7/13/26: Ro Khanna Detained By Israel, Trump Freaks Over Air Force One Reporting

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2:11Joining us now is Congressman Ro Khanna, who is just back from his trip to the occupied West Bank, where he was detained by illegal settlers and then by the IDF. Great to see you, sir. Good to see you, sir. Thank you. Thanks for having me back on. Yeah, of course. So let's just start with what happened here. I can put these images and videos that you shared on Twitter up on the screen and just tell us what we're seeing and what happened here. We were at Zanuda Village. It's a village that was destroyed by Yanan Levy and his group, extremist settlers. And we were looking at an elementary school that had been razed to the ground.

2:48Other members of Congress actually had been to that exact site. And when we were there, these violent settlers start to yell at us, curse us. They tell me and the other Americans and some of the Palestinians with us get into our van. We get into our van and we see 21, 22-year-olds brandishing M4s, kicking our tires, wiping our windows, taking video of us. This lasts about 20, 25 minutes. Our interpreter goes out, speaks to them, and they say, we don't care that they're Americans. We don't care that there's a member of Congress. Now, the IDF comes about 20 minutes into it. And I said, okay, finally, we're going to get through, because they had blocked our van from exiting the area on the road entrance.

3:40And the IDF shockingly sides with the settlers. Now, at first, this was just my account, the security guard's account, the New York Times photographer's account. It turns out this morning, to break some news, there's actually body cameras of one of the people and video, one minute and 15 minutes video that just came out on X, which shows that these IDF officers were siding with the settlers and further blocked us in. And we were there 75 minutes. We had to call David Brownstein, who was the number two or three person career person at the American embassy, who reached someone senior in the Israeli government.

4:19And finally, the police came, and then the settlers left and the IDF left. But it was a very tense situation. if we were Palestinian, I believe there would have been damage. Haaretz, the Israeli paper, says I got the VIP detention that if we were Palestinian, they probably would have been beaten or even killed. But it just was awful. And the fact that this is not international outrage that Americans were detained and that there's no investigation, no consequence, it's just shocking. The prime minister and ambassador were on TV yesterday just lying. Yeah, the Prime Minister of Israel, President Netanyahu, was asked about this, your specific situation yesterday.

4:59He defended Israelis' conduct. Let's take a listen. Yeah, we're a country of laws, and people who break the law, we take them to court. In the West Bank, in Judea and Siberia, we've had thousands, thousands of attempted attacks and warnings against terrorist activities, against innocent Israelis, families, mother, with their children driving along the road. They're stopped by terrorists, and they kill them. And this has happened again and again and again. There is a vigilante effort, not by the settler community. They're 99.9 % law-abiding citizens. They work, they serve in the army, and so on.

5:42There are 150 juvenile delinquents that are not part of that community. They come from the other parts of Israel. We are, I don't want vigilantes of any kind. And we are working to put them under the law. But I think if we put things in perspective, we should see that we have thousands of attacks and some few, but obvious breaking of the law. Then we apply the full measure of the law against them. A few bad apples, Congressman. He's saying ultimately they're a nation of laws. How does it comport with your experience? It's just a total untruth. First of all, is he committed to arresting these extremist settlers because their pictures are on social media.

6:26They are affiliated with Yanan Levy, who is not a delinquent youth. Yanan Levy murdered a Palestinian caught on camera. And I actually met with Ottawa, the Palestinian, he murdered his brother, Khalil. I saw the spot where Yanan Levy murdered his brother. I saw and heard the story of Ottawa's children. And Khalil said that he has to see Yanan Levy 100, 200 feet in an illegal outpost, still a free man, even though he murdered his brother. And that same group of Yanan Levy are the people who were affiliated with detaining us. detaining Americans. If any other nation did this, the first response would be for the American president, American ambassador to demand the arrest of these settlers who did this and demand an investigation for why the Israeli military, four of those soldiers, sided with these settlers.

7:28So, you know, the prime minister can call them juvenile delinquents. They're not. Obviously, they're connected to Yanan Levy, but he hasn't even arrested them. Where are the arrests? Where is the investigation into the IDF soldiers. Some people are also saying that, oh, you wanted this to happen, to draw attention to yourself and to try to create some political gain. Respond to that and also talk about what was the reason that you decided to make this trip and what impact did it have on you separate and apart from this detention, which I'm sure was genuinely a terrifying situation. Well, those conspiracy theorists are as absurd as the people who say that President Trump wanted to get shot at at Butler.

