Arizona Republican Trent Franks, who represents the state’s 8th congressional district in the US House of Representatives, spoke earlier this week regarding the BDS movement targeting Israel, and the support within Congress for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
Franks, along with Texas congressman Louie Gohmert, met with a delegation from the Samarian Regional Council on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. this week.
“There are people in the US Congress who, no matter what, will continue to work on behalf of Judea and Samaria, who will continue to do whatever they can to fight on behalf of Israel and ensure that you will never feel alone in this world,” Franks said during a meeting with Samarian Regional Council chief Yossi Dagan.
“I want to say to all the people of Samaria that they are beloved by the American people, and we believe that Judea and Samaria are not the ‘West Bank’ but part of the State of Israel.”
“It is a pleasure to meet with people from Samaria,” said Gohmert. “God intended that the Land of Israel be complete, and I hope that more people, not just in Israel but around the world, understand that.”
During the visit to Washington, the Samaria delegation met with more than a dozen legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, discussing with them the importance of Israel’s continued presence in the heart of the historic Jewish homeland, Judea and Samaria.
Dagan asked the legislators to put pressure on the White House to halt its demands for a freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria, noting such a freeze violates the human rights of Jewish residents.
“The pressure the American government is putting on the Israeli government to strangle settlement and block construction creates a situation where our children are forced to learn in caravans rather than normal buildings, like other children around the world,” said Dagan.
“Many of our children are suffering from the cold and wetness in the winter and heat in the summer. This pressure [not to build] also prevents children from living near their parents because of the lack of housing.”
“The international pressure has also prevented Israel from expanding the water infrastructure in Samaria as needed, which at the end of the day means both Israeli and Arab residents were left without water for much of this past summer.”