Email from Zionist Organization of America   ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA NEWS RELEASE ZOA Praises Sen. Cotton/Rep. Tenney for Reintroducing “RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria Act” and Asks other Jewish Groups and Rabbis to Urge its Passage 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.”   CONTINUE READING   Share This Email Share This Email Share This Email   DONATE     Copyright © Zionist Organization of America 2025, All rights reserved. Zionist Organization of America | 633 Third Ave 31 B | New York, NY 10017 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice