'Detained': Israel ambassador disputes Ro Khanna's account of West Bank incident

Ro Khanna says he was detained at gunpoint on a trip to the West Bank. Israeli officials say that's not what happened, and they add a detail Khanna left out of his version: he never coordinated the visit with the Israeli government in the first place. That's not a footnote. That's the whole story.

Members of Congress do not get to freelance foreign policy trips into contested territory and then act shocked when local authorities treat them as an unknown quantity rather than a dignitary. If Khanna wanted the courtesy and protection that comes with an official visit, there's a process for that. Skipping it and then reaching for the most dramatic possible language when things go sideways is a choice, and it's one that conveniently generates headlines back home.

We've seen this movie before with lawmakers who treat foreign trips as content for domestic political battles rather than actual diplomacy. "Detained at gunpoint" is a hell of a soundbite. It's also, according to the people who were actually there representing a sovereign government, not true. Somebody's account doesn't match the facts, and it isn't the Israelis who skipped the paperwork.

None of this means Israeli security forces are above criticism, or that Americans touring the West Bank should expect red-carpet treatment. But if you go around official channels, you don't then get to act betrayed when officials don't treat you like you went through them.