Evangelicals pressing Trump to greenlight West Bank land grab: NYT
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A group of influential Christian leaders urged President Trump to remove all barriers to "Israel’s" alleged "sovereignty" over "all its land," including the West Bank.
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Former VP Mike Pence speaks at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) Summit, on July 17, 2023, in Arlington, Virginia. (AP)
Evangelical Christian leaders who voted for Donald Trump are now urging him to proclaim "Israel's" "annexation" of the West Bank.
Prominent evangelical supporters of Trump are launching a multifaceted campaign to pressure the president, including visits in "Israel," petitions to the White House, presentations at a significant evangelical conference, and efforts to generate legislative support.
America's top evangelicals, including Ralph Reed, Tony Perkins, and Mario Bramnick, visited occupied al-Quds Tuesday to officially support "Israel's" further land grab from the West Bank.
These evangelical pastors belong to a movement known as Christian Zionism.
A group of influential Christian leaders urged President Trump to remove all barriers to "Israel’s" alleged "sovereignty" over "all its land," including the West Bank, during the National Religious Broadcasters convention, where organizers promoted a petition rejecting any pressure on the occupation to relinquish territory.
"Israel's" West Bank settlements, which have been given a green light by Benjamin Netanyahu's administration, are considered by the UN and numerous human rights organizations as a breach of international law.
Those who have petitioned Trump to endorse Israeli "annexation" of the West Bank expect that such a proclamation will put a stop to any further talk of a future Palestinian state there.
Days before American Christian Leaders for Israel announced the petition, Representative Claudia Tenney, a Republican from New York who identifies as Presbyterian, sent a similar letter to Trump along with five other members of the congressional "Friends of Judea and Samaria Caucus," urging the government to "recognize Israel's right" to proclaim sovereignty over the area, arguing that doing so is critical to protecting "the Judeo-Christian heritage on which our nation was founded."
When asked about his view on Israeli "annexation" of the West Bank during a February press conference with Netanyahu, Trump stated that "people do like the idea" and that there will be an announcement regarding that topic in the upcoming weeks.
Trump has backed Israeli initiatives, endorsing Palestinian ethnic cleansing last month, reversing sanctions on West Bank settlers, and appointing pro-"Israel" evangelicals like Paula White-Cain and Mike Huckabee to key positions in his administration.
In 2017, Huckabee attended a ceremony in a West Bank colony and told CNN that he believes "Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria," adding that "there is no such thing as the West Bank" or "an occupation."
Last year, after being appointed ambassador, he told Israeli army radio that "annexation" was "of course" an option.
Tenney has submitted legislation that would replace government references to the West Bank with biblical titles instead. Representative Brian Mast, the Florida Republican who leads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has told aides to refer to the land as "Judea and Samaria," according to an internal committee document first published by Axios last Wednesday.
According to the Associated Press, almost 80% of white evangelical Christians voted for President Trump in 2024, and the general Christian vote was critical to his success according to Arizona Christian University.
A 2021 survey commissioned by the University of North Carolina at Pembroke discovered a sharp shift in attitudes among younger evangelicals between 2018 and 2021, with their support for "Israel" dropping from 75% to less than 35%, and an accompanying increase in a desire to see US policy that reflects a Palestinian perspective.
