House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) traveled to the West Bank on Monday to visit a Jewish settlement considered illegal under international law, a strong show of support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory.
According to Ynet, the trip was organized by the Yesha Council settler lobby in coordination with the US-Israel Education Association, a pro-Israeli advocacy group. The trip makes Johnson the first sitting House speaker to visit the West Bank.
During his visit to the Ariel settlement in the central West Bank, Johnson declared that the Jewish people have the “right” to the Palestinian territory, which he referred to as Judea and Samaria, using the biblical name.
“Every corner of this land is important to us. It is an integral part of our faith, and therefore the significance for us is great… We stand entirely by your side,” Johnson said, according to a statement from the settlement’s municipal authority.
“Scripture teaches us that the mountains of Judea and Samaria were promised to the Jewish people, and they belong to them by right. But many people around the world do not see it like this, they label it the ‘occupied territories’ or the ‘West Bank’ or any other name,” Johnson added.
Johnson was joined in his delegation by Reps. Michael McCaul (R-TX), Nathaniel Moran (R-TX), Michael Cloud (R-TX), and Claudia Tenney (R-NY), as well as Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her father, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Both Johnson and Huckabee are known for their Christian Zionist views and their belief that God gave historic Palestine to the modern state of Israel, a theology that’s rejected by the majority of Christian denominations.
During the visit, Yisrael Gantz, chair of the Yesha Council, asked the US politicians for their support in advancing the goal of the Israeli annexation of the West Bank. “Today, we present to you a diplomatic initiative calling to apply the sovereignty of the State of Israel over Judea and Samaria and declare to the whole world that the territories of Judea and Samaria are once again an eternal part of the Jewish state,” he said.
There’s no sign that during the visit, Johnson raised the issue of two US citizens who were murdered by Jewish settlers last month or the recent settler violence against Taybeh, a West Bank village that’s populated entirely by Christians.
Israeli officials told Axios that Johnson and his delegation are also expected to travel to Gaza and visit distribution sites run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which are death traps for desperate Palestinians seeking aid. The US representatives are also set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. An Israeli official said Johnson is going to spend an “unusually long” amount of time in Israel and won’t leave until August 10.
