ZOA and ZOA Coalition in the World Zionist Congress Have Long Record of Promoting Use of the Appropriate Names Judea and Samaria
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
The ZOA praises sponsors Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R-NY) for reintroducing the “Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act.” ZOA also urges the act’s passage; praises cosponsors Reps. Randy Weber (R-TX), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Mary Miller (R-IL), and Barry Moore (R-AL); and praises Rep. Tenney for launching the important Friends of Judea and Samaria Congressional Caucus. The newly reintroduced House bill is H.R.902. Senator Cotton and Congresswoman Tenney introduced the bill in the previous (2023-2024) Congress as S.5431 and H.R.7552.
The “Recognizing Judea and Samaria Act” is also entitled the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-Use of Judea and Samaria Act.” As indicated by the Act’s name, the Act would end the U.S. government’s use of the inaccurate, confusing term “West Bank” for the area that is genuinely, historically, biblically and presently known as Judea and Samaria. The Act will require all official United States documents and materials to use the correct term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the improper term “West Bank.”
History: For millennia, the areas were known as Judea and Samaria. After Jordan and five other Arab nations invaded Israel in 1948-1949, and Jordan captured Judea/Samaria and eastern Jerusalem from Israel, Jordan blew up 58 synagogues, expelled and/or killed the Jewish population, and renamed Judea/Samaria the “West Bank” to try to de-Judaize these longstanding Jewish areas. Israel recaptured Judea/Samaria and eastern Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967, after Jordan attacked Israel again.
Jews are called “Jews” because Jews come from Judea. Jew is a contraction of the word Judean. In the 1980s, then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin implored U.S. Jews and Jewish groups to use the proper name Judea/Samaria. For decades, the ZOA has promoted using the proper names Judea and Samaria. In 2019, the ZOA Coalition initiated and obtained passage of a resolution requiring use of the proper names Judea and Samaria in the World Zionist Congress. (See below. Please also remember to vote for the ZOA Coalition – the slate with the proven record of activism, in the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections starting on March 10, 2025! More info at ZOACoalition.org.)
It is a degrading insult to the Jewish people and Israel’s sovereignty to refer to Judea/Samaria as the “West Bank.” Israel has the right to these areas under binding international law, including the San Remo resolution, the Mandate, and the UN Charter, which continued the Jewish people’s rights under the Mandate. (See ZOA Summary: “Israel’s Legal Rights to the Land of Israel, Including Jerusalem, Judea/Samaria & The Golan, Under Binding International Law.”)
The name “West Bank” is moreover confusing and makes no sense geographically, inasmuch as Judea/Samaria is eastern Israel. Calling these areas the “West Bank” is like calling the east coast of the United States the “West Bank.”
ZOA agrees with and strongly praises Senator Tom Cotton for stating, while he and Congresswoman Tenney reintroduced the bill on January 31, 2025: “The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria go back thousands of years. The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.”
ZOA likewise agrees with and praises Congresswoman Tenney for explaining, when she and Senator Cotton reintroduced the bill: “The Israeli people have an undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria. By introducing the RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria Act and creating the Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus, we are working to reaffirm Israel’s rightful claim to its territory. I am dedicated to working with President Trump, Secretary of State Rubio, and Ambassador Huckabee to support communities in the region while opposing the establishment of a hostile state that promotes terrorism in Judea and Samaria. I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”
REPRINT of:
ZOA Resolution for Use of Proper Name “Judea and Samaria” in the World Zionist Congress: Using the right terminology is critical for defending the Jewish people’s rights to the Jewish homeland. ZOA thus initiated and obtained passage of the following resolution, which we are quoting here in full, to provide historical context:
Resolution for the Use of Proper Name “Judea and Samaria”:
Whereas the name “Judea” dates back to the Jewish Kingdom of Judah (928-527 BCE), and the name Samaria dates back to the areas of Judea resettled by Samaritans, and as such, are the proper historical names for these areas; and
Whereas United Nations Resolution 181 (passed on November 29, 1947) referred to the area as “the hill country of Samaria and Judea” and never used the term “West Bank” – which was not yet invented at that time; and
Whereas, in order to try to de-Judaize these areas, Jordan renamed Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem the “West Bank” in 1950, shortly after Jordan began Jordan’s 19-year illegal occupation of these areas in 1948; and
Whereas, the proper names used by the Israeli government are Judea and Samaria,
Therefore, the WZO [World Zionist Organization], the Zionist General Council, and the Inner and Outer Executive, will use, and will recommend to our representatives in Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL), and all Zionist Enterprises, the Zionist World Unions, and all other entities described in the WZO Constitution, to use the names “Judea and Samaria” in their statements, publications and maps, rather than the name “West Bank.””