8:09I mean, who wants to have people with M4 surrounding them, parked outside a van, threatening them, cursing at them, and then being detained for 75 minutes? Obviously, you know, it pales in comparison to what Palestinians go through, but it's the most unsafe I've felt in my entire life and the most powerless I've felt in my entire life. And the fact of this, that what makes it inconvenient for the Israelis, is that a New York Times photographer was there, and people who speak Hebrew, an Israeli security guard was there, and there were both Israelis and Palestinians, so there were about 10 eyewitness accounts of what took place.

8:52Now, here's what bothers them. Here's what they're calling a stunt. What bothers them is that I went to Palestine to get the Palestinian perspective in a Palestinian-led tour. and that I didn't do the obligatory visits to the Israeli government and to Israel. I have been to Israel three times. I've done the obligatory visits, the curated tours. I met with two Israeli prime ministers, including Prime Minister Netanyahu. I have met heartbreaking stories of Israeli hostage families, including John and Rachel Pollan, who lost their son Hirsch, and I condemned unequivocally the October 7th terrorist attacks.

9:34But what they want to say, not because of me, because it's really they're fearful of this, is no American politician should go to Palestine in the West Bank and get the Palestinian perspective, that they should all come through Israel, that they should all come through the advocacy groups. And my cardinal sin, why they're calling it a stunt, is I refuse to do that. And this is why for 75 years the American people haven't had the facts. Because when our videos come out, and I appreciate that this has been about Americans and me, but the real story I want to come out is the daily life of Palestinians.

10:07And I hope the platform I have and the attention this trip has garnered will allow people to watch some of these videos. They are going to be horrified. It is clear apartheid. I used to toss that word around academically. I felt it. I saw it. I saw Palestinians who don't have enough water to flush their toilets or wash their clothes while Israeli settlers are getting four times the water. I met the father of someone who had lost a 14-year-old son, Palestinian-American, who admits that the Palestinian-American kid was throwing rocks, but the IDF soldier shot him 21 times. And you know what? His bedroom is still left the same way because the parents are grieving and there's no justice.

10:50He can't get any justice for his son. I saw the school shooting. I saw the blood of a kid who was murdered and talked to the principal who that was never asked about what happened that day. Doesn't know whether the shooter is going to face justice. I saw Palestinian homes of people who were multi-millionaires. You know, someone saying, oh, Ro, you were in a village with multi-millionaires. Yeah, they're Palestinian-Americans who are multimillionaires who, when they get to Palestine, are treated as Palestinians in dirt, whose houses are being vandalized, who are being beaten up, who are telling me the stories of being beaten in checkpoints.

11:24This is not politics. This is humanity. Congressman, did anybody from the U.S. government say anything on your behalf? The ambassador, the president, the vice president, anybody do anything to help you after your illegal detention? You know, I want to again recognize David Brownstein, who is a career person at the embassy, and I'm not sure that we would have made it out if it were not for his courage and his follow-up. I mean, he was on the phone with us and on the phone with the Israeli government pushing for the police to come, and he was gracious to check in with us afterwards. But while I've had colleagues from both sides of the aisle in the House reach out to me and other elected officials.

12:06I have not heard anything from the administration. And it shouldn't be just about me. There were four Americans on that bus. Now, this happens to Palestinians in a much bigger way all the time. But there are four Americans on the bus. There's an American government official. We're being illegally detained and threatened. The foreign government's military is involved. And we're just going to stand quiet while the prime minister of that country is lying about any accountability. I mean, it's an affront to everyone with an American passport. Congressman, I really appreciate you highlighting the stories of the Palestinians that you met.

12:44And we look forward to seeing the videos that you put out about their experiences and the oppression they experience. You also mentioned to The New York Times how much you felt that your brown skin impacted your treatment there. And I assume when you said that you could feel the apartheid yourself, that's part of what you're referring to. Could you just elaborate on that and what that experience was like for you? I've never felt my race as acutely. You know, I was born in 1976. I grew up in Pennsylvania. Was there a time that someone said, hey, go back to India on a basketball court? Sure. But by and large in this country, while I'm aware of, of course, our history of race, I personally haven't felt it.

