Retired three-star general William Boykin, a former commander of the U.S. Army’s Delta Force and undersecretary of defense for intelligence, expressed support for Israel extending its sovereignty over Judea and Samaria during a tour with the Samaria Regional Council on Sunday.
“What we’re doing here is standing on a time bomb that’s going to go off at some point. It already did on the 7th of October,” Boykin declared, speaking alongside Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan.
“It’s gonna happen again, and that’s why ... we need to recognize that if we don’t create a situation where we have sovereignty here, we’re going to see another Oct. 7,” said Boykin, who was tasked with the pursuit of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein by President George W. Bush.
“There are people who have no knowledge or understanding, and they believe that a 15-mile stretch can be part of your defense—and that is not the case,” he stated, Israel’s Arutz 7 outlet reported. “You and we must stand together and say: We will not accept a two-state solution!”
Boykin and Dagan toured Samaria’s major sites, including the Trump Observatory in Peduel, Joshua’s Altar on Mount Ebal, the Mitzpe Yosef point overlooking Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus (Shechem), as well as the Barkan Industrial Zone, Elon Moreh and Har Bracha, the council said.
At the end of the visit, Boykin presented the Samaria leader with a Green Beret pin. “You are a warrior—you fight for what you believe in,” he said, adding: “This is the emblem for the special forces, the Green Berets.”
Dagan responded: “After October 7, we must understand—and you of course understand—that Jewish towns and cities here in Judea and Samaria are not just a matter of historical justice. The Jewish communities are Israel’s security belt.”
Sovereignty, he continued, “is now essential for the future security of the State of Israel—to protect not only us, but to protect the millions of Jews living in Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba, Petah Tikvah, situated below our mountains.”
U.S. President Donald Trump is not expected to announce a decision on recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria in the coming weeks, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told JNS on April 28.
“Those are important questions,” Huckabee said at a press conference following his keynote address at the JNS International Policy Summit, “but for the president, getting the hostages home, especially our Americans, is front and center above everything else.”
He continued, saying that there is “certainly time for that discussion, but right now, our priority is seeing the hostages safely returned, ensuring the Iranians are no longer aspiring to nuclear weaponry designed to murder and kill. Then we’ll take on the other issues.”
