Ro Khanna said he would not justify Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, calling it terrorism and rejecting any claim that Hamas had a right to kill Israeli soldiers or other Israelis.
Jeremy Scahill repeatedly pressed the California Democrat during a livestream, arguing the first Oct. 7 targets were military bases and asking whether attacks on Israeli soldiers could be justified.
Khanna answered that he opposes violence and said such attacks do not advance peace or Palestinian statehood, even as he backed ending Israel’s occupation of Gaza.
The exchange followed Khanna’s recent claim that armed Israeli settlers detained him in the West Bank and highlighted his broader criticism of Israel, including accusations of apartheid and genocide.
The clash underscores how Israel policy remains a sharp fault line among Democrats ahead of the midterm elections.