What is the new ‘Judea and Samaria Caucus’ in Congress all about?
It’s one of several signs of how Trump’s Republicans are reshaping the conversation around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (And: It has no Jewish members.)
The village of Al-Ram and an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank territory seperated by a wall on Nov. 04, 2023. Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
By Jacob Kornbluh February 27, 2025
As negotiations over a permanent ceasefire in Gaza continue, the Republican-controlled Congress is seeking to reshape the narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Republican leaders have reintroduced legislation and submitted memos urging that government spokespeople and documents refer to the occupied West Bank by its biblical names, Judea and Samaria. And last month, a New York Republican who is Presbyterian launched the “Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus,” which promotes Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank territories it seized from Jordan in the 1967 war.
Together, these moves mark a shift in longstanding U.S. policy and highlight the growing influence of Christian Zionism and Israel’s settler movement within the Republican Party and the Trump administration.
A spokesperson for Rep. Claudia Tenney, who founded the caucus, said invitations were extended to all House members. The 16 who joined include Rep. Randy Weber, a Baptist from Texas; and Andy Ogles, a Protestant from Tennessee; but none of the 24 Jewish members of the House, three of whom are Republicans.
Spokespeople for Reps. Max Miller of Ohio, David Kustoff of Tennessee and Craig Goldman of Texas — the three Jewish Republican House members — did not respond to inquiries about the caucus. None of them have joined the Jewish Caucus that their Democratic colleagues formalized earlier this month.
There are dozens of caucuses representing identity groups — Blacks, Asians, veterans — or certain interests, like Problem Solvers and U.S.-China relations. They have official recognition but no special power or funding.
At the inaugural meeting of the Judea and Samaria Caucus in January, Tenney said that House Speaker Mike Johnson, an evangelical Christian, had shown interest in joining, and that she hoped some Democrats would as well. The group kicked off by introducing legislation that would require all official U.S. documents to use the term “Judea and Samaria” instead of the West Bank, as Israeli settlers and their supporters often do.
In line with this initiative, Rep. Brian Mast, a Republican from Florida and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, ordered aides to the committee’s 27 Republican members to no longer call the West Bank the West Bank.
“Jewish roots in this region span centuries,” Mast, a military veteran who volunteered with the Israel Defense Forces in 2015, wrote in a memo dated Feb. 25. “As representatives of the American people, we must do our part to stem this reprehensible tide of antisemitism and recognize Israel’s rightful claim to the cradle of Jewish civilization.”
About 2.9 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which was divided by the Oslo Accords in the 1990s into three areas whose governance is split between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli military. The territory is also home to 500,000 Israeli Jews, who live in settlements that most experts consider illegal under international law. (Some outposts are also illegal under Israeli law.)
Oslo — and subsequent peace plans — call for a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Many Trump cabinet members are die-hard Israel supporters who oppose the creation of any Palestinian state. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pick for ambassador to Israel, said that West Bank annexation is a possibility, reflecting a significant policy shift from Trump’s first term and decades of American presidents who preceded him.
David Friedman, who was Trump’s first ambassador to Israel, has suggested reallocating $1 billion of U.S. aid to the Palestinians to fund Israeli annexation efforts. In his recent book, Friedman wrote that U.S. support for annexation is “based first and foremost on biblical prophecies and values,” saying that the movement “hearkens back to basic Judeo-Christian values of kindness, human dignity, humility and prosperity.”
Representative Tenney, the Judea and Samaria Caucus Chair, sent a letter signed by six House members to Trump this week urging him to recognize Israel’s right to declare sovereignty over the West Bank. Such a call was also part of the controversial Project 2025 blueprint by the Trump-allied Heritage Foundation, a document underpinned by Christian nationalism.
Trump himself said on Feb. 5, during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that he would make an announcement about annexation “over the next four weeks.”
“People do like the idea, but we haven’t taken a position on it yet,” he told reporters. Trump’s radical proposal to have the U.S. take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate its 2 million Palestinian residents hinted at his unconventional approach to the conflict and was celebrated by fringe Zionist groups and Israel’s far right parties.
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