US GOP staff ordered to drop ‘West Bank’ for biblical term Judea

The chairperson of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee has reportedly instructed committee staff to controversially refer to the Israeli-occupied West Bank by its Hebrew name, Judea and Samaria. 

The move could be viewed as an ongoing effort to boost right-wing support for Israeli annexation of the West Bank in both Israel and the US following the return of Donald Trump to the White House, reports state. 

The chairman of the committee, Brian Mast, sent a memo to 50 Republican staffers on Tuesday, instructing them to implement the language change, US news outlet Axios revealed. 

However, the directive will not be enforced for Democratic staffers. 

The memo by US Congressman Mast stated: “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.”  

Mast also wrote that “Jewish roots in this region span centuries… as representatives of the American people, we must do our part to stem this reprehensible tide of antisemitism and recognize Israel’s rightful claim to the cradle of Jewish civilisation”.

The term is seen as controversial by activists and campaigners as it is often used by Israel’s religious and political far-right to reinforce Israel’s claim over the territory. 

The report comes amid a move by Israel’s parliament earlier this month to approve a bill to replace the “West Bank”, the term commonly used for the Palestinian territory, with “Judea and Samaria”.

 The proposed legislation is seen as an attempt to strengthen Israel’s claim to the occupied territory, which it captured during the 1967 war and has controlled ever since. 

The bill has been pushed by right-wing lawmakers in both the US and Israel who support the annexation of the West Bank, an area widely recognised by the international community as part of a future Palestinian state. 

Israeli annexation 

On Monday, US congressional candidate Randy Fine proposed that, if elected, his first bill would be to recognise Israeli sovereignty over Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

Fine also referred to Palestinians in the occupied territories as “demons that live on Earth”, adding that “they deserve no state. They only deserve death”. 

Trump stated he would decide by early March on whether to support Israel annexing the territory. 

During his first term, Trump blocked Israel from annexing the West Bank. 

The rise of right-wing advocates supporting far-right, pro-Israel ideologies has raised concerns in the US, further intensified by the Gaza war, which started on 7 October 2023.  

According to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday, only a third of Democrats now have a favourable view of Israel, a significant decline from just a few years ago. 

In contrast, 83 percent of Republicans view Israel favourably, creating a partisan gap of 50 percentage points. 

The increasing number and expansion of Israeli settlements have steadily reduced the land accessible to Palestinians.  

Many lawmakers in Netanyahu’s far-right governing coalition openly support strengthening Israel’s hold over the West Bank, and settlers hope Trump will back their efforts. 

The international community largely considers Israeli settlements illegal and a form of creeping annexation, fragmenting land needed for a viable independent state.  

The West Bank is home to over three million Palestinians, including families who were expelled or displaced from their homes in what is now Israel during the establishment of the state in 1948 following the Nakba, also known as ‘the Catastrophe’. 

Recently, Israel’s military launched a major raid against Palestinian fighters in the northern West Bank, shortly after a truce took effect in the Gaza Strip.  

The expansion of Israeli operations in the West Bank comes amid rising tensions over the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which has largely paused more than 15 months of a devastating war on the enclave. 

Since the start of the Gaza war, at least 900 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Israeli troops or extremist settler attacks, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.