Ro Khanna Faces Backlash Over Israel ‘Genocide’ and ‘Apartheid’ Remarks

Jerusalem, 14 July, 2026 (TPS-IL) -- Israeli officials and American Jewish figures are criticizing US Congressman Ro Khanna over his visit to Judea and Samaria, accusing him of slandering Israel for political gain.

Sheldon Schorer, a former head of Democrats Abroad Israel, condemned Khanna’s remarks.

“It is sad enough when ignorant, malevolent people believe the lie that Israel — and not Hamas — is genocidal. It is especially disturbing when lawmakers repeat and propagate this blasphemy for personal political gain,” Schorer told The Press Service of Israel.

He said Khanna “knows the truth but plays to his audience for his personal advancement,” calling it “not leadership” but “following the mob.”

Khanna, mentioned as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, made the comments in Turmus Ayya, an affluent Palestinian town north of Jerusalem with a high concentration of Palestinian-American residents.

“If you’re unwilling to speak up for Palestinian human rights, if you’re unwilling to speak up against the genocide in Gaza, the apartheid in the West Bank, then you are morally compromised,” media reports quoted Khanna as saying.

In a separate video he shared on social media, Khanna said he had spent time “talking to Palestinians in their homes and villages about the daily injustices they face under occupation,” before recounting his delegation’s encounter at Khirbet Zanuta, an archaeological site in the South Hebron Hills. As The Press Service of Israel reported Monday, the delegation entered the site without prior coordination with Israeli authorities.

Khanna said Israeli security guards and soldiers detained his group, but TPS-IL interviews with eyewitnesses and video footage did not confirm his account.

Political Criticism Grows

Marc Zell, chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, called the Khirbet Zanuta incident a “calculated provocation from start to finish.”

“He was offered full coordination with the State of Israel and the US Embassy in Jerusalem – and he chose to ignore both offers. Instead, he arrived accompanied by Palestinian activists, J Street affiliates, and New York Times journalists with cameras ready,” Zell told TPS-IL, calling it “not diplomacy” but “a political performance.”

Dr. Kobby Barda, a lecturer at the Holon Institute of Technology and a researcher at the Jewish People Policy Institute, said Khanna’s visit fit a pattern of American politicians using Israel to generate attention ahead of the 2028 race.

“The way it was done, without coordination with the Israeli authorities and without any willingness to see a more complex picture, shows the goal here was to create a provocation,” Barda told TPS-IL, noting that bereaved families of October 7 victims and Druze aid volunteers assisting Gaza had asked to meet Khanna but were declined — a “cynical” bid, he said, for exposure ahead of a potential campaign announcement.

Barda said Khanna calculated that a confrontation would resonate with his base amid declining American support for Israel. “Israel has become a kind of platform through which people want to convey messages, and unfortunately, we have become a very toxic product for some,” he said.

Former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also criticized the visit, accusing Khanna on X of seeking “self-victimization” through a staged confrontation and getting “the photo op and all he needed for his preconceived false narrative.”

An Israeli government source familiar with the contacts told TPS-IL that officials offered meetings with Druze communities in the Golan Heights, Israeli border communities and officials handling humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“Congressman Khanna didn’t come to understand the situation – he came looking for a headline,” the source said, adding that Israel “went out of its way” to offer access reflecting the situation’s complexity, but “he chose a different path.”

Turmus Ayya, a Palestinian town north of Jerusalem with a high concentration of Palestinian-American residents on July 13, 2026. Photo by TPS-IL

Local Pushback

Daniel, a resident of Gush Shiloh, a bloc of Jewish communities near Turmus Ayya, rejected descriptions of the village as a tourist destination, saying gunfire and stone-throwing from it toward nearby farms occur regularly.

“They like to talk about Turmus Ayya as if it’s a tourist village. There are people there who shoot at our farms in the Shiloh Valley, and it happens repeatedly,” Daniel told TPS-IL, adding that gunmen fired at a farm Saturday night after allegedly crossing from Turmus Ayya toward al-Mughayyir, an incident he said the army was still investigating.

He questioned how so many weapons had reached the village, and argued that visitors including Khanna were being influenced by activists staging confrontations to portray nearby Jewish communities as aggressors.

“I don’t know why the congressman came from the United States, but he is probably caught up with the same crowd,” Daniel said, adding that he would welcome journalists willing to hear both sides of the story.

TPS-IL has not independently reviewed correspondence between Israeli officials and Khanna’s office and could not confirm why the proposed meetings did not occur. Khanna’s office did not respond to a request for comment.