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Actor Jon Voight: Judea and Samaria are the heart of Israel

Veteran actor visits prominent sites in Judea and Samaria, emphasizes region’s strategic importance for Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

A-list Hollywood actor and Oscar winner Jon Voight toured Judea and Samaria on Thursday morning, calling the region Israel’s heartland.

Voight, the 83-year-old father of actress Angelina Jolie, is a longtime supporter of both the Jewish State and the Chabad Jewish outreach movement.

“I don’t understand why Judea and Samaria is called the West Bank, when it’s clear that if you look at a map, Samaria is at the heart of the land of Israel,” Voight was quoted as saying by a press statement from the Samaria Regional Council.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan presented Voight with a bottle of wine and a map as they stood at the top of biblical Mount Gerizim.

After Dagan unfurled the map, Voight remarked that the region is “right in the center of Israel.”

He added that the map demonstrates the strategic importance of the area to the Jewish State.

Dagan told Voight that those who reject Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria “want to change Israel to a country that is just nine miles” wide.

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It is “a great honor to host an important actor like you and, more importantly, a friend of Israel,” Dagan said.

Voight then toured the archaeological ruins at Shiloh, where the ancient Tabernacle was located before the building of the first Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

“This is one of the holier sites. I feel so much energy here. It is just amazing that you can pick up a shard in your backyard that is 3,000-5,000 years old,” Voight remarked.

Voight’s granddaughter, whose father is actor Brad Pitt, is named Shiloh.

Binyamin Regional Council spokeswoman Eliana Passentin told Voight that Shiloh means “tranquility and a resting place. It represents prayer and unity.”

She told Voight that she’d love to host Shiloh Jolie-Pitt at the site one day.