|
Trending Topics
|
Source: https://jcfa.org/the-ro-khanna-stunt-and-israels-missing-strategic-response-what-must-now-be-done/
The Ro Khanna Stunt: Using Israel for Political Theater
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs) Dr. Dan Diker - U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) recently spent 72 hours touring Palestinian Authority-controlled villages without coordinating the visit with Israel. He characterized his visit as a trip to "Palestine" and his itinerary was arranged by a radical anti-government Israeli advocacy group. He traveled with activists tied to an American organization that has lobbied against the Israeli government since 2008, as well as New York Times reporters. Khanna's unmarked convoy, carrying unidentified passengers in an area that had only recently been redesignated from its former status as a closed military zone, drew the attention of Jewish residents of nearby communities who alerted the Israel Police and the IDF, who delayed the convoy until they received clearance orders. Video footage uploaded online shows that Khanna was not harassed. In fact, it is more likely that Israeli locals were unaware of Khanna's presence or his identity, as the Congressman, almost unknown in Israel, sat in a van behind darkened windows. Once his identity was established, the convoy was allowed to proceed. Khanna then publicly declared on X that Israeli settlers carrying American-made M4 rifles had "detained him" and that the IDF "sided with the settlers." Israel has faced this situation before: political actors who use Israel and the Palestinians as props in their own political theater to advance their domestic political agendas. Khanna, an admitted presidential hopeful, has called for halting all weapons transfers to Israel, including missile defense funding. He has positioned himself as the candidate willing to break furthest from his party's traditional support for the Jewish state. The writer is President of the Jerusalem Center.