Revrse the Misguided Current U.S. Policy on Judea and Samaria - Now
At a recent event in Philadelphia, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris declared that after the war in Israel ends and the hostages return home, there must be "a real commitment among the nations to a two-state solution."
But wasn’t Oct. 7, 2023, the clearest evidence that the two-state idea is a non-starter?
If there remained any doubts, the Oct. 7 massacre shattered once and for all the notion that the Palestinian Authority and many Arabs under its rule are willing to live side by side in peace with Israel.
When Harris talks about a two-state solution, she means that Israel would cede control of the so-called "West Bank" (Judea and Samaria) — a region that makes up about 30% of Israel and is the biblical heartland where most of the stories in the Bible occurred and encompasses many areas which are of great importance to Christians.
Such a move would lead to war.
We know this because Arabs in Gaza have been under self-governance since 2005, and under Hamas’s control, they have used all their resources to build a terrorist state bent on Israel’s destruction. The outcome was Oct.7, 2023.
The Palestinian Authority is no different from Hamas.
Yes, they may speak differently, wear Western suits, and rub shoulders with diplomats at cocktail parties — but they have the same exact goal as Hamas — the destruction of Israel.
While all eyes are on the Gaza conflict and on Israel’s northern border, Arabs in Judea and Samaria have been preparing for their own Oct. 7.
Israeli media has reported on numerous smuggling operations of weapons from Jordan into Judea and Samaria. Indeed, since Oct. 7, the IDF has begun major operations throughout Judea and Samaria to root out the terrorist infrastructure.
Over the past year, the IDF has discovered and encountered weaponry that terrorist groups in Judea and Samaria did not previously have.
However, beyond the armed terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens, the Palestinian Authority educates its youth to hate Israel from a very young age.
This has been documented by the U.S. and even the EU, which criticized the Palestinian Authority for its anti-Semitic education.
The Palestinian Authority also pays salaries to terrorists who kill Jews.
Having would-be allies stand by and watch while Israel deals with this would be bad enough. But the Biden-Harris administration is doing the unthinkable: pressuring Israel to act against its own safety and security in Judea and Samaria amidst this crisis.
This is happening in these ways:
Security Checkpoints: Simply put, Israel needs them. Security checkpoints in Judea and Samaria allow the IDF to vet Arabs traveling from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas to ensure that they can’t carry out attacks against Israelis on the roads in Judea and Samaria or infiltrate Israeli communities in the area.
Yet the Biden-Harris administration is applying political pressure to lower the checkpoints at places where Israelis such as Elhanan Klein or Meir Tamri were killed.
With no checkpoint, terrorists in Judea and Samaria can walk to the nearest Jewish community, murder with impunity, and after five minutes, return to their village.
Gaza: The Biden-Harris administration and international actors are pressuring Israel not to use military aircraft in Gaza.
Therefore, Israel has to shift tactics and send in soldiers to search house to house. Currently, Israeli forces are fighting house to house in many places in Gaza, unlike at the beginning of the war when they were using airpower.
Pressure Against Construction in Judea and Samaria: These areas are the heartland of the Jewish people and the land of the Bible.
They are the places where the Jewish people lived and had a home for thousands of years in Old Testament times.
However, while the Biden-Harris administration pressures Israel to stop building Jewish homes in areas under its control in Judea and Samaria, the Arabs are building settlements in these very same areas (with help from outsiders like the EU).
This is shameful by itself, but in light of residents of northern Israel being forced to evacuate their homes limiting Israeli constructions in areas considered suburbs of Tel Aviv is shocking.
Sanctions: The Biden-Harris administration has placed U.S. sanctions on Jewish settlers in Judea and Samaria — including those with American citizenship and Israeli soldiers simply trying to ensure the security of their own communities.
Until now, such draconian sanctions — which entail being cut out of the financial system — have only been used on international terrorists.
Meanwhile, those supporting an October 7-type attack against Jews in Judea and Samaria, such as Jibril Rajoub, are not being sanctioned.
Let's not forget, Israel is fighting for its life on at least five fronts.
Yet, it is during this time that the U.S. government is pressuring Israel to act against its interests. Progressive radicals and Kamala Harris are calling for a two-state solution that would have Israel cede its strategic depth, make Israel indefensible, and cut the heart out of Israel. Is this the way allies act?
A better approach would be to stand by Israel’s legitimate security interests and support the self-defense and survival of the only true democracy in the Mideast, along with its right to its ancestral lands of Judea and Samaria — lands right in the heart of the biblical homeland.
Yossi Dagan has served as head of the Samarian Regional Council since 2015.
Tony Perkins is president of Family Research Council. He previously chaired the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Tony is the host of a nationally syndicated program, "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins." He is a pastor, Marine veteran, and former police officer. Read more Tony Perkins reports — Here.