{"id":121918,"date":"2025-08-05T21:40:33","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121918\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T21:40:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T21:40:33","slug":"us-speaker-mike-johnson-dines-with-netanyahu-in-west-bank-settlement-of-shiloh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/121918\/","title":{"rendered":"US Speaker Mike Johnson dines with Netanyahu in West Bank settlement of Shiloh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara dined Monday evening with US House Speaker Mike Johnson and his wife in the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, the Prime Minister\u2019s Office said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The dinner was also attended by US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and his wife, as well as Republican members of Congress Michael McCaul, Claudia Tenney, Michael Cloud and Nathaniel Moran. Israel Ganz, who leads the Yesha Council as well as the Binyamin Regional Council in the West Bank, was also present.<\/p>\n

The dinner occurred as Johnson, by traveling to Ariel and Shiloh on Monday, became the most senior US official to ever visit a West Bank settlement. In past decades, leaders in both parties advocated for a two-state solution, and visits to settlements were seen as taboo.<\/p>\n

But Netanyahu\u2019s government has vocally rejected<\/a> the idea of a Palestinian state, even as several Western countries have said<\/a> in recent days that they will recognize one. Huckabee is a longtime advocate<\/a> of West Bank settlements, a posture Johnson echoed on Monday.<\/p>\n

During the visit to Ariel, Johnson said<\/a> that the \u201cmountains of Judea and Samaria\u201d belong to the Jewish people \u201cby right,\u201d using the biblical name for the West Bank that is favored by Israel\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEvery corner of this land is important to us. It is an integral part of our faith, and therefore the significance for us is great\u2026 We stand entirely by your side,\u201d said Johnson, according to a statement by the municipal authority of the Ariel settlement.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/p>\n

Mike Johnson, left, and Yair Chetboun tour the settlement of Ariel on August 4, 2025. (Courtesy, Ariel Municipal Authority)<\/p>\n

According to Axios, the Republican lawmakers at the dinner came to Israel on a private, previously unannounced trip, organized by Heather Johnston, the founder of a group called the US Israel Education Association, which describes its core value as \u201cthe Judeo-Christian heritage and the historical and biblical significance of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a Facebook post<\/a> on Tuesday, Ganz called Johnson\u2019s visit \u201ca step that shows significant support for settlement and for the historical and national connection of the Jewish people to the area.\u201d He wrote that he showed Johnson a proposal for Israel to annex the territory.<\/p>\n

The event was also attended by Ditsa Or, mother of Avinatan Or,<\/a> who was abducted by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attacks and remains in captivity. She met with the prime minister and his wife during the event.<\/p>\n

Or belongs to an ideological minority among the hostage families that has pushed for their loved ones to be returned via military pressure rather than through negotiation. She has criticized<\/a> military leaders for being too soft on Hamas.<\/p>\n


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\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara dined Monday evening with US House Speaker Mike Johnson and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":121919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[99,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-121918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-israel","9":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114978332679699481","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}