerged from this story is that Khanna went on the trip with his new aide, a democratic socialist Cameron Kasky (in the photograph below). Kasky is a Columbia University dropout who had entered New York’s congressional race to replace Jerry Nadler (my district in NYC) and dropped out fairly quickly because he was a terrible candidate. His primary message was effectively that he has a deep hatred for Israel. For instance, he likened Israelis fighting in the Gaza war to mass shooters on high school campuses, and blamed the United States for both. Here is how he framed it: “What do the mass shooting at my high school in Parkland and the mass killings of children and adults in Gaza have in common? America is responsible.”
10. Most importantly, as I mentioned yesterday and as was repeated by the ambassador today, the trip’s timeline and intent are strange. The trip occurred shortly after Graham Platner’s campaign collapsed as a result of credible rape allegations. Ro Khanna was one of Platner’s most important supporters and campaigned with him in June, shortly before Platner won his primary. It is also peculiar that Khanna chose the Middle East, and not the United States, as the setting from which to announce his candidacy. Why are democratic socialists and left-leaning candidates so focused on what Israelis are doing in the Middle East and not on their own constituents in the United States?
So that’s what happened."
Hen Mazzig on X - "According to a source for the New York Post, Ro Khanna was invited to meet freed hostages and survivors of October 7th. Khanna's team didn't even bother to respond. His team was also offered an opportunity to meet with Druze civilians in the Golan Heights and a briefing on how aid is currently getting into Gaza. They didn't take it. Now, if Ro Khanna genuinely believes that aid is not properly getting into Gaza, why not go to the briefing? If he thinks Israel is lying, wouldn't that be the perfect time to get proof? But he didn't go, because those aren't his intentions. He didn't want to meet with victims of Hamas or those trying to get as much aid into Gaza as they can because they contradict his narrative. And the narrative is all that matters."
MacKenzie Scott sends millions to nonprofit that supports anti-Israel and pro-Muslim groups | Fortune - "According to a Dec. 9 blog post written by Scott, her philanthropic organization Yield Giving donated to Solidaire Network, which says it “nurtures relationships between social movements and members to create regenerative systems rooted in love and justice.” This means in practice that the network has funded organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), the US Palestinian Community Network, and the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), according to tax filings and press releases from the Solidaire Network... SJP and AMP—two organizations receiving funding from Solidaire Network—face investigations in both the House and Senate for allegedly coordinating with terror group Hamas to start anti-Israel protests in the U.S... U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) in September also asked the FBI to investigate what he calls the “virulently antisemitic” PYM, after its leader Aisha Nizar called on supporters to disrupt the U.S. F-35 fighter jet supply chain."
The Archbishop of Canterbury is blind to the true enemies of Middle East Christians - "Which country offers the strongest legal protections and lowest risk of persecution for Christians in the Middle East? Where do believers enjoy the greatest safety and the richest opportunities to flourish? The answer, of course, is Israel. According to a US State Department report on international religious freedom, this is because “the country’s laws and Supreme Court rulings protect the freedoms of conscience, faith, religion, and worship, regardless of an individual’s religious affiliation”, and it “criminalises actions that damage or desecrate religious sites or restrict access to worshippers”. Anybody following the new Archbishop of Canterbury’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land last week, however, would be encouraged to think rather less favourably of the Jewish state. Unlike Justin Welby, who in 2017 met leaders from both sides (yet was hardly free from Israelophobia himself), her schedule seemed to be rammed with set-pieces designed to cast a cloud over Jerusalem... At the end of her pilgrimage, Mullally got political, releasing an open letter to Anglicans calling for an end to the “occupation” and a “viable two-state solution”, with Jerusalem as a “shared capital”. Strangely, she did not mention that Ramallah had previously rejected this precise offer, such as when Ehud Olmert tabled it in 2008. As a professional nurse rather than foreign policy expert, perhaps she had no idea. Provocatively, the Archbishop’s letter also spoke of the “indigenous Christian Palestinian presence in the Holy Land”. Indigenous? Now that’s a weapon of a word. Without denying Arab history, delve deep enough into Christian