13:22As soon as I got in to the West Bank, I started to feel it. The first time when I was on the Israeli occupied side of Hebron and I was there with one of my aides, a young guy, Cam Kasky, a white Jewish American, Ben Linder, a friend, was also Jewish, and an Israeli, Nadav, a white Israeli, and there were the four of us, and we were walking, and suddenly the guards come up, and they don't say anything to the other three people, but they single me out, and they say, are you the son of Isaac or the son of Ishmael, meaning am I a Christian or a Muslim, and I say, I'm a Hindu, and they have no idea what that is.

14:03And I could tell that they were so troubled that this person, brown person, was in this delegation, even though I was in a suit and dressed as I usually dress as a member of Congress. In every checkpoint we were going through, suddenly the security guard would spend more time talking to me. And the look in those settlers eyes, the laughter that they had, the disdain they had. I don't think they could believe someone like me was in Congress or perhaps even American. Look, I don't want to make this about me because the indignities that the Palestinians face are hundreds of times worse. But what I will say is that it is apartheid and it's apartheid through a racialized lens.

14:49and that if you are brown in Palestine, you are going to face that kind of racism in your first day there. Last question for you, sir. I know you have to go in a minute. We can put the quote up here. You did describe yourself here to The New York Times as a long-shot presidential candidate. So do you want to make any news here with your intentions? It's not very often you hear a politician describe themselves that way. Well, I think I should have said potential, but, you know, here was my point. I want everyone who aspires to run and to lead this party, to lead our country, to actually go and see the facts on the ground.

15:33And why is Israel being so vehement in taking me on? Why are they having DFMI and all releasing videos? They want to discourage other politicians from doing this. And the point I was really trying to make is free advice to the Israelis. It's not going to work to be detaining American politicians, and it's not going to work if they try to tighten up their policies and prevent others from taking the trips that I did. The only reason this situation has continued for 75 years is because Americans haven't gotten the look on the ground that I did. I feel like I didn't know what was really going on until I got there.

16:14And I feel guilty for having been to Israel a few times and not done that. And I hope in this point that my evolution on this issue should give others a sense. I did not start out as an activist on this issue. I didn't have the clarity that Crystal had on genocide right away. We've had arguments on this show where it took me a while to get there. But when I saw this firsthand, these are stories I will never forget. And I just wish more Americans would go there on the ground and see this or listen to the voices that some of the journalists are trying to uplift. And if they did, they would see the gross injustice of what's going on.

16:55Yeah, well, I think you're right that that's exactly what they're afraid of. That's why no international journals are allowed in Gaza. That's why there's all this social media crackdown and criminalization of dissent here in the U.S., because when people truly absorb what is happening in the humanity of Palestinians, you know, it completely changes the way that they are viewing the world. So, Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you so much for spending some time with us this morning and for taking this trip and taking the risk that was involved with it. Thank you, sir. Appreciate your time. Thank you.

17:24Appreciate you guys. I'm Manga Shatigular, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive. This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand what this longevity obsession is all about and what it really means to live forever for all of us. I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the best for your brain, as opposed to his brain. Here are some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four to five year acceleration.

18:08And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works. I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

18:27Mainstream media is full of crude depictions of the unhoused. Stories that shame and blame and paint the unhoused as a monolith. We the Unhoused is the podcast that's changing that. I'm Theo Henderson, creator and host. And for years, I've created a space where the Unhoused and their advocates can tell their own stories. In the last few months alone, I've interviewed Unhoused parents, immigrants, mutual aid organizers, veterans, the LGBTQIA plus community and the policymakers who make the laws that impact the Unhoused existence. We do Unhoused as a two time Webby and Signal Award winning show with many exciting guests on the horizon.

19:10Tune in this week for my interview with Dr. Jill Wittler, a street doctor turned influencer whose work with the Unhoused community has made a huge impact online and in her community. Listen to We The Unhoused on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Michael Rappaport, and my podcast, the I Am Rappaport Stereo Podcast, is unlike any one you've ever heard. We're a variety show, and if you're looking for strong opinions funny opinions about sports, entertainment, politics, pop culture, and whatever else catches my attention, then subscribe now. This kid Jafar Jackson is as good as Rami Malek, as Freddie Mercury, and it's as good as Timothee Chalamet, as Bob Dylan.

