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Ro Khanna, Democratic critic of Israel, says he supports Zionism and the ‘right for Israel to exist’
(JTA) — California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, a leading critic of Israel in Congress, said he believes in the “right for Israel to exist” and that it is antisemitic to oppose the existence of a Jewish state.
Khanna made the comment during an interview Friday with J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Speaking with the J’s Gabe Stutman, Khanna said he supports Zionism and that modern antisemitism stems from “denying the idea of a Jewish state.”
“I believe that Zionism is self-determination of the Jewish people, and the right for Israel to exist. And I support that. What I don’t believe is if it means Greater Israel,” said Khanna, adding that he believes there needs to be a “two-state solution.”
Last month Khanna led an unsuccessful effort to push President Donald Trump to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly. He also said he agreed with a United Nations commission’s finding that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, making him one of only a handful of members of Congress to endorse the charge that Israel rejects.
“I agree with the UN commission’s heartbreaking finding that there is a genocide in Gaza,’ wrote Khanna in a post on X. “What matters is what we do about it — stop military sales that are being used to kill civilians and recognize a Palestinian state.”
Later in the interview, Khanna went on to frame his support for Jewish self-determination within his broader understanding of antisemitism.
“The original antisemitism was denying the Jewish people based on religion,” said Khanna. “Then, under Nazism, it became denying the Jewish people based on race. And today, antisemitism is denying the idea of a Jewish state. And I reject all three of those antisemitism premises.”
During the interview, Khanna also defended his appearance in a documentary earlier that month that featured antisemitic influencer Ian Carroll. Following the YouTube documentary’s release, where Khanna spells out his reasoning for rejecting AIPAC funding, he posted a clip that featured Carroll following his own interview.
“I had, genuinely, no idea who he was,” Khanna told Stutman. “I had never met him, never spoken to him. The broader point I was making was about PAC money, lobbyist money, not taking it. And not taking money from AIPAC. And that was what I said in the video. But once I came to know who he was — I, of course, unequivocally denounce his comments that somehow Israel was to blame for 9/11. I mean, that’s ludicrous.”
Khanna has also faced criticism for his appearance at the ArabCon conference last month, where several panelists defended Hamas as “Palestinian resistance” and laughed at the idea of condemning the Oct. 7 attacks.
“My brand, my politics, political philosophy is I will go and have a conversation anywhere,” said Khanna in defense of his appearance, adding that he told the conference he “unequivocally denounce the viewpoint that there was any justification for Hamas.”
The post Ro Khanna, Democratic critic of Israel, says he supports Zionism and the ‘right for Israel to exist’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Jared Kushner Arrives in Israel for Gaza Talks with Netanyahu, Source Says
Jared Kushner listens as US Vice President JD Vance (not pictured) speaks to members of the media in Kiryat Gat, Israel, October 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
US President Donald Trump’s influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner, arrived in Israel on Sunday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on implementing the US plan to end the Gaza war, a source familiar with the matter said.
Kushner was expected to meet with Netanyahu on Monday, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity as the meeting had not been formally announced. The White House and Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Trump announced a 20-point plan in September to end the two-year-old war in the Palestinian territory, starting with a ceasefire that came into effect on October 10 and the handover of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The militant group has released 20 living hostages and the remains of 24 hostages from Gaza since October 10. There are four deceased hostages whose remains are still being held in Gaza.
The next phase of the ceasefire is supposed to see the standing up of a multinational force that would gradually take over security inside Gaza from the Israeli military.
An Israeli government spokesperson said earlier on Sunday that there would be “no Turkish boots on the ground” in Gaza as part of that multinational force.
Asked about Israel’s objections to Turkish forces in Gaza, US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said at a Manama security conference earlier this month that Turkey would participate.
Vice President JD Vance said last month there would be a “constructive role” for Ankara to play but that Washington wouldn’t force anything on Israel when it came to foreign troops “on their soil.”
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Netanyahu Faces Criticism Over Efforts to Block National Inquiry Into Oct. 7
FILE PHOTO: Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement during a visit to the site of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was hit by an Iranian missile barrage, in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met last Friday with Likud MK Ariel Kellner to discuss advancing a bill that would establish an alternative commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre.
According to sources close to the matter, the legislative initiative has made no progress.
The meeting has drawn sharp criticism from opposition lawmakers. Deputy Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) accused Netanyahu of “continuing to mistreat bereaved families and all the victims of the war,” asserting that a national commission of inquiry will be created, period.” Deputy Naama Lazimi wrote on X, “So Netanyahu is sending Kellner as a proxy to pass a law that will exempt him from all responsibility for the massacre that took place under his governance? Who would have thought that Hamas’s financier would act this way?”
The Knesset is scheduled to hold a debate on Monday, at the opposition’s request and in the presence of the Prime Minister, on the creation of a national commission of inquiry to examine the failures of October 7. Yesh Atid emphasized, “765 days after the outbreak of the October 7 war, the Israeli government refuses to create a national commission that would provide answers to bereaved families. We will not stop fighting for them.”
The debate comes just days before the government must respond to a petition filed with the Supreme Court calling for the establishment of a national commission. The court has noted that “there is no real controversy regarding the very need to create a national commission with broad investigative powers.”
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Hamas Says Fighters Holed Up in Rafah Will Not Surrender
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
Hamas fighters holed up in the Israeli-held Rafah area of Gaza will not surrender to Israel, the group’s armed wing said on Sunday, urging mediators to find a solution to a crisis that threatens the month-old ceasefire.
Sources close to mediation efforts told Reuters on Thursday that fighters could surrender their arms in exchange for passage to other areas of the enclave under a proposal aimed at resolving the stalemate.
Egyptian mediators have proposed that, in exchange for safe passage, fighters still in Rafah surrender their arms to Egypt and give details of tunnels there so they can be destroyed, said one of the sources, an Egyptian security official.
Sunday’s statement from Al-Qassam Brigades held Israel responsible for engaging the fighters, who it said were defending themselves.
“The enemy must know that the concept of surrender and handing oneself over does not exist in the dictionary of the Al-Qassam Brigades,” the group said.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday that the proposed deal for about 200 fighters would be a test for a broader process to disarm Hamas forces across Gaza.
Al-Qassam Brigades did not comment directly on the continuing talks over the fighters in Rafah but implied that the crisis could affect the ceasefire.
“We place the mediators before their responsibilities, and they must find a solution to ensure the continuation of the ceasefire and prevent the enemy from using flimsy pretexts to violate it and exploit the situation to target innocent civilians in Gaza,” the group said.
Since the US-brokered ceasefire took effect in Gaza on October 10, the Rafah area has been the scene of at least two attacks on Israeli forces, which Israel has blamed on Hamas. The militant group has denied responsibility.
Rafah has been the scene of the worst violence since the ceasefire took hold, with three Israeli soldiers killed, prompting Israeli retaliation that killed dozens of Palestinians.
Separately, Al-Qassam Brigades said it will hand over the body of deceased Israeli soldier Hadar Goldin in Gaza on Sunday at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT).
Since the ceasefire, Hamas has handed over the bodies of 23 of 28 deceased hostages. Hamas has said the devastation in Gaza has made locating the bodies difficult. Israel accuses Hamas of stalling.
Israel has released to Gaza the bodies of 300 Palestinians, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Local health authorities said on Sunday that one man was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Bani Suhaila east of Khan Younis, south of the enclave. The Israeli military made no immediate comment.