IHIP News: ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE After US Congressman DETAINED BY ALLIES! Trump SILENT!
All right, joining me on I Hip News is. Congressman Ro Khanna who represents. California's 17th Congressional. District. Congressman, you traveled to. the West Bank last week and were. detained by Israeli settlers. Let's pop. up your tweet about this. You say Israeli settlers brandishing. American-made M4s detained me and other. Americans on my trip to Palestine. When. the IDF arrived, they sided with the. settlers and continued our detention. They made a huge mistake. You'll be.
hearing more soon. I think that soon is. now, Congressman. What happened? >> We were. at Zanuta Village. It's a village that. Yinon Levy, an extremist settler, and. his group had destroyed, burned to the. ground. And we were looking at an. elementary school that had been totally. demolished. It is a place where other. members of Congress actually had been 6. months ago, Congressman Casten, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. And while.
we're there, and I was taking some. photographs, suddenly I hear, "Ro, Ro, get in the van." I thought we were late. to our next uh engagement. I get into. the van with three other Americans, some. Palestinians, some Israelis, and we're. surrounded by these vigilantes, 21, 22-year-olds, one with a M4, and other. with a weapon. They're circling our van. They had parked our their car outside. our van so we couldn't leave. They are wiping our windows, laughing at.
us, videotaping us, and basically had us. detained. And then when the IDF comes 20. minutes later, they further block us in. They allow these vigilantes to call. other settlers who parked cars to block. us in. Our interpreter goes out to talk. to the IDF because we're on the line. with the American Embassy and says, "Look, uh got American citizens there, there's a congressperson there." They. said, "We don't care. That doesn't.
matter to us. This is our land uh and we. are literally detained uh for 75. minutes." Thankfully, there's a career. person, a number two person at the. American Embassy uh who uh basically who. calls uh Israel and finally the police. come and we're able to go. But, it was a. harrowing experience. >> Did you fear for your life? >> I did. I mean, look, I thought things. would be fine uh most likely, but uh. these are young people. They were.
cursing. If something went wrong, if we. looked at them the wrong way, if we uh. said something wrong, it could have. escalated. I had uh Kim Caskey with me. who is a Parkland survivor and he. doesn't mind my sharing this. I mean, he. was having a panic attack and uh has. psychological scars uh. from what happened. I mean, they because. of what happened at at at Parkland. But, what I I'm. people will take away. I mean, I. understand right now the conversation. should be about the Americans detained.
and Netanyahu lying about it and not. caring about it. Uh but, I'm hoping that. this will actually uh. get people to see what happens to. Palestinians uh. every day. Because if we were. Palestinians and not American, that van. would have been attacked. We would have. probably been beaten or shot at. And we. have taken a lot of videos of. Palestinians. That's one of the first. Palestinian-led tours in the occupation. And I'm hoping that the attention this. incident has gotten will get attention.
for what we're going to talk about with. those Palestinian voices. >> Uh the IDF issued a statement lying. about what happened saying soldiers. quickly dispersed the Israeli civilians. and reopened the blocked road. There. have been zero arrests for what. happened. And what does it take, if not. this, to realize that Israel is not the. ally. that these politicians on both sides of. the aisle say that they are. >> Jennifer, I genuinely could not believe. what they said. I mean, unfortunately.
today there's body camera footage that. was released that basically shows the. IDF soldiers further blocking locating. us and taking the side of settlers. But. they are contradicting the account not. just of an American government official, of three other American witnesses, of a. New York Times photographer, of the New. York Times reporting, of Reuters. reporting, of the Israeli security guard. who was there, of the Israeli extremist. settler.
expert who was there, and they're just. lying. I guess people who lied about the. genocide are going to lie about the. detainment of Americans. But if it was. any other country, if this had happened. in China and Saudi Arabia, you would. have had them say this is horrible, we're going to prosecute, we're sorry. this happened, and it wouldn't be the international. incident. And it is the audacity of. power where they feel totally. impunity. to do what they're saying. And Israel. needs to be treated like an occupying.
power that is engaged in apartheid in. the West Bank and that has committed a. genocide. And that that those are just the facts. on the ground. >> They abso- They absolutely are the facts. on the ground and I can't tell you how. refreshing it is. to have a conversation with somebody. where you can we can both acknowledge. those facts and then talk about, all. right, how do we fix this? What should. our relationship be? But you bravely. went into enemy territory this morning. I'm talking about Fox News, of course.
