# Arkansas passes bill to call West Bank “Judea and Samaria” **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 1, 2025, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743 "2025-05-01T09:16:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/1 "2025-05-01T09:16:04Z")
Is this just in support of Israel’s actions in Gaza? What advantage does this give Arkansas? Or the GOP? Please help me understand. [https://www.jns.org/a-historic-step-forward-arkansas-recognizes-judea-and-samaria/](https://www.jns.org/a-historic-step-forward-arkansas-recognizes-judea-and-samaria/) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/2 "2025-05-01T09:21:33Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Is this just in support of Israel’s actions in Gaza? What advantage does this give Arkansas? Or the GOP? Please help me understand. It’s about pandering to the religious fanatics which comprise much of their base by giving the region a “Biblical” name. And ritually humiliating everyone who disagrees with them by requiring them to use the term whether they want to or not. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/3 "2025-05-01T10:30:30Z")
MAGA are just a bunch of Sammy-lovers. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/66-3pCp6PBM/maxresdefault.jpg "Jesus and The Samaritan") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66-3pCp6PBM) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/4 "2025-05-01T10:34:52Z")
Judea and Samaria (יהודה ושומרון; _Yehuda ve’Shomron_) is the official Israeli name for the region, and has been since 1967 at least. I see the term all the time in legal documents. As for why Arkansas cares: they’re probably just trying to start a fight. I suggest not indulging them. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/5 "2025-05-01T12:04:20Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > why Arkansas cares: they’re probably just trying to start a fight. Yep, this is the only reason. And > [@Alessan](#): > > I suggest not indulging them. This is the only rational way to react. Some things aint worth getting your knickers in a twist. . > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Pandering to …fanatics. And ritually humiliating everyone who disagrees with them by requiring them to use the term whether they want to or not. This is true, too. Or, just for fun, we could look at it differently, and say that all those good, enlightened, Progressive liberals in Arkansas are just making a land acknowledgement statement. Now what could be wrong with that? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/6 "2025-05-01T12:19:22Z")
They don’t have much bigger and much more relevant things to worry about like, for example, the megalomaniac they’ve put in the White House? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/7 "2025-05-01T12:23:15Z")
Next step: the Palestinian Authority passes a bill to pronounce Arkansas “ar-KAN-ziss.” ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/8 "2025-05-01T12:27:11Z")
They have nothing better to do since Trump quickly gave them disaster funding after the devastating tornadoes and they’ve already rebuilt. BTW, there were more tornado warnings yesterday. Glad they can no longer say Gulf of Mexico or West Bank. Priorities! [https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5266144-arkansas-fema-trump-tornado-recovery/](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5266144-arkansas-fema-trump-tornado-recovery/) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/9 "2025-05-01T12:31:41Z")
@Jasmine 3 posts up while I was typing: Worry about? They’re lovin’ it! A large section within American Xian Fundamentalism (“AXF”) is the Millenialists. The folks who desperately hope Jeebus will return real soon, destroy the Earth, kill everyone and everything in Nature except them in the greatest act of mass murder since the biblical Great Flood _and_ the actual historical mass extinctions put together, then usher the chosen few directly to heaven, not having passed Go nor collected 200 useless dollars. IIRC one of the big prerequisites in the countdown to Jeebus’s arrival is the uniting of all the ancient lands of the Israelites under their control. Having AXF Arkansans start calling that area by the ancient name is like telling a 4yo “Santa will be here in just _three_ more days!!”. They are made giddy with anticipation. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/10 "2025-05-01T12:32:31Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Next step: the Palestinian Authority passes a bill to pronounce Arkansas “ar-KAN-ziss.” Hah, I’ve been pronouncing it like that for years! I also pronounce Kansas as “Kan-Saw”, just to keep everything in balance. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/11 "2025-05-01T12:50:36Z")
What podium? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/12 "2025-05-01T23:22:29Z")