indigeneity and you will end up finding Jews, who lived in Israel for a millennia before the birth of Christ, the Jewish prophet... much of Mullally’s campaigning focused on the Arab Christians living on the West Bank, who experience markedly less freedom than their brethren in Israel. But their plight cannot solely be blamed on the Israelis. Partly – the Archbishop was apparently not aware of this detail – it is due to the repressive nature of the Palestinian regime in Ramallah, which is saturated in corruption, Islamism and brutality. Israel does not qualify for the 2026 World Watch List, one of the best-known indexes of persecution against Christians globally, published annually by the charity Open Doors. This is backed up by other groups, such as the Pew Research Center. Open Doors does, however, highlight the persecution faced by Christians in the Palestinian Territories, which were ranked at 62 on its 2025 World Watch List... Most Christians on the West Bank, Open Doors adds, feel they are “squeezed out” of their country, with some fleeing abroad. “We are considered foreigners, seen as people that come from the crusaders, we’re seen as infidels,” one testified... Of course, as Open Doors rightly reports, the “political situation with the State of Israel” does have an effect on civilians, with checkpoints – a security necessity, from Israel’s point of view – making life “extremely difficult” for all Palestinians. Then there is worrying intimidation on the fringes by gangs of contemptible Jewish extremists on the West Bank and in parts of Jerusalem, who have been emboldened by certain deplorable government ministers. Certainly, Israel must do more to clamp down on this vandalism and harassment. But there are criminals and bigots in every society, and democracy provides no bulwark against the incompetence of elected governments. Moreover, notwithstanding this darkness, settlers do not tend to target Palestinian Christians for their faith, unlike in Nigeria and Pakistan, where Christians are subjected to spectacular massacres, or Somalia, where converts are butchered. While reporting in Sri Lanka in 2019, I saw with my own eyes – and smelled – the gruesome results of true Christian persecution, when jihadis killed 269 people in attacks on churches and hotels in what came to be known as the Easter Bombings. To say that such horrors dwarf settler bullying would be to understate the point greatly. As Jesus Himself put it: “You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.” There is no dispute. By far the greatest threat to Christians around the world is Islamist extremism. Other factors include the communist oppression seen in North Korea, the dictatorial paranoia seen in Eritrea, the religious nationalism of India and the clan oppression in parts of East Africa; but jihadism eclipses them all. The Jewish state, by contrast, a wonderful place for Christians... Instead, she shone a spotlight on the failings of a natural ally while essentially ignoring the true enemies of the Church. It’s an approach that is sure to win plaudits on the Left, but by implying that Israel is a malevolent force, she is falling victim to trendy bigotry. In short, she made herself part of the problem."
moses hess on X - "“I don't know what his intentions were,” he threw a fire bomb at jews"
Kathryn Paisner on X - "The speed with which we went from, “Don’t stop talking about Charlottesville,” to, “There are good people on both sides of antisemitic terrorist attacks,” is really breathtaking."
From Melat Kiros, a Democratic candidate. Time to demonise the "far right" and Republicans for anti-Semitism. Of course she blames 911 on US foreign policy too
Aristonkle on X - "I’ve stated this before but I want to ensure that every single person that sees this talking point out in the wild is armed with the correct response. When leftists like this person or Hasan Piker say that excursions in the Middle East resulted in 9/11, be sure to bring up the fact that the chief motivation for Bin Laden was the fact that he considered coalition forces that were *invited* to KSA were “illegal crusaders” on holy land and that the West needed to be punished for this. Those same coalition forces pushed out Saddam’s armored corps from their brief invasion of KSA when they attacked the Saudi city of Khafji and saved Saudi Arabia as a state by doing so. It was, and is, an entirely schizophrenic argument."
Hen Mazzig on X - "I’m all for representation of Palestinians, but Prada posting a video to their 33M+ followers of their new “Palestinian ambassador” Saint Levant wearing a necklace shaped like the entire land with Israel erased, that’s a message. If an Israeli, or any Jew, wore a pendant that included Gaza, the outrage would be instant. But erasing Israel, “from the river to the sea,” gets a luxury campaign."
Dr. Maalouf on X - "Can anyone help me understand this? Because I genuinely don’t get it. LGBT people are imprisoned, tortured, and killed in ‘Palestine.’ So how come they are the biggest supporters of Palestine?"
