As the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho, a small but growing community in the Judean Desert just east of Jerusalem, I spend my days focused on the practical realities of life here: expanding housing for young families, building a new sports center so that our children have a place to play safely, and ensuring our residents have the services they need in a region that has known both beauty and threat.
My husband Uri and I raised our six children here. We chose this place because of its deep connection to our people’s history and because we believe in building Jewish life in every part of our ancestral homeland.
That is why recent visits and speeches by American politicians such as Congressman Ro Khanna and former mayor Rahm Emanuel have left me frustrated and concerned.
These were not trips aimed at genuine understanding or helping move toward a better future. They were performances staged for audiences back home in the Democratic Party, calculated moves to burnish credentials among those critical of Israel, critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or outright hostile to Jewish communities living in Judea and Samaria.
Emanuel’s speech in Tel Aviv was a prime example. Delivered with the polish of a man eyeing a 2028 presidential run, it delivered “tough love” that sounded more like positioning than partnership.
He called for ending what he portrayed as unconditional American support, criticized Israeli leadership for leading the country into a “dead end,” and floated grand ideas like a “23-state solution.” The applause in the Tel Aviv hall may have felt satisfying to some, but from where I sit in the hills overlooking Jericho, it changed nothing on the ground.
It offered no new ideas for security, no recognition of the daily threats our communities face from terrorism, and no willingness to engage with the people actually living and building here. It was rhetoric designed to signal virtue to certain domestic constituencies, not to foster real dialogue or peace.
Khanna's trip to the West Bank was even more telling. He chose a Palestinian-led itinerary focused almost exclusively on narratives of suffering and grievance. He spoke of “occupation,” “apartheid,” and moral tests for Democrats, framing the situation in stark, one-sided terms that ignore history, security realities, and the agency of Palestinian leadership.
Most revealing was his refusal to meet the very Israeli residents and settlers he so readily criticizes. How can one claim to seek truth while deliberately avoiding half the story? This is not curiosity or principled inquiry. It is the confirmation of a preconceived narrative decided long before he boarded the plane.
The now-famous incident during his visit further exposed the problem. Khanna described being dramatically “detained” by armed Israeli settlers brandishing American-made rifles, with the IDF arriving and siding with the extremists, laughing and mocking Americans. He portrayed it as emblematic of impunity and arrogance.
Yet the facts – and the video his side released (!) – tell a different story. Israeli authorities have stated that the group entered a closed military zone without proper coordination. Settlers blocked a road, an action that security forces moved quickly to address.
Official accounts and available footage show the IDF dispersed the civilians and reopened the road without the prolonged, threatening “detention” Khanna described. He has accused the IDF of lying, even though the video shows clear as day that the IDF statement is true.
Analyst Haviv Rettig Gur laid out the discrepancies in detail. The competing narratives do not match the evidence of what actually occurred on the ground. Khanna’s version amplifies drama for maximum political effect.
This is not a minor difference in emphasis; it is the construction of a false or heavily exaggerated story to fit a predetermined script. When a sitting congressman does this, it is not just sloppy reporting; it is intellectual dishonesty that undermines trust and honest discourse.
Refusing nuance is not a sign of moral clarity; it is a sign of intellectual laziness and a closed mind.
Complex realities, historical claims to the land, repeated rejections of peace offers by Palestinian leadership, the security imperative of controlling territory from which attacks have repeatedly been launched, the daily lives of families raising children here, do not fit neat slogans.
Dismissing those complexities without study or engagement reveals a lack of genuine curiosity. These are not the qualities we should want in anyone aspiring to higher office, least of all the presidency.
Open invitation
What troubles me most is the underlying motivation. These visits and speeches are not about advancing peace between Israelis and Palestinians. They are about scoring points in American domestic politics. They play to anti-Zionist voices or to those within the Democratic Party who see Israel as the problem rather than Hamas, Iranian proxies, and rejectionism.
My town, my neighbors, and the broader communities of Judea and Samaria become convenient backdrops, props in someone else’s campaign reel. American politicians fly in, deliver their lines or film their confrontations, and fly out, leaving the hard work of coexistence to those of us who actually live here.
I say this as someone who has hosted politicians and visitors from across the political spectrum in my home and town. As an elected mayor, I have welcomed critics of settlements, supporters of a two-state solution, and people with strong reservations about our presence in Judea and Samaria.
We have sat together, shared meals, walked the streets, and looked at maps. Disagreement is possible without demonization. Understanding requires seeing with your own eyes, not through the filter of a pre-written narrative.
So here is my invitation, extended openly: Ro Khanna, Rahm Emanuel, and any other American elected official, Democrat or Republican, supporter or fierce critic of settlements, even those who consider themselves anti-Zionist – come visit Mitzpe Yeriho.
Come see the families building lives here, meet the young people who chose to raise the next generation in this historic landscape, walk the paths our ancestors walked, and hear directly from residents about security challenges and our hopes for the future.
I will host you personally, show you around, and facilitate meetings with whoever you wish to speak with. No curated tours, no one-sided agendas – just the reality of life here in our region.
My backyard is not a stage set for American political theater – it is our home. If you truly care about the people who live between the river and the sea, Jews and Arabs alike, then come and see it for yourselves. The invitation stands.
The writer is a certified interfaith hospice chaplain in Jerusalem and the mayor of Mitzpe Yeriho.