Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan publicly called on Sunday for Israel’s Defense Ministry to rename its Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit to the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea and Samaria.
“The fact that the Defense Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces cling to the term ‘territories’ is a moral and historical injustice,” Dagan wrote in a missive to Defense Minister Israel Katz, the Arutz 7 outlet reported.
Dagan contacted Katz with the same demand six months ago, but “half a year has passed and there is no response,” he added.
The regional leader accused the ministry of “adopting the anti-Israel narrative, instead of leading with a firm nationalist and Zionist line.”
In his first letter to Katz, Dagan noted that back in 1968, the Government Naming Committee, which approves official names for places and sites, determined that the region would be known by its historical name.
Dagan also pointed to legislative initiatives across the United States, promoted by the Samaria Regional Council, that call for the official government use of “Judea and Samaria.”
“While in the United States official legislation is advancing in Congress and in 20 state legislatures requiring the use of the name ‘Judea and Samaria’ instead of ‘the West Bank,’ here at home, in the heart of the country, the security establishment is dragging its feet,” he stated.
“The defense minister is expected to put an end to this saga,” Dagan added. “Judea and Samaria are not ‘territories'—they are our home.”
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories is a unit of the Defense Ministry established after Israel liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza during the Six-Day War in 1967. It oversees civilian and humanitarian affairs and liaises with Palestinians.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led an unprecedented drive to expand control of Judea and Samaria, approving some 50,000 homes and over 50 new Jewish communities since December 2022.
Nearly 70% of Israeli citizens want Jerusalem to extend its full legal sovereignty over the region, according to a poll from January 2025.
