Florida lawmakers are working to pass a bill that would ban the use of the term “West Bank” in schools and state agencies, including public colleges and universities, and would mandate the use of the Israeli term “Judea and Samaria”.
The West Bank is the internationally recognized name for the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories west of the Jordan River, taken from Jordan by Israel in 1967, and expected to form part of a future Palestinian state.
Israel refers to the area by the biblical term “Judea and Samaria” to reinforce historical and religious claims to the land.
The term “Judea and Samaria” has been embraced by many US Republicans since the first Trump administration, including former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, whom Donald Trump appointed as ambassador to Israel last year.
In April last year, Arkansas became the first US state to mandate replacing “West Bank” in state institutions with “Judea and Samaria”. Similar efforts in the US Congress have been proposed but haven’t reached a vote.
Florida’s proposed bill is the only one that also targets K-12 schools.
If passed, state agencies, including universities and colleges, would be barred from using “West Bank” in any official government materials, and new instructional or school library materials in public primary and secondary schools would be required to use “Judea and Samaria”.
Democratic representative Angie Nixon from Jacksonville said the proposal “could be seen as an attack, an erasure of the Palestinian people”.
Adam Abutaa, Florida organizing manager with Emgage Action, said the proposed change “elevates one narrative while erasing another, restricting how educators, researchers, public institutions can speak about a region recognized by the US government and the international community”.
William Johnson, PEN America’s Florida director, said, “Our state is home to thousands of Palestinian Americans, many of whom have deep ties to the West Bank. At a time of rising anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian rhetoric, the legislation sends a worrying signal that some Floridians’ identities and experiences fall outside the bounds of recognition and belonging.”
The House version, HB 31, was advanced by the state affairs committee on January 27 and is awaiting debate. The Senate version, SB 1106, is still under committee review. Republicans control both chambers.