It’s a lectern. As an Arkansan, I am proud are legislators are tackling the issues that really matter to the citizens of the Natural State. We may have 1 in 4 children living with food insecurity, our governor might be pushing for the construction of a prison in Franklin County nobody really wants, we may be ranked near the bottom of all states so far as education goes, we’re listed as one of the worst states to live in as far as quality of life goes, but at least we know to refer to the West Bank and Judea and Samaria. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/13 "2025-05-01T23:43:50Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I also pronounce Kansas as “Kan-Saw”, just to keep everything in balance. To foster a skewed sense of historical accuracy, perhaps we should refer to the great state of Akansea… “The state’s name has been spelled several ways throughout history. In Marquette and Joliet’s Journal of 1673, the Indian name is spelled AKANSEA.” cite: the wondrously named [Cole Jester, Arkansea Sec’y of State](https://www.sos.arkansas.gov/education/arkansas-history/how-did-arkansas-get-its-name#:~:text=The%20Algonkian%2Dspeaking%20Indians%20of,Indian%20name%20is%20spelled%20AKANSEA.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/14 "2025-05-01T23:47:16Z")
Great post. I’ll add, Sarah Sanders is a liar and possibly a criminal. I know she’s behind this. Here in Bright Red Arkansas, we just have to hunker down. And hope she melts like the Wicked witch. Good god. ( Huckleberry, her Dad, is very large in the Christians for Jews stuff on TV ads, when he’s not hawking some sleep aid) ---
**Author:** ![songsoflovetrouble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@songsoflovetrouble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/songsoflovetrouble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/15 "2025-05-01T23:54:51Z")
I can’t imagine where they got the idea to waste a bunch of time obsessing over symbolically renaming things instead of addressing substantive problems. And I can’t imagine that Arkansas voters who are brain health-impacted, Latinx, unhoused people, enslaved people, or assigned female at birth have any idea either. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/16 "2025-05-02T00:57:25Z")
Come on. There are not slaves in Arkansas. Maybe symbolic slaves. If that’s what you mean. Not in the classic sense of enslaved blacks. We have loads of Black and brown people here. They would fight that. And win. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/17 "2025-05-02T01:09:54Z")
> [@songsoflovetrouble](#): > > I can’t imagine where they got the idea to waste a bunch of time obsessing You can’t think why a bunch of RW Xian loony legislators whose constituents are mostly RW Xian loonies would not want to pander to those RW Xian loonies in any way possible? In a country where performative fanservice is the entire purpose of RW political office? If you still haven’t figured this out, it’s past time to move. Now if you really mean something more like “I am sad our AR legislators aren’t trying to run a government any more; just posture for votes, grift, and social media likes”, well, that sentiment is well-founded in fact and I can get behind it totally. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/18 "2025-05-02T01:49:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > A large section within American Xian Fundamentalism (“AXF”) is the Millenialists. The folks who desperately hope Jeebus will return real soon, destroy the Earth, kill everyone and everything in Nature except them in the greatest act of mass murder since the biblical Great Flood _and_ the actual historical mass extinctions put together, then usher the chosen few directly to heaven, not having passed Go nor collected 200 useless dollars. Well, it _would_ mean that I needn’t fuss myself about finding a present for my girlfriend’s birthday… ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/19 "2025-05-02T04:12:02Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It’s a lectern. As an Arkansan, I am proud are legislators are tackling the issues that really matter to the citizens of the Natural State. I am less proud I didn’t get the difference between are and our up there. In defense of Arkansas, I was mostly educated in Texas. > [@songsoflovetrouble](#): > > I can’t imagine where they got the idea to waste a bunch of time obsessing over symbolically renaming things instead of addressing substantive problems Because they can’t address the substantive problems, they focus on symbolic victories. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743/20 "2025-05-02T04:55:30Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > In defense of Arkansas, I was mostly educated in Texas. Pronounced “Texaw”. This frantic renaming from the right reminds me of the Soviet Union and Leningrad, Stalingrad, etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arkansas-passes-bill-to-call-west-bank-judea-and-samaria/1017743.md?page=2)