The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has launched a project to the tune of 3 million shekels ($838,000) to fight attempts to delegitimize Israel’s control of Judea and Samaria, the Jordan Valley and the Golan Heights.

Minister Amichai Chikli said the move would include funding activities of the Samaria Regional Council’s foreign relations arm and recognizing its programs as an “official public diplomacy tool of the State of Israel.”

All participating local authorities will host official delegations, as well as journalists and influencers, including from the U.S., Europe and Latin America, for tours of Jewish communities and meetings with residents.

They will also organize “advocacy missions” abroad and conferences, and produce social media content, with the aim of strengthening ties between all territories controlled by the Jewish state and global audiences, according to a tender proposal issued this week.

“Judea and Samaria are not only the historical heartland of our nation—they are the central front in the fight against delegitimization,” said Chikli, adding, “We are reinforcing this front, not retreating from it.”

Chikli’s said his office would “continue to lead the fight for the world’s perception, driven by our deep commitment to truth, justice and the unbreakable bond between the Jewish people and their land.”

The ministry said it “promotes a direct and unapologetic approach to public diplomacy, which is why it has chosen to invest in local authorities that are on the front lines of the fight against the delegitimization of Israel.

“We call on authorities in Judea and Samaria, the Jordan Valley and the Golan to submit their proposals and take part in this initiative aimed at strengthening Israel’s position on the international stage,” it added.

Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan in a press release expressed thanks to Chikli for his “trust, partnership, and above all, for leading this national mission—a global strategic campaign to fight antisemitism and elevate Israel’s standing on the international stage.”

“This is a strategic, game-changing move,” Dagan explained. “When we bring key global figures to Samaria, we change the discourse around all of Israel. Within just a few months, we’ve seen genuine shifts in how parliamentarians and opinion leaders view the communities.”

In a historic first for a serving U.S. diplomatic envoy, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee paid an official visit to the Ancient Shiloh site in the Binyamin region of southern Samaria on Wednesday for his first official gathering with a group of Judea and Samaria local leaders.

Huckabee traveled to the biblical site, which was the spiritual capital of the Jewish people for 369 years following Joshua’s conquest of the Land of Israel, at the invitation of the Yesha Council, the umbrella group of Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley.

“I have never used any term other than Judea and Samaria,” the envoy said in remarks shared by the Yesha Council. “It would be a historical injustice and a denial of the Bible to use other terms,” he added.

“You have sacrificed greatly to live in these places. You have paid in blood, sweat and tears. This place is a miracle. Only the existence of God can explain your presence here. I believe in the Bible, and I have no faith without you. I owe you a spiritual debt,” he told local Jewish pioneers.

On Tuesday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog described Judea and Samaria as the Jewish state’s “defensive wall in every sense of the word.

“During my many visits across the country—and certainly in Judea and Samaria—and especially when I fly over the land by helicopter, I become increasingly convinced of how vital, impressive and thriving the settlement enterprise is,” the head of state explained in a pre-recorded statement to the Makor Rishon Settlement Conference.

He called Judea and Samaria “truly Israel’s protective shield,” adding that his visits to the area reinforce this perspective “each time anew.”

Image - JNS/Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan (left) and Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, sign a cooperation agreement, May 2025. Photo by Roi Hadi.