GOP lawmaker pushes to make mentioning 'West Bank' illegal

Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, a Florida Republican proposes to ban state agencies from mentioning the West Bank, the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory, and enforce “Judea and Samaria” as the official name for the Middle Eastern battleground.

Rep. Chase Tramont, a Port Orange Republican, introduced HB 31 Tuesday in hopes of replacing the “West Bank” phrase with the biblical name for the regions north and south of Jerusalem and widely used by right-wing Israelis to describe the Jordan River territory.

The move comes amid strong Floridian support for Israel and an overall split in foreign politics on whether to back Israel in its campaign to eradicate Hamas, a designated terrorist organization backed by Iran, or recognize Palestine as a state following allegations that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is orchestrating a genocide.

“With this bill, Florida sends a clear message: we will stand with Israel, we’ll honor truth over revisionism, and defend the eternal bond between the Jewish people and their ancestral homeland,” Tramont told the Florida Phoenix in a statement, condemning other nations’ “egregious” decisions to recognize Palestinian statehood.

“I believe it’s appropriate for Florida to lead the way once again. Judea and Samaria was, is, and always will be recognized as Israeli sovereign land,” he added. His bill both declares the legislature’s “intent” to call that land Judea and Samaria, and bans state agencies from using the term “West Bank” on official government material.

It does create an exception for agency heads to waive the prohibition if they determine using “West Bank” is in Florida’s “best interest” and send a written explanation within a month of the realization to the Senate President and Speaker of the House, the bills says.

A congressional copy…

HB 31 is a near replica of a federal bill introduced in February by House and Senate Republicans, although the measure has yet to advance to a vote. It referenced Israel’s annexation of the territory from Jordan in 1967, citing its historical claim to the ancient “Judea and Samaria.” Since then, the Israeli military has occupied the area.

“The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years,” Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said at the time, The New York Times reported. He asked for the U.S. to “stop using the politically charged term West Bank.”

Following Hamas’s ambush and murder of more than a thousand Israelis during music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has launched a no-holds-barred counter-offensive deep into Palestinian-occupied areas in the Gaza Strip. Florida officials reacted quickly, passing resolutions strongly backing Israel and punishing businesses that boycott its government.

Gov. Ron DeSantis hosted a slew of press conferences statewide to decry pro-Palestinian protesters setting up encampments on university campuses, encouraging the U.S. government to revoke their student visas. Months later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio obliged.

Since then, Netanyahu has come under fire from prominent peace organizations including the United Nations. A UN commission of inquiry released a report last week claiming he’s led a genocide in Gaza. Despite this, top U.S. officials continue to tout their strong relationship with Israel, a leading Middle East ally for the United States, to the point that President Donald Trump in June dropped bunker-buster bombs in Iran in coordination with Israel.

Update: this story now reflects comments from Rep. Chase Tramont.