To prohibit the use of materials that use the term West Bank, and for other purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill requires the U.S. government to stop using the term "West Bank" and instead use "Judea and Samaria" when referring to the territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War. It prohibits federal funding from being used to create any government materials that use the term "West Bank," and it amends nine existing U.S. laws to replace all instances of "West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria."
Who Benefits and How
Pro-Israel advocacy groups and supporters of Israeli sovereignty claims benefit by having U.S. government terminology align with Israeli naming conventions. This symbolic change legitimizes the Israeli government's preferred framing of these disputed territories as historical Jewish lands (Judea and Samaria) rather than occupied Palestinian territory (West Bank). Israeli settlement supporters gain diplomatic support through this official U.S. recognition of biblical place names.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The State Department, USAID, and other federal agencies face significant compliance burdens to update all existing materials, guidance documents, training materials, and computer systems to replace "West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria." U.S. diplomats may face complications in international negotiations, as the rest of the world continues to use "West Bank" in UN resolutions and international agreements. Palestinian advocacy groups and those supporting a two-state solution are burdened by losing official U.S. government recognition of the commonly used international terminology for these territories. Taxpayers bear the cost of updating federal systems and materials across multiple agencies.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits federal funds from being used to create any government materials (policies, regulations, briefings, press releases, etc.) that refer to "Judea and Samaria" as the "West Bank"
- Exempts international treaty obligations from this prohibition, allowing the Secretary of State to waive the requirement if it serves U.S. interests
- Amends the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to replace "West Bank" with "Judea and Samaria"
- Amends the Taylor Force Act and eight other federal laws to make the same terminology change throughout U.S. statutes
- Requires the Secretary of State to explain any waiver of the prohibition to Congress within 30 days
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Mandates the use of the terms "Judea and Samaria" instead of "West Bank" in all U.S. government materials and amends existing U.S. laws to replace this terminology
Who Benefits
- Pro-Israel advocacy groups
- Israeli government and settlement supporters
- Those favoring Israeli sovereignty claims over disputed territories
Who Bears Costs
- State Department officials (compliance burden with new terminology requirements)
- U.S. diplomats (potential complications in international negotiations)
- Federal agencies (costs to update materials, guidance, and systems)
Key Policy Areas
Foreign Affairs, Middle East Policy, Government Operations, Legislative Language
Primary Purpose
Mandates the use of the terms "Judea and Samaria" instead of "West Bank" in all U.S. government materials and amends existing U.S. laws to replace this terminology
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Change U.S. government terminology to align with Israeli naming conventions for disputed territories, removing reference to "West Bank" from all official materials and existing laws"
Identified Gains
- Pro-Israel advocacy groups
- Israeli government and settlement supporters
- Those favoring Israeli sovereignty claims over disputed territories
Identified Costs
- State Department officials (compliance burden with new terminology requirements)
- U.S. diplomats (potential complications in international negotiations)
- Federal agencies (costs to update materials, guidance, and systems)
- Palestinian advocacy groups and those supporting two-state solution
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Cotton introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Federal agencies implementing Middle East policy, State Department officials and staff
USAID and foreign assistance programs
Government contractors and consultants providing foreign policy materials
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of State
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The land annexed by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War, with the land south of Jerusalem being considered Judea and the land north of Jerusalem being considered Samaria. Historically referred to as the "West Bank".
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology