Rep. Ro Khanna wants Israel to free Marwan Barghouti from five life terms for murder, arguing the convicted killer could deliver peace with a Palestinian state.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) used an X post and an accompanying video on Friday to demand that Israel free Marwan Barghouti from prison. Breitbart reported the California Democrat’s call as midterm elections approach.
Khanna framed Barghouti as a unique figure who could help produce a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel. He did so even while acknowledging the serious criminal case that put Barghouti behind bars for life.
An Israeli court convicted Barghouti in 2004 on five counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. The attacks killed a Greek Orthodox monk and four other people. The court sentenced him to five consecutive life terms plus additional prison time.
Khanna did not hide the core of his request. He put it in plain language on X.
He wrote:
"I am calling for the release of Marwan Barghouti from Israeli prison,"
In the video that went with the post, Khanna pressed the case further. He said Palestinians must choose their own leaders and that Barghouti holds a rare position across Palestinian factions.
Khanna stated:
"Palestinians must choose their own leaders. Barghouti has a unique standing among all Palestinian factions,"
He added:
"He’s seen as non-corrupt, a strong leader, and secular. Barghouti could deliver a Palestinian state living in peace with Israel."
Those claims sit beside a court record of multiple murders. Khanna tried to wall off the release from any claim of innocence.
He said:
"Releasing Barghouti does not provide him with a pardon or moral absolution of crimes he may have committed,"
Then he leaned on unnamed critics of the trial itself.
"In fact, a number of human rights groups say he did not even receive a fair trial. But the release is needed to move peace forward, just like Arafat and Rabin worked for peace despite their pasts."
Khanna reached for a Northern Ireland analogy to justify putting Barghouti back into politics. He described the Irish Republican Army’s record, then its later political role, as a model.
He said:
"The Irish Republic Army, the IRA, did terrible things in its war against British and Protestant domination,"
And continued:
"But when the IRA said they had a vision of equality and coexistence, letting them participate in politics was the right decision. Barghouti has said exactly that, repeatedly."
The comparison is Khanna’s own. The Israeli court record remains specific: five murder counts, one attempted murder count, a Greek Orthodox monk among the dead, and five consecutive life terms plus more time. Barghouti is already serving that sentence. Khanna’s Friday appeal asks Israel to end it for the sake of a peace process he says Barghouti can advance.
Khanna offered no new court findings of his own. He pointed to the standing he says Barghouti enjoys among Palestinian factions, the secular image he assigns him, and the claim that human rights groups dispute the fairness of the 2004 trial. He named none of those groups in the remarks carried in the report.
The timing sits against approaching midterm elections. Khanna chose a public X post and video rather than a quiet diplomatic channel. He put the demand in his own words and tied it directly to leadership choice for Palestinians and a hoped-for state at peace with Israel.
Barghouti has no quoted reply in the available account. The Israeli court’s 2004 judgment stands as the formal record of the murders and the life sentences that followed. Khanna’s position is that release is still required to move peace forward, even without a pardon and even without moral absolution for crimes Barghouti may have committed.
That is the trade he is asking Israel to make: free a man serving five life terms for murder so he can reenter politics as a unifying secular leader. Taxpayers and voters who expect clear lines against terrorism now hear a member of Congress treat those life sentences as a bargaining chip for diplomacy.
Peace built on emptying a cell for a five-time murder convict is not strength. It is a gamble that forgets the dead.
