LONDON: US Congressman Ro Khanna has accused the Israeli government and military of lying about his detention during a visit to the occupied West Bank.

The California Democrat representative posted footage on social media of Israeli settlers and soldiers blocking the path of his convoy last week, The Guardian reported.

The incident took place in the South Hebron hills, near the village of Zanuta.

Israelis in the area have forced Palestinians from their homes as part of what Amnesty International described as a government-backed “ethnic cleansing campaign.”

Khanna was asked in an NBC News interview on Sunday about the military’s claim that it “quickly dispersed” Jewish settlers and reopened the blocked road.

“The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is lying,” he said. “What happened was unprecedented. They had violent settlers detain American citizens, including an American government official. You had these settlers brandishing M4 (assault rifles), kicking the tires of our van, laughing at us, mocking at us, videotaping us.

“We were detained for about 20 minutes, fearful of our lives. Then the IDF comes, four soldiers. They tell our translator that they’re on the side of the settlers. They further detain us and block us in.”

Before the interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had appeared on the channel in an attempt to refute Khanna’s account.

He described those who blocked the congressman’s vehicle as “juvenile delinquents” who were not part of the “law-abiding” settler community.

All Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, however, is illegal under international law.

Khanna said: “I heard the prime minister and he said Israel is a country of law and order.

“Let me be very specific: The prime minister needs to open an investigation on these violent settlers who are connected to Yinon Levi, who has destroyed Zanuta village and is a known person who has killed Palestinians.”

Levi, an Israeli settler, was recorded on video about a year ago appearing to fire a gun at Palestinian activist Awdah Hathaleen, who was killed during the confrontation.

Despite the existence of the footage, and evidence recovered from Hathaleen, Levi was not prosecuted for the killing.

The Palestinian activist had worked on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” which documented Israeli settler violence.

Israeli officials accused Khanna of visiting the region to “look for a headline.”

The congressman, they told the New York Post, rejected their plan to have him meet former Israeli hostages held in Gaza after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

On CBS News on Sunday the US-born Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Leiter, said that Khanna had visited the occupied West Bank as a political stunt.

He said that the congressman had refused an Israeli government effort to help coordinate his trip and accused him of seeking to use the visit to soft launch his 2028 presidential campaign.

“It’s kind of interesting that somebody wants to declare a presidential run by running off to Israel,” Leiter said. “Not strange?”

An account of Khanna’s detention was released by Nadav Weiman of Israeli nongovernmental organization Breaking the Silence who was with the congressman on the day of the incident.

“Armed settlers were the first to arrive and then, as has become the norm, Israeli soldiers joined them. Together they detained the delegation for over an hour. The IDF is lying and not for the first time,” Weiman said.

“I went to speak with the soldiers to ask them to use their authority to remove the settlers who had threatened us and blocked the road. Instead, I saw how the settlers were giving the orders, not the other way around.”