Republican lawmakers call for Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria

Despite President Trump’s rejection of changes to the legal status of Judea and Samaria, nearly two dozen Republican members of Congress met with a settlement leader in show of support for annexation.

By World Israel News Staff

A group of Republican senators and members of the House of Representatives hosted Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan in Washington this week for an event backing Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state in the region.

The reception, held at the Capitol Hill Club, was hosted by Sens. Lindsey Graham and James Lankford and attended by Republican Reps. Marlin Stutzman, Josh Brecheen and Robert Aderholt, according to Israel National News.

The event was co-organized with Tony Perkins, a prominent conservative activist and president of the Family Research Council.

About 20 US lawmakers took part in the gathering, which focused on support for Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, and opposition to growing international pressure against Israel.

Dagan told the lawmakers that the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack had changed the debate over Israeli control of Judea and Samaria, arguing that a Palestinian state there would pose an intolerable security risk to Israel.

“There is no room for illusions,” Dagan said.

Dagan said the hilltops of Judea and Samaria overlook Israel’s main population centers, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and argued that Israeli sovereignty over Jewish communities in the territory was the alternative to a Palestinian state.

“Our fight is a shared one,” he said.

Republican lawmakers who took part in the meeting expressed support for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, despite President Donald Trump’s rejection last year of annexation.

Lankford, who co-hosted the event, said Jewish families in Judea and Samaria had deep historical ties to the area and should be able to live there without fear.

“It shouldn’t be difficult to talk about sovereignty,” Lankford said.

Stutzman said the two-state framework had failed and that Israel should be “unified under a single sovereignty,” according to the report.

Brecheen also voiced support for Israeli sovereignty, saying the October 7 attack showed that Israel could not accept a hostile entity next to its communities.

Dagan also presented what he called a “Connection Plan” for northern Samaria, including the establishment or restoration of 18 communities.

The plan includes renewed settlement in Homesh, Sa-Nur, Ganim and Kadim, four northern Samaria communities evacuated as part of Israel’s 2005 disengagement, along with 14 additional communities in the area.

Dagan, who was removed from Sa-Nur during the disengagement, has long argued that the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza and parts of northern Samaria strengthened terrorism rather than advancing peace.