House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke out against the Biden administration’s new policies toward Israel and the West Bank, tweeting in a social media post, “Jews are historically and legally living in the land of Israel, including Judea and the West Bank. “I have the right to do so.” Samaria–the center of the Bible. ”
At issue is a new U.S. State Department policy that deems new Israeli housing and settlements in the West Bank “in violation of international law.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week: “Our administration remains firmly opposed to settlement expansion, which, in our judgment, only weakens, not strengthens, Israel’s security.” said.
The Biden administration claims the policy is a return to pre-Trump policies held by Democratic and Republican presidents for decades. In 2019, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Trump administration did not believe the West Bank settlements were “in violation of international law.”
Johnson criticized Biden’s policies in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
“This is a shameful decision,” Johnson wrote. “Jews have a historical and legal right to live in the Land of Israel, including its Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. Especially since Israel is fighting terrorists on multiple fronts who seek Israel’s destruction. It is absolutely shameful for the Biden administration to make this decision while over 130 hostages remain in Gaza.
“The Biden administration should stop promoting efforts to weaken Israel and delegitimize it,” Johnson wrote. “That is misguided and unconscionable.”
“Mr. Blinken is 100% wrong,” David M. Friedman, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Donald Trump, said on social media.
“I, along with numerous State Department attorneys, investigated this matter for over a year,” Friedman wrote. “There is nothing illegal about Jews living in their Biblical homeland. … It is unconscionable for Blinken to announce this in the middle of a war and when the Jewish Sabbath has already begun in Israel.”
The Biden administration supports new policies.
“We are simply reaffirming our fundamental conclusion that these settlements violate international law. … This has been a consistent position through various Republican and Democratic administrations.” said White House National Security Press Secretary John Kirby. “If ever there was an inconsistent government, it was the previous one.”
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Michael Faust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His story was published in Baptist Press. Christianity Today, Christian Poecent, of leaf chronicle, of toronto star and of knoxville news sentinel.