And they tried to blame you for this. Let's play the clip. >> Americans, and we need the arrest of. these people who. detained us, who threatened our lives, >> Congressman, it is disingenuous to call. those local security officials random. settlers. These are people who operate. in the area regularly. Further, sir, I. have to point out to you that other. members of Congress have visited this. area, but with prior coordination. We. understand that your team.
did not do that. >> That's false. We had informed the. Israeli Embassy. We were The only reason. why our lives are saved is because of. the excellent work of the American. Embassy. >> Congressman. >> I mean, they're calling the vigilante. settlers the local police force. It's. almost an admission of what's wrong. Because yes, those vigilante settlers. are acting as the police in. the occupied territory harassing and.
intimidating Palestinians. But we've put. up the pictures of these people on. social media. They're obviously violent. settlers. They have nothing to do with. the police. And that's what's. That's who detained us. But here is why. they're reacting so strongly to what I. did. Because they don't want American. politicians to do that again. I've been. to Israel three times. I've met with. with Prime Minister Netanyahu, Prime. Minister Bennett. Before October 7th, I. would vote for aid. I would go on these.
trips and they curated for you. Then. they have you meet in Ramallah where you. meet with President Abbas and a few. Palestinian leaders. But you don't see. everything. And so this time. I was challenged. They said, "Why don't. you go and take one trip to see the the. the world through the lens of the. Palestinians." And it is totally. affected and changed me in seeing the. reality on the ground. Seeing that. Palestinians don't have water to wash. their own clothes or flush their own. toilets. Seeing that settlers can just. go and beat up a Palestinian or.
vandalize their house and there's. nothing they can do. And so what Israel. is saying is if you don't come on a. propaganda tour, even if you inform us. and you're saying that you want to do a. Palestinian-led tour, that somehow that. is illegitimate. So, if you're an. American politician, please don't think. of doing what Ro Khanna did. That is how. they have covered this up, because they. know if 15 people did what I did, uh and. this started to get out, they would lose. all support in America, as they're. already starting to lose support.
>> Congressman, I don't think Americans. truly understand. what the settlers are doing. I think we. are. um we get such censored news about what. the government of Israel does and what. they allow. I had a young gentleman, a. Palestinian, uh named Mohammed El Kurd, on my show. And when he was 11 years old, a settler. from Long Island, New York, went to the West Bank,
and they took over his house and started. living with him. And he was subjected to. strip searches at the age of 11 every. single day. And I don't think the. American public quite understands what's. going on, that you have somebody. from Long Island or the Bronx or. wherever that is, I want to go get my. land in the West Bank, and they just go. and take it. And the country that allows. this to happen is Israel, who we're told.
is this incredible democracy. And it's. just pardon my language, but it's just. such a jet stream of that we've. been sold about all of this. And then. when you go and expose this, and you can. see that uh. on both sides of the aisle support for. the Israeli government is plummeting. I'm curious if any of your pro-Israel. colleagues. have called you since you returned.
>> Well, first of all, you're absolutely. right about the facts on the ground, and. I didn't understand it fully in a real. visceral way until I went there. We could spend the whole show telling. you about the stories I heard, but one. of them, just to give you a sense, it. was. a. Palestinian family that. was in their home and 18-year-old. daughter was studying and the night. before I visited, they had settlers. banging on her. window, rattling the house, throwing.
things at the house, and then putting an. Israeli flag on the Palestinian home. And now she's scared to to study. Another Palestinian American, his. 14-year-old was shot dead, 21 bullets, because he threw a rock at at a car. And. he has no ability to get an. investigation, even though his son was a. Palestinian American and his the bedroom. is still. untouched. He broke down in tears. describing how they haven't changed the.
bedroom. So, it's just. inhumane what's going on. I I will say. that. a a. number of colleagues every Shabbat, I. was very touched Governor Shapiro, who. we don't always share the same view, actually called me just on a human level. to say, "Hey, Ro, are you okay?" and. what happened and and and what did you. see? But I I wish more people would just. treat this as a human issue as opposed. to the ideological issue that people.
