There are those who refer to Judea and Samaria as the "occupied 'West Bank'". Among the many problems with this claim is the fact that the “Palestinian Arabs” never actually controlled the so-called 'West Bank.'
Ze’ev Jabotinsky, ideological leader of the Revisionist Zionist movement, famously wrote the poem “Shtei Gadot L’Yarden - Zu Shelanu, Zu Gam Ken” (“There are two sides to the Jordan River - this one is ours, and so is the other”). He penned these words seven years after the British government decided to divide the territory of the British Mandate—originally designated for a Jewish state in its entirety—into two parts, establishing the Kingdom of Jordan to the east of the Jordan River.
Before that decision, Chaim Weizmann had already presented historical and practical arguments for establishing the Jewish homeland on both sides of the river. Even after the World Zionist Organization accepted the British-imposed borders and relinquished claims to the east, members of the liberal Ahdut Ha’Avoda still viewed the land beyond the Jordan as part of the future Jewish state and suitable for Jewish settlement.
This territory is, of course, part of the Biblical Jewish homeland we read about weekly in the Torah. The Jordanian people and the modern state of Jordan did not exist until the British created them. Before that, they were simply Arabs—not "Jordanians." So the question remains: who, exactly, was occupying whom? —the spiritual forefather of Netanyahu and the Likud Party—believed in Shtei Gadot, both sides of the Jordan. In today’s realpolitik, that vision is no longer realistic, but after this war, Israel will not return to the borders of October 6, 2025. We took over Judea and Samaria in 1967 after being attacked from there (we even told Jordan not to join the war we were fighting against Egypt and Syria but they ignored our request), and wars have consequences.
At that time, Nasser declared he would "throw the Jews into the sea." Israel won the ensuing Six Day War war—Jordan joined and lost the Judea and Samaria, the area it was occupying with no international recognition - yet now we are the “occupiers”? Had the Arabs won in 1967, we would have been slaughtered—just as we were on October 7th.
Menachem Begin was once asked whether the Jewish claim to both sides of the Jordan was mere propaganda. He was furious. “The Jewish people must never give up the Zionist endeavor. We must never abandon the dream of a Jewish nation on the land given to Abraham by G-d. No Jew should ever agree that this land—on both sides of the Jordan—is not ours. We don’t know what history will bring. Today, there is a country called Jordan. They leave us alone, we leave them alone. But things change. Jordan wasn’t always there—and in another generation, in another time, who knows where we might find ourselves?” He cited the collapse of the Soviet Union as an example.
When nations speak of attacking Israel or negotiating its borders, it must be remembered: wars have winners and losers—even when the Jews win.
Ronn Torossianis an Israeli-American who serves as Vice Chairman of Betar Worldwide, which maintains headquarters in the historic Tel Aviv based Beit Jabotinsky (Metzudat Zeev), a national heritage site, where the Jabotinsky Institute. Etzel Museum and Jabotinsky movement are headquartered.