Tramont, a Port Orange Republican and former high school history teacher<\/a> who now works as a pastor, said the bill is about teaching facts, not \u201cpolitically charged propaganda.\u201d He noted Florida has the third-largest Jewish population in the country, and accurately teaching students about history is important.<\/p>\n \u201cThe last thing you want to do is insult your constituency, and you want your trading partners to respect you,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to respect you if you dishonor their history.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by Fort Lauderdale Democratic Rep. Daryl Campbell, who voted \u201cno,\u201d why Florida should impose nomenclatural changes that don\u2019t comport with federal terminology, Tramont said there\u2019s an effort to make the same change federally, but Florida shouldn\u2019t have to wait.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of terminologies are used across the world. They used to refer to the Gulf of America as the Gulf of Mexico, of all things,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cWe\u2019ve corrected that.\u201d<\/p>\n Tramont went on to say that referring to the region as Judea and Samaria adheres to historical fact, while calling it Palestine does not.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can choose one or the other, here,\u201d he said. \u201cJudea and Samaria are names that are 3,000 years old. West Bank was just given in 1950 after it was occupied by Jordan for a while. And why was it given (that name)? Simply to erase Jewish history.\u201d<\/p>\n The debate over what to call the land and who has claim to it has persisted for decades<\/a>. But it exploded across the world after Hamas terrorists murdered more than 1,200 and kidnapped hundreds of Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, leading to a conflict that has since resulted in more than 70,000 reported deaths<\/a> in Gaza, which sits on the opposite side of Israel from the West Bank.<\/p>\n Rabbi Schneur Oirechman, one of two public speakers who supported HB 31, said the bill doesn\u2019t attempt to resolve border disputes, dictate foreign policy or preempt negotiations between two cultures that both have claim to the land.<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose is modest and far more appropriate for this body, to ensure that the state of Florida uses historically accurate and honest terminology in its official government material,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen government adopts language rooted in recent political constructs rather than millennia of history, clarity is lost.\u201d<\/p>\n Roughly four times as many public speakers, some of whom identified themselves as Jewish, vehemently opposed the proposal.<\/p>\n Eric Rubin, who said his Jewish uncle grew up in the area and witnessed Jews, Muslims and Christians coexisting in harmony, argued HB 31 is less about honoring history than \u201cdefining and disappearing\u201d the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n Vance Aarons described the death toll in Gaza as \u201cone of the largest genocides that we have seen in recent history.\u201d Since the conflict began, approximately 3% of the Gaza population has died due to the war, based on numbers provided by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn\u2019t differentiate between combatants and civilians.<\/p>\n John Palm, a reverend, asked why Florida is so concerned about changing the name of \u201csomeone else\u2019s country\u201d and asserted that Palestinians have lived in the Levant, which includes Israel and several other Middle Eastern countries, for 14,000 years. He also inaccurately asserted<\/a> that DNA testing is illegal in Israel.<\/p>\n HB 31, which Lake Worth Beach Democratic Rep. Debra Tendrich is also co-sponsoring, will next go to the House State Affairs Committee, its last stop before reaching a floor vote.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/728x90.jpg\")
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