TEHRAN – Republican U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson visited Israeli settlement on the occupied West Bank on Monday. His visit comes weeks later amid escalation of violence against the Palestinians by Israeli forces and settlers, when Israeli Knesset passed a resolution in favour of annexation of the West Bank.
According to Axios, Johnson’s visit to the Ariel settlement near Ramala was reportedly part of a private trip to Israel organized by the Israeli advocacy group, the American Israeli Education Association.
The visit makes him the most senior American politician to visit Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Settlements are illegal under international law. However, senior lawmaker Johnson is openly and shamelessly violating international law.
In preparation for the annexation, Johnson used a false name for the West Bank. He used the so-called biblical name “Jews and Samaria” on Palestinian territory. According to a Jerusalem post, Johonson even said it would work to promote the use of the term “Jew and Samaria” at the federal level.
His visit to the occupied West Bank and the use of false names in the West Bank annexed the remaining Palestinian lands and blew the Israeli regime. The trip is also an invitation to more land grabs and harsh violence against the Palestinians by settlers and Israeli forces.
According to a UN report released in December 2024, coordination between Israeli human rights organization B’TSELEM and the UN Humanitarian Agency recorded more than 1,200 incidents of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in 2024 alone, recording an average of three attacks per day. Today, both settlers, occupying forces and Israeli regimes feel more encouraged to wipe out the Palestinians from their ever-reducing land.
Johnson’s visit to the occupied West Bank also conveys an important message as Israel completes its project to abolish the Gaza Strip through indescribable crimes, including starvation and other forms of collective punishment.
People around the world are angry at Israel’s wild behaviour in the West Bank, and even Western Israeli allies are under pressure at home to recognize the Palestinian state, while Jong-so has frowned upon his visit to occupied territory and his provocative remarks.
The world is wondering what message Johnson’s visit to the occupied West Bank will convey, given that more than 25 years of US policy, supported by both Republican and Democrat administrations, claims to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through two state resolution.
This shows nothing but our overlap and hypocrisy towards Palestinian pain.
Johnson’s trip praised Israel Katz, the chief of Israeli military. It was mainly during military leadership that Israel began to starve massively in Gaza.
According to Middle East Eye, in an X post, Katz said Johnson’s trip was evidence of “unwavering support and moral clarity in his position with the enemy.”
Unfortunately, while Washington’s support for Israel is unwavering, it is undisputed that “moral” support is a shame for the intelligence of people around the world.
Johnson’s visit may be a prelude to gradually turn the West Bank into another Gaza.
The Middle Eastern Eye says that some of the methods currently employed by Israeli forces in Gaza seem to be heading towards the gradually occupied West Bank, although on a small scale.
In recent months, most of Tulkarm and Jenin’s refugee camps have been bulldozed along with other regions, with hundreds of homes being demolished.
According to Mee, the images coming out of these sites are increasingly similar to those coming out of Gaza.