Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States, accused Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) of orchestrating a “cheap, anticipated provocation” after the congressman was briefly stopped in a restricted military zone.
In a statement posted to X late Monday, Leiter said Khanna ignored offers to thoroughly coordinate his visit with the Israeli government and the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. The ambassador stated that the Israel Defense Forces had no prior knowledge of the congressman’s whereabouts when IDF soldiers halted his unfamiliar vehicle in a suspected closed military zone.
Let's not lose our grip on the facts - instead of recriminations and accusations - just the facts.
— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) July 13, 2026
1) Congressman @RoKhanna was offered to coordinate his visit with the State of Israel - this goes beyond notifying of his presence in the country. He was offered in-depth…
Leiter noted that Khanna was traveling with local activists, journalists from The New York Times and a representative from the group J Street. According to the ambassador, the group was free to go as soon as Khanna’s identity was verified. He firmly denied allegations that soldiers or armed civilians threatened the congressman’s party.
“To add insult to injury, the congressman used this instance as an opportunity to tout ‘genocide’ and ‘apartheid’ libels to the press, propelling himself to the center of yet another anti-Israel media frenzy,” Leiter wrote. “The facts don’t lie. This was a cheap, anticipated provocation that could and should have been avoided.”
Leiter concluded his statement by extending an invitation to host Khanna at the embassy to “discuss his grievances in depth.”
Khanna, who is facing backlash at home after supporting a Maine Senate candidate with a Nazi tattoo who dropped out after being accused of rape, said on Saturday that he had been detained by “settlers” during a trip to Israel.
“Israeli settlers, brandishing American-made M4s, detained me and other Americans on my trip to Palestine,” he said. (The United States does not recognize an independent state of “Palestine.”)
“When the IDF arrived, they sided with the settlers and continued our detention,” Khanna said in the social media post, in which he shared a four-second video. “They made a huge mistake. You will be hearing more soon.”
Khanna, who has accused the Jewish state of committing “genocide,” told The New York Times that it was “not a good idea to detain long-shot presidential candidates.”
