Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) reintroduced legislation on Wednesday that would bar the federal government from using the term “West Bank” to describe Judea and Samaria.
The bill requires the use of “historically accurate terminology” and “pushes back on attempts to undermine Israel’s sovereign territory.”
“The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years,” Cotton stated. “The United States should stop using the politically-charged term ‘West Bank’ to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.”
Formally titled the Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-use of Judea and Samaria Act (the “RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria Act”), the bill bans funding for use of the phrase “West Bank” in any “policy, guidance, regulation, notice, executive order, materials, briefing, press release, communications or other work product” unless waived by the secretary of state.
The legislation also substitutes “Judea and Samaria” in place of “West Bank” in existing law.
The bill is the senate companion to legislation Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) reintroduced in the House on Friday.
“The Israeli people have an undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria,” Tenney said. “I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”
Critics of the term “West Bank” argue that the phrase erases the ancient Jewish connection to the land and delegitimizes the presence of Israelis in Judea and Samaria.
Jordan promulgated the term after Israel’s 1948 War of Independence to describe the territory it held west of the Jordan River, though Israel has governed it as Judea and Samaria since recapturing the territory in 1967.
