National Review Online
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
It used to be that politicians exploring a presidential
campaign would show up at the Iowa State Fair or give a speech at the New
Hampshire Institute of Politics. For Democrats, at least, it seems like a
hostile overseas trip to Israel is the latest launching pad.
Last week, Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor, gave a
speech in Tel Aviv excoriating Israel and calling for a new, more critical
American approach toward the Jewish state. The speech was previewed to
political reporters and accompanied by a media tour before and after.
Not to be outdone, over the weekend, California
Representative Ro Khanna, who had been one of the biggest backers of disgraced
former Senate candidate Graham Platner, raised alarms on social media about
being “detained” by violent settlers in the West Bank and the IDF on Wednesday.
The way Khanna told it, he was touring the West Bank when
a group of armed men stopped the vehicle, kicked the tires, and began harassing
him and the other occupants. The IDF arrived on the scene, he said, and sided
with the settlers even after he told them they were Americans and he was a
member of Congress.
In reality, when the IDF and police received reports of
armed civilians blocking the vehicles, soldiers arrived to disperse the
civilians and then let Khanna and the others continue on their way. This whole
situation could have been avoided had Khanna coordinated his visit with the
Israeli government, which he chose not to do.
It’s obvious that Khanna, who had a New York Times
photographer with him, was eager to stage a confrontation. The Times reported
on the story, and Khanna went to work on social media and in interviews, trying
to portray himself as a modern-day Rosa Parks. “This is the first time that I
have been acutely aware of being brown,” he claimed of
treatment he faced by Israelis.
Admitting the quiet part aloud, he said of his
presidential ambitions, “I’m strongly considering it, and I’m more resolved to
consider it after this trip.” To the Times, he said, “Free advice to the
Israelis: It’s not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates.”
Add it to the list of Israeli sins — forcing us to endure a Khanna presidential
campaign.
Khanna, who claims to be a working-class champion while
he enjoys the generational wealth of his wife’s inheritance, is desperate to
become the candidate of the anti-Israel left in 2028. He regularly perpetuates
the preposterous claim of “genocide” in Gaza while opposing support for even
Israel’s defensive weapons. He has proudly promoted the loaded term “Epstein
class,” which evokes stereotypes of wealthy, powerful, and mysterious Jews who
control the world to advance their own nefarious ends.
We suspect that future tellings of his 90-minute
experience in the West Bank will be even more dramatic by the time Khanna takes
his show to New Hampshire and Michigan.
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