Adam W. 🇺🇸✡️🇮🇱

Alas, Mr. Congressman, I'm not lying. And I started this line of questioning assuming you were telling the truth. I've written long essays on extremist Israeli violence in the West Bank. I know it happens. I was ready, at first glance, to believe it happened here. But it didn't. This wasn't Israeli violence. This was agitprop for your American audiences. I said explicitly that I'm not familiar with the details of that area. It took a lot of effort for JPost to find out what it found out -- which was that it was a closed military zone only recently opened. But if you'd coordinated your visit with Israeli authorities, this would have been sorted out from the start. Those soldiers weren't angry or aggressive, they seemed mostly just confused about the status of the area and how to handle your visit. Because, you know, there was no coordination. JPost suggests all that in the article you yourself shared. And what of the violence? Your group had cameras -- a professional photographer and at least one bodycam -- yet you've produced no evidence that I've seen of the violence you claim to have experienced. Remember that you claimed the violence was sufficient to demand that Netanyahu order the prosecution of those soldiers. I've seen that sort of violence before; if you produce that footage, I'll join your demand for prosecution. That's not rhetoric. I really will, wholeheartedly. But if you don't, I think it's safe to assume you blew up a small inconvenience caused by your own refusal to talk to Israelis. In a similar vein, you used the word "detained" as if you were unlawfully held against your will -- and hide behind its second meaning, that you were a bit delayed in driving forward into the area. The first is on the spectrum of kidnapping crimes, the second is the sort of problem you'd encounter at the entrance to a federal building as you search your pockets for an ID. Which was it? Anyway, you were angling for some domestic political brownie points, and congratulations, you got 'em.

A great way to avoid being detained in a foreign country is to not go to said foreign country for the express purpose of being detained.

Instead of calling for the arrest of violent settlers & IDF soldier who detained Americans, former Congresswoman Manning criticizes me for taking a Palestinian led trip to the West Bank. I want to respectfully address this criticism head on because we desperately need more American politicians to take trips like the ones I did. I had been to Israel three times before my trip to Palestine. I had met with PM Bennett and PM Netanyahu. I have met with the families of Oct 7 terrorist attacks, including Jon and Rachel Polin who lost their beloved son Hersh. Can an American politician not take one Palestinian led trip to the occupied territories to learn the facts on the ground? Must every trip be curated through the Israel government or pro Israel advocacy groups? Will any trip that is through the lens of Palestinian eyes be dismissed as a stunt? What is most surprising to me is Congresswoman Manning dismisses my experience of being seen first as Brown and second as an American in the West Bank. I have never felt personally such an acute sting of race in America. When traveling in Palestine with a small group of others who were White, I was singled out and asked my faith. I was subject to longer interrogations at checkpoints. I was laughed at and mocked by violent settlers. And I saw firsthand the IDF taking the side of violent settlers much like the police forces sided with segregationists in the Jim Crow South. I am not nearly as eloquent as Ta-Nehisi Coates. But any person of color will feel how he or I did if they visit the occupied territories for even 24 hours. What is happening in Palestine is a betrayal of Judaism or the ideals of Israel. I wish Congresswoman Manning and others who love Israel would open their eyes and help work to redeem the soul of the nation they love by ending the oppression.

The IDF is lying about the detention of Rep. Khanna. I was on the ground with him that day, and my body camera captured us being detained by both settlers and Israeli soldiers. The IDF did not disperse the violent settlers, as they claim. They explicitly sided with them.

Ro Khanna: “The IDF is lying. What happened was unprecedented. They had violent settlers detain American citizens including an American government official. You had these settlers brandishing M4s, kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us. We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful for our lives. How dare they mistreat people with an American passport that way”