House Speaker Mike Johnson recently became the most senior U.S. official ever to set foot in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, a visit that drew sharp condemnation from Palestinian officials and human rights advocates. Now that congressional travel disclosures have been filed, a fuller picture of his 10-day trip to Israel is emerging, showing a delegation of Republican lawmakers holding meetings with Israeli military leaders, touring contested territory, and hearing proposals backed by pro-settlement advocacy groups.
This visit came amid growing momentum toward Israeli annexation of the West Bank. Earlier this month, Israel approved the controversial E1 settlement project of over 3,400 housing units that threatens to geographically cut off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank, isolating Palestinian communities and blocking a continuous Palestinian state. Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has called it a plan to "bury" Palestinian statehood, and just today Smotrich called for Israel to annex 82 percent of the West Bank in response to France’s plans to formally recognize the state of Palestine.
The trip, which was funded by the U.S. Israel Education Association (USIEA), included Johnson along with Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Michael Cloud (R-Texas), and Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas). Senior staff traveled as well, including Johnson’s chief of staff and national security advisor. USIEA is an Alabama-based charity, founded in 2011 and run by Heather Johnston, with a board that includes two former Republican congressmen.
In the West Bank, the lawmakers toured Israeli-occupied settlements including Ariel and Shiloh, and Johnson told settlers that “the mountains of Judea and Samaria” are the “rightful property of the Jewish people,” remarks that flout international law, which deems Israel’s occupation and settlement expansion as unlawful. “Judea and Samaria” is a biblical name that Zionists use for the West Bank, suggesting that it is land that has been granted by God exclusively to Jewish people. The group also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, while U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee joined for portions of the trip. Huckabee recently said that Israel’s settlement decisions, such as advancing the E1 project, are Israel's to make and are not violations of international law.
