Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) launched the congressional Friends of Judea and Samaria caucus on Wednesday to support legislation rejecting the term “West Bank” and to foster ties between Israel and the United States.
Speaking at a reception on Capitol Hill alongside fellow members of Congress and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, Tenney said that a 2019 visit to Israel inspired her to take legislative action.
“I’m standing in the middle of this area,” Tenney said. “At one end, you could see the Dead Sea, and at the other end, the beautiful city of Jerusalem. And I realized at that moment how important this was historically.”
“I’ve always wondered why we call this area ‘the West Bank.’” she added. “Why are we erasing the name of Judea and Samaria?”
Tenney told JNS that she introduced the “Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act” in February after determining that the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel shouldn’t stop the U.S. government from correcting a misnomer.
“We gotta start telling the truth,” she said. “We’re just gonna sit there and wait till things get better? We need to be the catalyst.”
Place names are among the most disputed issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After the 1948 Israeli War of Independence, Jordan described the territory it held west of the Jordan River, including the old city of Jerusalem, as the “West Bank.”
Since Israel recaptured the territory in 1967, it has governed it as the Judea and Samaria region in reference to the corresponding biblical kingdoms of Judah and Samaria.
Nonetheless, many governments, international organizations and media outlets continue to use “West Bank,” which many supporters of Israel argue is an attempt to erase the ancient Jewish connection to the land and to delegitimize the presence of Israelis.
Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas), a member of the newly formed caucus who was wearing an Israeli-flag necktie for the occasion, joked that naming conventions ought to be more self-explanatory.
“The United States was founded on Judeo-Christian principles,” Weber said. “Did you notice that they don’t say that it was founded on ‘West Bank-Christian’ principles?”
“In police work they call that a ‘clue,’” he added to laughter from the crowd.
More than a dozen members of Congress, all Republicans, attended the event or were listed by Tenney as members of the new caucus.
Tenney said that she hoped that the caucus would gain bipartisan support and said that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had expressed interest in joining.
Other attendees included Knesset member Ohad Tal and Tony Perkins, a pastor and head of the Family Research Council.
