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The Bible grants Israel rights to Occupied West Bank says Trump’s UN envoy pick

January 23, 2025 at 2:34 pm

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, nominee for Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks at a confirmation hearing in front of the Foreign Relation’s Committee of the Senate in Washington, DC on January 21, 2025. [Nathan Posner – Anadolu Agency]

Donald Trump’s nominee for UN ambassador, Rep Elise Stefanik, has endorsed the controversial view that Israel has a “biblical right” to the illegally Occupied West Bank, aligning herself with Israel’s far-right ministers and contradicting long-standing US policy and international law.

During her confirmation hearing on Tuesday, Stefanik openly supported the position held by far-right Israeli ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who advocate for Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied West Bank based on biblical claims. There is expectation in Israel that President Trump will give the Occupation state the green light to annex the West Bank in contravention of international law.

During his first term, Trump moved away from the two-state solution and sided with Israel in a more obvious manner. It recognised Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel and moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to the Occupied city. It also recognised Israel’s sovereignty over the Occupied Syrian Golan Heights. It also softened its stance on illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied West Bank, abandoning its four-decade position that the settlements were “inconsistent with international law”.

Pompeo: Israel has Biblical claim to the land so it can’t be an occupier

When pressed by Senator Chris Van Hollen about sharing the views of Israel’s Finance Minister, Smotrich, regarding biblical rights to the entire West Bank and if she believed that Israel has been granted the territory by God, Stefanik explicitly confirmed her position with a “yes”. Van Hollen noted that such views were not even shared by Israel’s founders, who were “secular Zionists, not religious Zionists.”

Stefanik’s position aligns with Israel’s far-right political faction, which seeks to recreate what they view as ancient biblical boundaries, effectively dismissing two thousand years of history and current international law. This interpretation is used to justify the illegal expansion of settlements in the Occupied Territories.

During the hearing, Stefanik notably avoided directly acknowledging Palestinians’ right to self-determination, despite repeated questioning. While stating that “Palestinian people deserve human rights”, she deflected questions about their right to self-determination by focusing, instead, on criticism of Hamas.

Her appointment follows a pattern in Trump’s administration of selecting officials who endorse far-right Israeli positions. This includes the appointment of Mike Huckabee as US ambassador to Israel, who has previously claimed that Israeli Occupation does not exist, and that Israel holds the “deeds” to the entire West Bank.

Critics argue that such appointments signal a dramatic shift away from traditional US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian question and could further complicate peace efforts in the region. Van Hollen warned, during the hearing, that such positions would make it “very difficult” to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East.