have made it. >> Yeah, I feel like. it's really arrogant the way Israel, and. in many regards the United States, our. own government, um. preaches to people in a sanctimonious. way about freedom and about democracy. and about free press. And when you look. at the data, Israel has killed, I think it's over 200. journalists. Journalists still aren't allowed to go.
into Gaza to cover the the damage there. and the ones that do that are. Palestinian often times get killed. And. I can't think of anything more. anti-democratic. than. the actions and the provocations and the. war crimes of Israel. And then the American government support. of that. And once you. >> [sighs]. >> kind of unravel from the propaganda that. the diet of propaganda that we've all. been served up and when I grew up in. Oklahoma, I didn't give a what was. going on in the Middle East. I'm in the.
middle of the country fighting Christian. nationalists, right? But then when you open up your eyes to. it, you can't unsee it. And I feel like this is going to be a. huge huge issue heading into the. midterms. And you have voices like Rahm. Emanuel and now Josh Shapiro. And part of the story that's not covered. as much is in the United States, there. is a Jewish resistance. American Jewish. people um like Cam Kasky who works for.
you, who was with you. Um there are a. lot of Jewish voices that are a. resistance to all of this that feel like. it is a very much of an an affront to. the Jewish values that they were raised. in. And all of that is completely. suppressed as well as the war crimes of. Israel. And what can you speak to that? To, you know, your conversation with. Shapiro and then some of your colleagues. who seem to be in the tank. for Israel and so have these major. blinders on because I think that there's.
a reckoning in the works with this. And um. the other side, if we're critical of it, they want to say, "Oh, you're. anti-American, you're antifa, whatever.". Or you're anti-Semitic. And truly, if. both countries are confident, secure. democracies, you should welcome. criticism. in a confident manner. >> First of all, these young. Jewish Americans like Cam Kasky are. incredible and give me such hope. I mean. Cam is more passionate about.
Palestinian rights than anyone I've. seen. He's always saying bro, you need. to go further. And there's a journalist. there Jasper Nathaniel. Jewish American, you know, he was beaten. the night before because he was. literally protecting Solomon's house, the house I told you. which was attacked and then he was. detained by Israelis briefly. the next day when they attacked Umm. al-Khair. So there people are putting. their bodies on the line. And here's the. amazing thing.
that these Palestinian homes that we. went to, they love Cam and Jasper. They. have no animosity just because they're. Jewish or. even. some who were Israeli who are doing. protective presence. They feed them, they welcome them. They want to move. beyond this. And that entire generation. gives me such hope. And I wish that more. people would listen and talk to them. But then you've got people and I was. just shocked by this cuz I served.
together with Kathy Manning. And she's. now she was a member of Congress and. she's the chair of the DF DFMI Democrats. majority for Israel. And she puts out a. video this morning. perfunctory saying I'm glad Cam is alive. and then criticizing me for taking a. trip to the West Bank and not going to. Israel at the same time and calling the. whole thing a political stunt. And I. said, how tone-deaf are you? And I said. I've been to Israel three times. I've.
met with the hostages. I met with. John Pollin and then Rachel Pollin who. lost their beloved son Hersh. I had. advocated for Hersh in a small way. I've. seen the pain and the suffering of. Israelis. But you're telling me that. because I went and wanted to have one. trip where I heard from things from a. Palestinian perspective and even that. arranged through young Jewish Americans. like Cam and Jasper that that was a. stunt. And it's just that that perspective.
is hurting, genuinely hurting our. ability to get to a just peace. And I. have so much faith and hope in this new. generation. >> Couple of things. I was walking on the. street in New York and this gay couple. comes up to me, men, and they were like, "We love your podcast. We're big fans.". I was like, "Oh, thank you guys so. much." And when I was like, "I'm. Palestinian." The other one said, "I'm. Jewish." And I said, "Oh, I've got to. get a double hug for all of that." And I. think at the end of this, you see the. Palestinians that are so warm and.
welcoming to Cam and Jasper. You see the. the gay couple on the streets of New. York. People don't care about this conflict. We care about supporting one another. And something that I think we have to. just send off to the pasture. And and I. wish that your colleagues would. understand this. This whole notion of when people are. running for office and it's like, "Where's the first trip you're going to. take?" You saw this with Zoran's. campaign. And everybody's like, "Well, I'm going to go to Israel for the, you. know, 15th time." Nobody gives a flying.