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20:30So in a significant escalation in his war against the media, the Trump DOJ has subpoenaed a number of New York Times journalists. Let's go ahead and put this tear sheet up on the screen. Times journalists subpoenaed as Trump escalates pressure on media. The Trump administration issued subpoenas on Friday to several journalists for the New York Times after the news outlet reported this week on security concerns involving President Trump's new Qatari-donated Air Force One. The subpoenas, which seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, were an extraordinary escalation in Trump's efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations.

21:05In some cases, those subpoenas were delivered by federal agents who showed up at reporters' homes. The Times denounced the administration's actions. quote, the appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom that it protects. Our journalists report the facts in advance the American public's right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists and from doing their jobs.

21:40They go on to say that there weren't a lot of details in terms of what the subpoenas contained, but they were in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law. And we do know that this tracks back to this report on the fact that Trump had to depart Turkey on the old Air Force One rather than the new Qatari Air Force One out of some unspecified security concerns. It appears that this may be related to the Israeli claims that Iran is planning some sort of assassination attempt on Trump. I guess the idea being that they were going to try to assassinate him while he was en route and they had more capability to avoid that or detect that on the old Air Force One versus the new one.

22:26But needless to say, the specter of federal agents turning up at journalist homes, New York Times journalist homes for reporting reality about what was going on here is a very, very troubling situation. Scary. I mean, I'm prepared as well. Lockdown mode. Everybody should use it. Highly recommend. But yeah, I mean, what you can, what's crazy about this is it's all just about this Air Force One situation is that Trump is humiliated and embarrassed because he hyped up this Qatar, what was it? The Boeing 737, which was gifted by Qatar, gifted, which they then had 747-8 is what it is. I apologize. 747-8, which was gifted by Qatar, which then I believe we spent several billion dollars retrofitting said jet to meet Air Force One requirements.

23:18Because Air Force One, I mean, some of this is like cinema, but it genuinely does have, oh, it can survive a nuclear blast. It can do this. It can do that. And that's what's crazy expensive. It's all highly classified and all of that. I actually saw Air Force One a couple of times, and there is all this stuff that's around it. All right. So what it means, though, is that this had to be retrofitted because it wasn't built to specification. Well, recently what happened is that this Israeli intelligence was given to the United States. And I guess Secret Service, US, you have to take that all very seriously.

23:55And so what they did is they looked, because Trump was abroad on the Qatari Air Force One. And he said, oh, well, the Secret Service apparently told him you can't use it. You're not allowed to use this because it doesn't have whatever the anti-missile defense system that you properly need in order to fly on it. So they actually had to bring the old Air Force One over to Europe and Trump had to use that to fly to his next leg. What you'll notice is as a frequent reader of Trump's Truth Social is that he had justified it basically saying he was going to use it as a museum piece. He's like, well, we're bringing it so that people can see it as part of the museum.

24:31We made up some whole cockamamie story. But it turns out that it's all about this. Now, according to more recent reporting from Maggie Haberman and others that was just released after these subpoenas were released, is Trump was humiliated and embarrassed by the revelation that it's about his personal project. Air Force One was not up to snuff as Air Force One. And so he has then ordered Kash Patel, let's put E2 up here on the screen, Kash Patel has now been directed by the White House to oversee this investigation. So much so that the investigation is not being led out of the FBI building, but from the White House itself.

25:10Kash was, Mr. Patel scuttled a planned trip to Chicago and spent roughly eight hours at the White House on Friday. Apparently he was on the tarmac, even cash. Wait, it was actually working? That's crazy. You know it's serious. Well, I don't know if he's working. He's about to get on his plane, whether it was to go see his girlfriend perform or something. I don't know. Quote, running the investigation from the White House rather than FBI headquarters, quote, a departure from historical practice. Patel had then briefed multiple administration officials. The White House's deep involvement comes from Trump was enraged about the coverage of the Qatari donated plane.

25:52Patel's role in the investigation, quote, reflects a further dismantling of the wall that had previously separated the White House and FBI and the government's effort to immediately seek information from journalists when such cases are typically centered first on identifying internal wrongdoing comes as the Trump administration has intensified pressure on news organizations. So that's what this entire stupid thing was about. We wish that we could say it was all about something actually important. It's always interesting the things that actually get under Trump's. Think about it. How much classified information has been reported by Ryan on this show, by the New York Times, about Iran?