House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) instructed committee staff to refer to the Israeli-occupied West Bank by its Hebrew name Judea and Samaria, according to a copy of an internal committee memo obtained by Axios.
The international community, including the U.S. government, refers to the territory Israel occupied in 1967 as the West Bank and doesn't recognize Israeli sovereignty there. Roughly 3 million Palestinians and half a million Jewish settlers live in the West Bank.
Changing the terminology the committee uses is a symbolic move that reflects the support among many Republicans in Congress for recognizing Israeli sovereignty there.
A source with direct knowledge of Mast's directive said the congressman sent the memo to the 50 Republican staffers on the committee on Tuesday. It is not binding for the Democratic staffers.
He wrote that "in recognition of our unbreakable bond with Israel and the inherent right of the Jewish people to their ancient homeland, the House Foreign Affairs committee will, from here forward, refer to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria in formal correspondence, communication and documentation."
During his press conference with Netanyahu three weeks ago, President Trump was asked by an Israeli reporter whether he "supports Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria areas." Trump said the White House is discussing the issue but hasn't taken a position yet. "But we will be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks," he said.
Posted by John3262005
4 Comments
Wtf
If you have read anything by ANY Evangelical Republican over the last couple decades this is not remotely shocking news. A lot of evangelical Christians want Israel to conquer the region and build the temple to usher in the end times.
I strongly recommend everyone read the great (but depressing) atlantic article that talks about this: [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/](https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/)
These people don’t understand theology *or* historical geography.
I don’t think this is new among the GOP. Remember in the 2012 GOP primary when Gingrich called Palestinians “invented” people and “how it’s Judea Samaria not the West Bank” and only Ron Paul and Romney came out against those statements