pardon my language, if their. politicians go to Israel. It's not that. big of an issue. It's a huge issue for. the politicians that take a lot of AIPAC. money to satisfy the donors that have. given them money. But I. I don't know a single person that gives. a if their politicians visit. Israel. There are so many problems in. the United States of America. There are. so many things that we need to sift. through. Why do you think that is such.
an an issue that always comes up? Do you. think it's just the AIPAC situation? Cuz. it's a really weird question. We don't. ask people, "Are you going to go to. France?" You know, it's just. all of the questions surrounding Israel. with politicians are so weird to me. >> And look at the double standard that how. dare a politician actually just go to. the West Bank, right? I mean, after all. these trips funded to to to Israel, uh. I'm getting criticized after having. taken three trips to to to Israel in my.
life for even going to to the West Bank. But, you're right. I mean, it is a. uh a a a ritual that uh American. politicians had to to do, which was. profess kind of uh a willingness to be. uh supportive of the Israeli government, not ask any questions. Uh some of it was. driven by the lobbying groups of AIPAC. Some of it was just this uh story we. told ourselves that uh Israel, because. they were allies of our of ours during. the Cold War, they were uh critical uh.
ally. And it was done with no. understanding of what was going on. And. once you go and you see it, you can. understand why there would be so much. anger, not just in Palestine, but in the. Middle East, because they see America is. supporting all of this, and they know. that America could stop all of it. And. so, obviously, you can't have peace in. the Middle East unless you solve the. issue of the Palestinian injustice. Anyone who goes there will say it's.
impossible. And we just have been. shielded uh from from that perspective, but it's changing now. It's uh it it it. really is, but it's a fight. As I'm. seeing being criticized on national. television by the Israeli ambassador, by. the Israeli Prime Minister, by. Democrats, majority for uh for Israel. And then people, you know, I'm not. looking to to make news. I went there to. to have a trip, to put out videos of. Palestinians. When we were detained, I. thought, "Okay, they're going to arrest. these folks and and make the point of.
Palestinians." But, the what I'm doing, when I challenge power, when I. challenged Elon Musk because of the US. aid cuts, it's provocative to folks with. power. Provocative when we challenge the. Epstein class. And people say, "Well, why are you. continually making news?" I said, "It's. not me making news. I'm questioning. power that is unjust." And those people. in power are reacting and lashing out. cuz they don't want that changed. And. and this younger generation gets that we. need to speak truth to power to have.
build a more just world. >> Um Elon Musk last time you were on, he. threatened to sue you. I'm wondering, have you been served any papers yet for. that lawsuit? >> I have not. Have you been served? >> No. Nothing. Crickets. Crickets from the. Musk camp. But um you talking about the. politicians and doing this performative. trip to Israel and kind of breaking that. propaganda down and saying, "Let's look. at the other side of this. Let's go to. the West Bank and see what what we're. supporting and promoting." It reminds me. of your former colleague who's a total.
nut, for the record. I just want to say. Matt Gaetz. But Matt Gaetz said on a podcast that. when he went to Israel, he had like a. handler, like an AIPAC handler. And. there was a he went to back to his hotel. room at some point early he'd forgotten. something and I don't know if I believe. him or not. But that there was somebody. in his room and he suspected there were. like cameras in his room. And there's. all of this you mentioned Epstein. And there's all of these. pretty not so thinly veiled connections.
between the Epstein files and why was he. doing all of this? And there's a. suggestion out there. um backed by some of the drops and I. think people want more, which I know. you're you're fighting for to get. released. That he was doing work for the Israeli. government to honeypot people, to. blackmail them. Have you seen in that. files that that you have uh unearthed. with um Thomas Massie any link between.
