Actor Jon Voight: ‘It Does Not Make Sense to Call Judea and Samaria the West Bank’

WEST BANK (VINnews) — Jon Voight, well-known movie star and staunch supporter of Israel, says that Judea and Samaria should not be labeled the “West Bank”, since they are in the “heart of Israel.”

Mr. Voight, who is in Israel filming a movie, visited Har Gerizim in Samaria on Wednesday, where he met with Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, who gave him a bottle of wine. Mr. Voight welled up with emotion.

Mr. Dagan described a special significance of the gift, referencing a prophecy in Yermiyahu. “You will plant vineyards in the mountains of Samaria…two thousand years ago the prophet Jeremiah promised that one day the people of Israel would return to their land, return to Samaria and plant vineyards. Over the course of a thousand years…other peoples managed to grow vines in the north, south but not on the lands of Samaria, and when the Jewish people returned here…they began planting vineyards…When I give you wine from the Har Bracha settlement at the top of Har Gerizim, it’s not just a bottle of wine, you are actually holding a prophecy of Jeremiah that is being fulfilled right here.”

Studying a map of the region, Mr. Voight said it “shows Judea and Samaria, how prominent they are in Israel, how important they are. When you call that the West Bank, it doesn’t make any sense. It’s the heart of Israel,” Voight said.

Mr. Voight’s daughter, actress Angelina Jolie, has a daughter named Shiloh.

Binyamin Regional Council spokeswoman Eliana Passentin said, “I explained to [Jon] that Shiloh means tranquility and a resting place. It represents prayer and unity.”