TEHRAN - Mike Johnson, the Republican U.S. House speaker, visited an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank on Monday. His visit came just weeks after the Israeli Knesset passed a resolution supporting the annexation of the West Bank and amid an escalation of violence against the Palestinians by Israeli forces and settlers.

Johnson’s visit to the Ariel settlement near Ramallah was reportedly part of a private trip to Israel organized by the pro-Israel advocacy group, the U.S. Israel Education Association, according to Axios.

The visit makes him the most senior U.S. politician to visit an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. 

Settlements are illegal under international law. However, Johnson, a senior lawmaker, is openly and shamelessly violating international law.

In preparation to endorse the annexation, Johnson used a fake name for the West Bank. He used a so-called biblical name “Judea and Samaria” for the Palestinian territory. According to the Jerusalem Post, Johonson even said he would work to promote the use of the term "Judea and Samaria" at the federal level.

His visit to the occupied West Bank and use of bogus name for the West Bank emboldens Israeli regime in its annexing the remaining Palestinian lands. The trip is also an invitation for more land grabs and harsher violence against Palestinians by settlers and Israeli forces.

According to a UN report published in December 2024The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem and the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs documented more than 1,200 incidents of violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in 2024 alone, an average of three attacks per day. Now both the settlers, occupation forces and the Israeli regime feel more emboldened to wipe out Palestinians from the constantly shrinking lands.

Johnson’s visit to the occupied West Bank also carries an important message as Israel is completing its project of depopulating the Gaza Strip through indescribable crimes, including starvation and other forms of collective punishment.

While people in the world are angry with Israel’s barbaric behavior in the West Bank and even Israel’s allies in the West are under pressure at home to recognize the Palestinian State, the Johnso visit to the occupied territories and his provocative remarks raise eyebrows.

The world is wondering what message does Johnson’s visit to the occupied West Bank convey, given that for over twenty-five years U.S. policy, supported by both Republican and Democratic administrations, has purportedly advocated resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a two-state solution?

This shows nothing except U.S. duplicity and hypocrisy toward the agonies of the Palestinians.

Johnson’s trip won the praise of Israel’s military chief Israel Katz, who is a war criminal like his predecessor Yoav Gallant. It was mostly during his leadership of the military that Israel started mass starvation in Gaza.

According to Middle East Eye, in a post on X, Katz said Johnson’s trip is evidence of “unwavering support and moral clarity in standing with Israel against its enemies.”

Regrettably, it is indisputable that Washington’s support for Israel is unwavering but that this support is “moral” is an insult to people's intelligence in the world.

Johnson’s visit may be a prelude to gradually turn the West Bank into another Gaza in a different way.

Middle East Eye says some of the methods currently employed by the Israeli military in Gaza appear to be gradually making their way to the occupied West Bank, albeit on a smaller scale.

In recent months, large sections of the Tulkarm and Jenin refugee camps, along with other areas, have been bulldozed, and hundreds of homes have been demolished.

The images emerging from these sites increasingly resemble those coming out of Gaza, according to MEE.