![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Aerial-photo-Downtown-Tallahassee-Florida-State-Capitol-by-felixmizioznikov-via-iStock.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAerial photo of downtown Tallahassee, Florida and the State Capitol. By felixmizioznikov via iStock for WMNF.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAerial photo of downtown Tallahassee, Florida and the State Capitol. By felixmizioznikov via iStock for WMNF.<\/p>\n
by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix<\/a> Forget the \u201cWest Bank\u201d \u2014 the Florida House has voted overwhelmingly to replace the reference in all public and charter schools and state agencies with \u201cJudea and Samaria.\u201d The final vote was 92-14.<\/p>\n \u201cJudea and Samaria\u201d are the biblical names for the region in the Middle East and is how the Israeli government refers to the area. The international community, including the U.S. government, refers to the territory as the West Bank (of the Jordan River) and doesn\u2019t recognize Israeli sovereignty there. Approximately 3 million Palestinians and half a million Israeli settlers live in the West Bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n The bipartisan measure (HB 31<\/a>) is sponsored by Rep. Debra Tendrich, D-Lake Worth, and Rep. Chase Tramont, R-Port Orange.<\/p>\n Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said that in the context of international law and United Nations diplomacy, the West Bank \u201cis a term that the entire world uses, and it\u2019s so important for us to respect that dynamic in the context of peace negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Rep. Mike Gottlieb, D-Davie, argued that calling the area the West Bank is \u201cakin to banning the historical archeological and historical name of the region, Judea and Samaria. It\u2019s the same thing. It is a ban on Jewish heritage. Let\u2019s right a wrong. Let\u2019s restore the history and dignity of the people who are indigenous to the region by calling the area Judea and Samaria.\u201d<\/p>\n Rep. Tendrich insisted the bill didn\u2019t erase anyone\u2019s history. \u201cWhat it does do is it corrects political rebranding and counters historical erasure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Last summer, U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said while visiting Israel that he would work to stop the use of the term \u201cWest Bank\u201d at the federal level, instead promoting exclusive use of \u201cJudea and Samaria,\u201d according to the Jerusalem Post<\/a>. However, congressional legislation on that topic is not moving in Washington.<\/p>\n According to the House bill analysis, any fiscal impact would\u00a0depend on the extent to which future materials contain the term.<\/p>\n Similar bills have been filed in red-leaning states, including Alabama<\/a>.\u00a0 Tennessee<\/a>, and Oklahoma\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n A companion measure in the Senate (SB 1106<\/a>), sponsored by Ralph Massullo, R-Lecanto, has just one more committee stop before going to the floor.<\/p>\n Independent Journalism for All <\/p>\n As a nonprofit newsroom, our articles are free for everyone to access. Readers like you make that possible. Can you help sustain our watchdog reporting today?<\/p>\n SUPPORT <\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aerial photo of downtown Tallahassee, Florida and the State Capitol. By felixmizioznikov via iStock for WMNF. by Mitch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2217,28,30,100,29,269,985,14776],"class_list":{"0":"post-156281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-anna-eskamani","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-legislature","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-palestine","15":"tag-west-bank"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
February 11, 2026<\/p>\n