Last week, a potentially historic bill was introduced to the US Congress, one that could lay the groundwork for a momentous and long-awaited change in American policy toward Israel.
On January 31, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY, 24th District), alongside Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), submitted the RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria Act (capitalized in its official name), which would require all official US government documents to use the term “Judea and Samaria” rather than the “West Bank.”
The pair had originally put forward the proposed legislation in December, toward the end of the 118th Congress, and have now resubmitted it after the 119th Congress commenced its term in January.
With a Republican majority now in place in both the House and the Senate, there is a real and unprecedented opportunity for the bill to pass and enter the law books.
If it does, it would mark an enormous victory for the Jewish state, and a major defeat to the ongoing Palestinian attempt to rewrite history by erasing the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel.
Why calling the West Bank Judea and Samaria is important
There are, of course, those who will roll their eyes, questioning the value or meaning of such an exercise.
But the fact is that names matter, whether for a person or a place.
Consider, for example, New York City.
On September 8, 1664, England seized control of the city of New Amsterdam from the Dutch. The British proceeded to change the name to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who later became King James II of England.
Why did the British bother to rename the city? Because they understood that names invest a place with political and historical meaning.
Conferring a name on a location is not only an implicit assertion of power but also a way of shaping national narratives and collective memory.
And that is precisely why the Arabs have been trying so hard for decades to impose the term “West Bank” on the hills of Samaria and the cities of Judea. They know that doing so would, over time, blur the area’s association with Jewish history, something they can and have exploited for political gain.
Indeed, most people who speak of the “West Bank” do not even realize that it was a term invented by the Jordanians after they illegally occupied the area during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence.
The Hashemites chose the phrase because they wanted to connect the area with the East Bank to bolster their dubious claim to it.
NEEDLESS TO say, the term “West Bank” does not appear anywhere in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian New Testament, or the Koran.
It is an invention of Arab occupiers who sought to steal the cradle of Jewish civilization from its rightful owners, the Jewish people.
By contrast, the names Judea and Samaria are rooted in the Bible, predating the founding of Islam by well over a thousand years.
More than 11 centuries before Mohammad was even born, the prophet Jeremiah foretold that the Jewish people would one day return and reclaim the area.
“Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit” (Jeremiah 31:5).
While names may not create facts on the ground, they do create facts in the minds of the public and policymakers, thereby laying the groundwork for change.
And that is why the bill before Congress is so crucial, for it could mark a turning point in the battle over the future of the area.
“The Israeli people have an undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria,” Rep. Tenney said in a statement released upon submission of the bill.
“We are working to reaffirm Israel’s rightful claim to its territory,” she said. “I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”
Sen. Cotton was equally steadfast, declaring in no uncertain terms that “The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria go back thousands of years. The US should stop using the politically charged term ‘West Bank’ to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.”
Popularizing the usage of “Judea and Samaria” is not just a matter of semantics. It is about restoring historical accuracy, preserving the land’s Jewish identity, and reaffirming the Jewish people’s unbreakable bond with the place where our forefathers dwelled.
Names have emotional and political power and go to the very heart of identity.
As Elie Wiesel once said, “Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.”
By restoring the rightful name of Judea and Samaria, we are reclaiming not just the Jewish past but truth itself, setting the stage to assert our sovereignty over the land that is truly ours and belongs to no one else.
The writer served as deputy communications director under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.