Ro Khanna
D · U.S. House, CA-17 · Tier 4
Tier 4, “Critical / conditions aid”
Endorsed the UN’s genocide finding in his own voice, cosponsored Block the Bombs and the H.Res.876 genocide resolution, authored a West Bank settlements resolution, moved to halt all US military aid (offensive and defensive, including Iron Dome), and won’t renew the aid MOU — while staying inside a two-state, recognize-Palestine frame. He also offered an amendment to end deeper US-Israel military integration, and cosponsored Tlaib's H.Res.1289 Nakba and right-of-return resolution (May 15, 2026), but takes no by-name total embargo, BDS, or anti-Zionist position — and in October 2025 he affirmed Zionism: “I believe that Zionism is self-determination of the Jewish people, and the right for Israel to exist. And I support that.” In April 2024 he signed the Jayapal-led statement explaining their Nays on H.R.8034 as votes “against supplying more offensive weapons that could result in more killings of civilians in Rafah and elsewhere,” which also says “We believe strongly in Israel’s right to self-defense” and “All of us support strengthening the Iron Dome and other defense systems.” Khanna cosponsored Tlaib’s Lebanon war-powers resolution (H.Con.Res.83) on May 14, 2026. In July 2026 armed Israeli settlers blocked his delegation’s van in the West Bank village of Zanuta for more than an hour; afterward he told The Intercept “We’re supplying them the M4s that they’re using to detain American citizens.” On July 24, 2026, backing New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s call for the federal government to enforce the International Criminal Court’s warrant, he told MeidasTouch that “the American president should arrest Netanyahu or Putin in accordance with international law. Full stop. America needs to cooperate with the ICC,” adding, “You can’t just kill women and children, have an ICC arrest warrant, and then walk into the United States of America and think nothing is gonna happen to you” (Mediaite). At the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Austin on August 15, 2026 he said “Israel has committed a genocide in Gaza, and we should have the courage to say so,” and called for “Zero aid to Israel” and “No military sales of weapons used to kill civilians.” In January 2026 he co-led with Senator Peter Welch a letter of 76 lawmakers urging Secretary Rubio to respond more strongly to Israel’s moves to annex the West Bank, including the E-1 settlement. He also signed the June 2024 letter backing refugee priority status for Gazans with U.S. citizen or permanent-resident relatives, the October 2024 letter urging President Biden to sanction Israeli ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir over incitement of settler violence, the March 2025 letter demanding answers on the detention of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, the August 2025 Pressley–Pettersen letter urging a surge of infant formula into Gaza and, with most House Democrats, the September 2025 Schneider–Raskin letter opposing West Bank annexation. In August and September 2026 Khanna signed Tlaib’s letter demanding the release of 20-year-old US citizen Sama Safi from Israeli military detention, the Dexter–Ruiz letter seeking the release of Gaza pediatrician Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya from Israeli detention without charge (Sep 8), the Pocan–Quigley letter on Palestinian medical workers held by Israel without charge and a 72-member letter urging Netanyahu to contain settler violence in the West Bank and “halt further settlement approvals” (both Sep 24). On Oct 1, 2026 Khanna became an original cosponsor of the Stop the Settlements Act (H.R.10642), which would sanction those who build or expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza and ban imports of settlement goods. After the Oct 16, 2026 settler attack on Palestinian villagers and a Washington Post photographer in the West Bank, Khanna wrote on X, “We need to cut off aid to Israel that is used to fund settler activity, and stop the sales of these weapons” (Jerusalem Post), and on Oct 17, recalling that Netanyahu had called him a liar after settlers detained him in Zanuta: “Now, he is calling a Washington Post photographer a liar. Netanyahu, you are the liar with the blood of Palestinian children on your hands.” In June 2026 Khanna signed a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, led by Reps. Becca Balint and Joaquin Castro, on Israel’s operations in southern Lebanon, saying Israel’s “targeted, mass destruction of civilian homes and infrastructure does not constitute Israeli self-defense” and asking that, if U.S.-origin arms were confirmed in those operations, the administration “stop arms transfers being used in these operations until these violations cease”; the letter also affirmed that “Israel has a right to defend itself.” On Oct 22, 2026 he joined some 500 students at a rally “calling out the genocide in Gaza.” On Oct 23 Jewish Insider reported on a letter he leads, with some 30 Democratic co-signers so far and open for signatures through Nov 6, urging the negotiators of the 2027 defense bill to strip its U.S.–Israel defense-cooperation provision, which the letter says would “reward” Israel’s actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon: “These are not the actions of a government whose defense establishment should be granted deeper access to American military technology, nor rewarded with U.S. defense contracts.” If the provision stays, the letter asks for annual reauthorization, human rights conditions and a counterintelligence certification before any technology transfer. Sharing the report, Khanna wrote that voters “stand with me in being for Team America,” and that night, answering Sen. Brian Schatz’s advice against bills a president is sure to veto, he listed “Make him veto Block the Bombs to Israel” and “Make him veto zero aid to Israel.” Pressed on the term at the Nevada Independent’s IndyFest on Oct 22, the paper reported, he cited a United Nations commission’s finding that Israel has committed genocide but said he believed reasonable people could disagree with his view. On Oct 24 he wrote that “This country needs people who will fight to end the genocide in Gaza, tax the billionaires, and hold the Epstein Class accountable.” On Oct 29, 2026, two days after Israel’s election, he wrote: “Netanyahu accused Arab Israeli voters of fraud. Racist. Undemocratic. Whether the opposition forms a coalition with them says a lot about Israel.”
A flat 4. His record since 2024 is a strong 4’s: the genocide named in his own voice (he endorsed the UN finding), Block the Bombs, the H.Res.876 genocide resolution, an authored settlements resolution, an amendment to kill deeper US-Israel military integration, opposition to renewing the aid MOU, a 2026 move to halt all military aid including Iron Dome, and a cosponsorship of Tlaib’s 2026 Nakba resolution affirming the Palestinian right of return (H.Res.1289, which he joined on May 15, 2026, the day after it was introduced). That cosponsorship puts him on record for the right of return, a position that questions Israel’s legitimacy and reaches toward the Tier 6 end. Two things keep him at 4. In April 2024 he voted Yea on the resolution condemning “from the river to the sea” as antisemitic (roll 134), and he hasn’t recanted it; Ocasio-Cortez, who now holds the same aid position, voted Nay and sits at 4. John Garamendi, with the same unrecanted vote, is a 3/4, but Khanna’s 2026 call to end all military aid to Israel, Iron Dome included, goes past Garamendi, who also voted in July 2026 to strip Israel’s $3.3 billion in military financing but has not called for ending its missile-defense aid. And he affirms Zionism in his own words, which keeps him at 4 even with the right of return on his record: “I believe that Zionism is self-determination of the Jewish people, and the right for Israel to exist. And I support that” (October 2025). He stays inside a two-state, recognize-Palestine frame, with no by-name total embargo, BDS or anti-Zionist position. Counter-case: 4/5 on the strength of his 2026 aid position, which he pressed on the party at the DNC in August 2026 (“Zero aid to Israel”), if the river vote is read as overtaken by everything since.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).