Jeffrey Epstein working directly with. Israeli government? >> Many of those documents are classified. and the Epstein Transparency Act we. passed didn't cover the classified. documents because Congress can't. declassify them. But in the process of. getting these files released, I've. spoken to Julia Brown who is the most uh. respected journalist on Epstein and she. believes that there is are credible. questions about uh what Epstein's link.
was to foreign intelligence, credible. questions about what his motives were. and the people supporting him that need. to be asked. And the only way we're. going to get answers on that is if a. president uh. appoints a commission to declassify some. of those documents or at least provide a. public report to the American public to. understand who Jeffrey Epstein was, uh. what his relationship was with. intelligence agencies, and make sure we. can never have this uh happen again. But. I think the throughline here is that.
there. are a group of people who have wielded. power in a way without any. accountability. Whether it's what I call. the Epstein class who raped and abused. underage girls, whether it's Elon Musk. buying uh himself a position with the. president with hundreds of millions of. dollars in a super pack and just cutting. the aid of the poorest people, or. whether it's Israel as a government that. literally is. watching Palestinian lives uh subject to. a settler violence and uh.
doing nothing about it. And what young. people I think are saying is this is not. just. This is not right. This is not. fair. The world we're growing up in is. not a fair world and they want better. for America. And that's that's why I. have so much hope in them. They haven't. been jaded uh in in what they uh are. willing to stand up for. And to me that. is really. the test. I you know, I always admired. my grandfather. He's a greater person. than all ever be. He spent uh four years.
in jail as part of uh. the India's independence moment. And one. of the things I always admired about him. was his courage because he didn't know. if India would be free. And I admire. that about Cam. I admire it about. Jasper. I admire it about some of these. young. folks. They're showing courage and that. to me is the most important thing we. right now need for a better America and. a better world. >> Yeah, I think about this all the time. with Trump's fascist takeover. The most. powerful and the most privileged.
capitulated first. And those of us. everyday Americans are showing more. courage than the people who just, you. know, really had or in positioned to. tell him to go F off. Okay, final. question. Netanyahu responded to the situation. with you yesterday on Meet the Press. Let's play the clip. >> This is a vigilante effort not by the. settler community. They're 99.9%. you know, a law-abiding citizens. They.
work, they serve in the army and so on. There are 150. juvenile delinquents that are not part. of that community. They come from the. other parts of Israel. We are. I don't want vigilantes of any kind and. we are working to put them under the. law. But I think if we put things in. perspective. >> What's your take on that and what's your. take also on corporate media kind of. platforming him. in a way that really doesn't frame what.
he really is, which is a war criminal. that is evading arrest from the ICC? >> Yeah, and they're not asking him about. the genocide and the accountability. But. look, this is a country Israel that had. pagers go off in taking out people in. Hezbollah or got. Sinwar Hamas. You're telling me that. they can't. arrest right now these.
young people brandishing M4s. like this second. Of course they can. Their pictures are all over social. media. And they're the most. sophisticated military operation. And so. they're choosing not to arrest them. Now. the Prime Minister calling them juvenile. delinquents. Uh. Whatever you want to call them, I. they're extremist settlers related to. Yinon Levy. Why aren't you arresting. them? Why Why aren't they arrested. today? Why aren't you arresting the the.
settlers who were associated with them? Why aren't you investigating the IDF? It. is a choice. And the choice that they're. making is they don't care about world. opinion. They don't care about America. They obviously didn't care about what. happened to American citizens. They care. about a extreme right-wing uh vote bank. in Israel that uh. refers to the whole places Judea. Samaria land and wants to take over the.
West Bank. And they know that if they. arrest these settlers uh that they would. be upsetting Ben-Gvir Smotrich and that. group. And an election's coming up and. they don't want to do that. And that's. that's the facts. And so the Prime. Minister is getting away with it because. some of my own former colleagues are. taking his side as opposed to what would. be the normal response. You know, they. how dare they uh detain an American uh a. government official with other citizens.
and what are they going to do about it? That literally would be the normal. response if I was in Saudi Arabia, China, almost anywhere else. And the. fact that that's not the normal response. here is what gives Netanyahu the license. to do what he's doing. >> Yeah, imagine if you did it in France, our ally, and they detained you for 72. hours. Imagine the the news cycle that. that would be. The way that Israel is. able to operate with impunity and the. pathological lies and propaganda they.
use to sell it. I think uh. the time is kind of ending on that and. the public is really wise up. Congressman, I always enjoy our time. together. Thank you so much for. highlighting human beings that are. living under this brutal settler. terrorism in Palestine. Um because at. the end of the day Americans need to. know that we write Israel a blank check. to support them. So, thank you so much. for your time today. >> Well, thank you for your voice and being. someone from Oklahoma, you know, you you.
get it and you can help uh share this. truth with so many Americans and I just. appreciate what you do. >> Thank you. Bye-bye. >> [music].
