HALLELUJAH! Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton introduces bill that would ban federal use of the term ‘West Bank’

The politically charged “West Bank” designation should not be used to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel. That’s why Senator Tom Cotton has introduced legislation that would ban the federal government from using the term “West Bank” (so renamed by Jordanian illegal occupiers in 1948) and instead use “Judea and Samaria,” the terminology used by Israel for thousands of years.

NY Post “The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years,” Cotton said. “The U.S. should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.” In a social-media post, he added that using the term “West Bank” is “a slap in the face to historical truth.”

Formally titled the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-use of Judea and Samaria (RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria) Act,” the bill would prohibit government funds from being used to describe “the land annexed by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War” as the “West Bank,” except in international treaties and agreements.

“It’s time to call this region by its rightful name and stop playing into anti-Israel propaganda,” he said.

The use of “West Bank” as opposed to Judea and Samaria is often viewed as a proxy for Palestinian and Israeli territorial claims and has also become a partisan issue in the United States, with many Republicans favoring Judea and Samaria while many Democrats using the phrase “West Bank.”

“Words matter,” wrote Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.). “It’s not ‘the West Bank.’ It’s ‘Judea and Samaria.’”

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), who introduced the House version of the bill in February, said that it reaffirmed Israel’s “undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria.”“This bill reaffirms Israel’s rightful claim to its territory,” she wrote. “I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”