[News] Extremist Israeli settler leaders invited as 'special guests' to Trump inauguration

[Anti-Imperialist News]

 Extremist Israeli settler leaders invited as 'special guests' to
Trump inauguration

Jewish settlers believe incoming President Trump will help them illegally
annex the occupied West Bank

News Desk <https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9>

JAN 13, 2025 -
https://thecradle.co/articles/extremist-israeli-settler-leaders-invited-as-special-guests-to-trump-inauguration
(Photo credit: Samaria Regional Council)

A delegation of extremist Israeli Jewish settler leaders has been invited
to participate in US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next
Monday in Washington, *Israel Hayom* reported
<https://www.jns.org/settler-leaders-to-attend-trumps-inauguration/> on 13
January.

The delegation comprises Yesha Council chairman and Benjamin Regional
Council Head Israel Ganz, Oranit Council Head Or Piron-Zomer, Yesha Council
CEO Omer Rahamim, and Samaria Regional Council Head Yossi Dagan.

The group will attend the inauguration as official guests and will hold
meetings with incoming administration officials and leaders from the US
Jewish and evangelical Christian communities. A similar delegation attended
Trump’s 2017 inauguration.

“Our objective is to strengthen existing connections and forge new ones.
Washington’s attention is elsewhere at present. Trump is focused on
Greenland sovereignty matters, not Israel’s concerns in Judea and Samaria.
Timing is crucial. We must proceed strategically and appropriately,” a
council official told the Hebrew newspaper.

The Yesha Council and other regional authorities that oversee illegal
settlement activity in the occupied West Bank – which they call Judea and
Samaria – “have devoted considerable resources to cultivating relationships
with Republican Party leadership in recent years,” *Israel Hayom* added.

Ganz and Dagan have worked closely with senior Republican officials,
including organizing tours of the occupied West Bank for party officials.

The Israeli settler movement enjoys strong influence in the US Republican
Party and with President-elect Trump. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and his settler supporters often compare
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/who-is-king-cyrus-and-why-is-netanyahu-comparing-him-to-trump/>
Trump to the Biblical Persian King Cyrus, who helped the Jews return from
Babylon to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

During his first presidential term, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty
over the occupied Syria Golan Heights. Israel has been illegally occupying
the Golan since 1967 and occupied additional land there immediately after
the fall of the Syrian government last month.

Jewish settler leaders anticipate
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/will-israel-annex-west-bank-after-trump-takes-office/>
that Trump will help them achieve their goal of annexing the West Bank,
which Israel also occupied illegally in 1967, and forcibly expelling its
indigenous Palestinian population.

The expectation extends in part from a $100 million donation
<https://www.timesofisrael.com/miriam-adelson-gives-100-million-to-trump-campaign-making-good-on-reported-pledge/>
to his campaign from US-Israeli billionaire Mariam Adelson.

Dagan, who is close with Trump and a member of Netanyahu’s Likud Party,
told *Israel Hayom*, “Years of relationship-building with our newly elected
American friends have created this pivotal opportunity for Israel,
particularly its government, to achieve significant advances in
strengthening our presence in the Land of Israel.”
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