Larry Sanger on X - "There are three reasons. First, woke progressives (“intersectional activists”) constantly thirst for confirmation of their moral superiority, which they typically get by defending whoever (they're told) is victimized, and by signaling their superiority both to the victimizers and to all who do not signal hard enough. Virtue signaling is socially powerful and explains a lot of what wokesters say and do. The second reason is that there is only one victimizer that matters: Western civilization (and its defenders). So, if a group—like Muslims, trans people, illegal aliens, etc.—is plausibly victimized by the West, they become the victims. Then they are helped, their causes promoted, and any harm that comes to them becomes the cause du jour. The third reason is that the only victims that matter are those that, by being defended, can help destroy Western civilization, or whatever parts of it stand in the way of a socialist, egalitarian (“woke”) utopia. Muslims can weaken Western civilization by increasing crime (including rape gangs), creating ghettos, and threatening terrorism and Sharia Law. Think several European cities with large unassimilated Muslim populations. The trans movement can be used as a blunt weapon to indoctrinate children into the joys of LGBTQ and as a way to divide Christian denominations. Illegal aliens can be used to defend violent gangs, drive up housing costs, and generally increase alienation in society. Thus we have sanctuary cities. Conservatives notice what's going on, complain about it, and thereby can be identified with the "victimizers." They do unforgiveable things like opposing the spread of Islam, say that trans women aren't women, and complain about needless, avoidable violence by known illegal immigrant criminals. So the left then secures its wonderful tasty moral superiority by defending the "victims" against the complaints of conservatives. As to LGBT people (or women) victimized by Muslims in Muslim societies, leftists haven't been told this, so they don't believe they are. Or, if they can't avoid the facts, they believe this is a legitimate cultural difference. Not only are the moral relativists, their commitment to moral relativism becomes central to their moral self-concept when they reflect that their purpose is to defend victims as “historically marginalized groups” and to fight the historical oppressors. Any suggestion that it's a serious problem is the bigoted and offensive imposition of the great oppressor, Western civilization, which is the source of all the worst problems in the world. Any violence and other crime on the side of the victims is thus recast (in the twisted progressive mind) as legitimate acts of war, essentially; for the progressive to acknowledge a problem would be treasonous. This is why the hatred of Israelis became so pronounced after October 7. I have no doubt that some LGBT progressives are uncomfortable with their “strange bedfellows,” but allies are allies. In fact, the self-disinterested ability to accept them as allies in the bigger fight is surely another source of that tasty sense of moral superiority."
Leslie Kajomovitz on X - "The United Nations International School is technically a private institution, with annual tuition of about $50,000. In practice, however, it receives at least $21 million in taxpayer-funded tuition payments each year through the United Nations. It is outrageous that taxpayer money is being used to fund a school where public records show students have been allowed to use Nazi-inspired cartoons and antisemitic imagery and compare Israel to Nazi Germany. Nearly 30% of its student body (about 415 students) are children of UN staff. As part of their employment benefits, The UN pays for for their children's private school tuition. This does not include the children of ambassadors and diplomatic staff, whose tuition amounts to an additional $7 million annually. These figures apply only to UNIS in New York. Not all UN staff children attend this school. Across the entire UN system, taxpayer-funded private school tuition for UN staff children exceeds $200 million per year. @USAmbUN @michaelgwaltz @HillelNeuer @UNWatch @dannydanon @IsraelinUN @gidonsaar"
Clearly when the UN condemns Israel it cannot be lying and this is also proof anti-Zionism isn't anti-Semitism
Andy Burnham just gave away what kind of PM he'll be - and it stinks - "The idea that Andy Burnham will bring change is laughable. He has just made perfectly clear that the obsession with Israel is to remain the priority of his unelected incoming Labour Government. Burnham’s contrived video criticising Keir Starmer for the Labour Party’s position in the Israel-Hamas war is our best indication yet of the type of Prime Minister we are about to get. In the space of three minutes, Burnham confirmed that he will cynically stop at nothing to exploit the tragic events of the Middle East to win back far-Left Labour voters from the Green Party. The stench of desperation is strong. It matters not to Burnham that Israel - a strategic ally of the UK - has been at war with a terror group banned in our own country. Or that its refusal to release hundreds of Israeli hostages was the sole reason for the war’s continuation. The reality is that the anti-Israel crowd cannot be appeased. No amount of anti-Israel measures will sate their desire to denigrate the world’s only Jewish state. I recall all too well how the Labour Government’s recognition of a Palestinian state – hitherto the holy grail of anti-Israel obsessives - was immediately met with demands for ever more punitive steps directed at Israel... The very fabric of Britain is being torn apart by those that have given succour to the anti-Israel hate mobs. It has fuelled sectarian politics with so called ‘Independents’ elected to Parliament and even local councils exclusively on the cause of Gaza. It can also be directly linked to the record levels of anti-Jewish racism which have brought international shame on our country. Brits will be wondering today why the first act of the incoming Prime Minister has been to appease the crazies by jumping on their hateful bandwagon. They will question why Israel is a bigger priority than the cost of living, ending illegal immigration or fixing the broken NHS. They would be right to fear that things are only going to get worse. Even before walking into 10 Downing Street, Burnham has chosen to pick a fight with our most important ally, the United States... The UK is today regarded as a basket case. Once revered as a nation, we have become a source of ridicule. The student style gesture politics of successive Labour prime ministers amounts to little more than a race to the bottom."
The left wing wishlist is endless, after all
