‘The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel,’ says Cotton
Republicans in the House and Senate are finalizing legislation that would formally recognize the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria,” applying Israel’s official term for the region to all American government communications, according to a copy of the bill obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Rep. Claudia Tenney (R., N.Y.), the Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act would prohibit government use of “West Bank” when referencing the territories around Jerusalem. Israel, which annexed the area in 1967, refers to it as the biblical Judea and Samaria, though the United States and international community avoid this term, viewing the region as home to a future Palestinian state.
The bill from Cotton and Tenney, then, would upend decades of U.S. foreign policy and is reminiscent of the Trump administration’s first-term push to recognize both Jerusalem and the Golan Heights territory near Lebanon as belonging to Israel. Congressional Republicans widely supported those declarations after pushing—and failing—for years to formalize similar policies through legislation.
While it is unlikely that the Senate version of the bill will clear the 60-vote threshold needed for approval in the upper chamber, congressional sources argued that its unveiling could influence the Trump administration to champion the policy, particularly at Foggy Bottom. Cotton, who chairs the Senate Republican conference, worked closely with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Senate, and the two share similar views on foreign policy.
“The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years,” Cotton told the Free Beacon. “The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.”
The legislation would erase the term “West Bank” from all government communications and laws, such as the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
The United States would only “refer to the land annexed by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War by its historical names of ‘Judea and Samaria,’ with the land south of Jerusalem being considered ‘Judea’ and the land north of Jerusalem being considered ‘Samaria,’” the bill states. The term “West Bank” would be erased from all “official government materials.”
The bill also prohibits federal funds from being spent on any “policy, guidance, regulation, notice, executive order, materials, briefing, press release, communications, or other work product that refers to Judea and Samaria as the ‘West Bank.’”
The bill reflects an early GOP push to prioritize a string of pro-Israel initiatives. This includes the recent House passage of legislation that would sanction the International Criminal Court and its leaders for issuing arrest warrants targeting Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. That bill did not advance in the Senate, though Cotton has engaged in negotiations that could lead to its reintroduction in the upper chamber.
Both the House and the Senate, meanwhile, are working on legislation that would authorize wide-ranging sanctions on the Palestinian government, as well as any international partner that has aided its terrorist payment program, known as “pay-to-slay.” Cotton is backing that bill in the Senate, with Rep. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) taking it up in the House.
Tenney, who is shepherding the House version of the Judea and Samaria bill, has secured four early cosponsors and expects backing from more GOP members as the legislation gains steam. She is also spearheading the creation of a new congressional caucus, the Friends of Judea and Samaria.
Both efforts, Tenney said, will “reaffirm Israel’s rightful claim to its territory.”
“I am dedicated to working with President Trump, Secretary of State Rubio, and Ambassador [Mike] Huckabee to support communities in the region while opposing the establishment of a hostile state that promotes terrorism in Judea and Samaria,” she told the Free Beacon.
