At a gathering of senior American lawmakers, the political base of President Trump, Republican senators, congressmen and senior officials took the stage one after another with a clear position: opposition to a ‘Palestinian’ state, support for more Jewish community building, and advancing legislation that would change even the language America uses to describe Israel’s heartland.
The power breakfast was hosted in honor of Dagan and his push for Israeli sovereignty over its biblical heartland, by Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, and Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator James Lankford, U.S. Representative Claudia Tenney, U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen and U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt and well-attended by GOP lawmakers. Dagan outlined a sweeping vision of sovereignty, security, and rebuilding, anchored in shared values.
U.S. lawmakers: “Judea and Samaria has to be part of Israeli sovereignty”
The lawmakers were unambiguous in their opposition to a ‘Palestinian’ state, even as discussions about a two-state framework rear their heads in Washington diplomatic circles.
Senator James Lankford said unequivocally, “It shouldn’t be difficult to be able to talk about sovereignty and the ability for individuals and families to be able to choose anywhere they choose to be able to live, for the government of Israel….to be able to make decisions, it’s obvious.”
‘Two states has failed’ – Israeli sovereignty is the only alternative
“The effort for a two-state solution has been tried and it has failed,” said Rep. Stutzman. “Judea and Samaria has to be part of Israeli sovereignty. I think that’s a critical decision that needs to be made.”
Asked directly whether he agreed with elements within the Trump administration reportedly pressing for ‘Palestinian’ statehood, Stutzman was equally direct. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he said. “From my position, and many of the members of Congress I speak with, they think there should be one government in Israel, not a two-state solution. Because after October 7, it just can’t work.”
October 7 as inflection point
For both the governor and the U.S. lawmakers, the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre was the defining reference point, the moment that, in their framing, collapsed the rationale for ‘Palestinian’ statehood once and for all.
Lankford said, “What they’ve faced from Gaza and from the threats of terrorism, that we’ve got to be able to live free. And to be able to live free of fear, and to be able to live in our homes in our homeland.”
Representative Breechen added, “Post-October 7 has discovered very well that you can’t harbor a terrorist in the garage next to your home. The Oslo Accords have been a failure.” He added that the biblical boundaries of Israel represent “an everlasting covenant,” clarifying that he was referring to areas A, B, and C under Oslo.
Dagan drew a direct line from the 2005 Gaza evacuation to the October 7 attacks, arguing that the withdrawal created the conditions for Hamas to govern and ultimately to strike – men, women and children. “Directly because of this [the Disengagement], directly, we got October 7,” he said.
He also framed the threat to both America and Israel, “For Hamas, for Fatah, from their base in Tehran and Ramallah, we Israelis are just the small Satan. You Americans are the big Satan. We are just the appetizer. You are the steak. We are fighting together.”
Channel 14’s Chief U.S. Correspondent, Libby Alon, said, “Against the backdrop of political uncertainty in Israel, heartland leadership understands that the battle is no longer being fought only on the hills of Samaria or in the corridors of the Knesset. It is also being fought in the legislative chambers of the United States.
While the world continues to talk about a ‘Palestinian’ state, the American conservative camp is already drafting the alternative: not withdrawal, but a firm hold over all parts of the Land of Israel.”
Shared values, shared stakes
The event underscored what organizers said was a deepening alignment between evangelical and conservative American lawmakers and the Jewish leadership in Judea and Samaria, rooted in biblical geography and a shared reading of the region’s strategic stakes.
Senator Lankford recalled visiting communities in Judea and Samaria more than a decade before the region drew wider diplomatic attention, describing the connection as one of “family, faith, and the future.”
“There are families living there, there are people living there,” Lankford said. “There’s history and connection there that has been there not for years, for millennia.”
Perkins said, “The best way that we can silence the voices of antisemitism, even in our own ranks, is to be vocal about our support for the Jewish people and the Jewish state of Israel. Doesn’t mean we support everything their government does – but I support their right to be in that land, to defend that land, and to own that land. And I, for one, am willing to die for that purpose – politically or whatever – to make sure they have that. If the Republican party ever abandons that issue, we will become a party that will soon be forgotten.”
