Washington changes policy, stops funding research in West Bank settlements.

The Biden Administration Reverses Funding Policy in Israeli West Bank

The Biden administration has made a significant policy shift by reversing the U.S. funding of research in Israeli neighborhoods in the West Bank. This decision has sparked controversy and drawn criticism from Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen.

“I object to the decision and think it is wrong,” he said during a press conference. “In similar cases in the past, the Israeli government fully reimbursed parties damaged by such decisions.”

The Trump administration had previously lifted the U.S. ban on funding research in Israeli areas of the West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria.

“The Trump vision … opens Judea and Samaria to academic, commercial and scientific engagement with the United States,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time.

A State Department spokesperson informed Axios that engaging in bilateral scientific and technological cooperation with Israel in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights is now considered inconsistent with U.S. foreign policy.

Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights in 1967.

Despite this policy change, the United States still emphasizes the importance of scientific and technological cooperation.

However, Senator Ted Cruz strongly criticized the reversal, accusing the Biden administration of a double standard.

“Joe Biden and Biden administration officials are pathologically obsessed with undermining Israel. Since day one of their administration, they have launched campaigns against our Israeli allies that are granular, whole of government, and done in secret,” he said in a June 25 statement.

“This new boycott of Israeli Jews is yet another example. The State Department is telling the entire U.S. government not to cooperate with Jews in Judea and Samaria,” continued Cruz. “And of course, it was sent to Congress in secret and only revealed because reporters found out.

“The Biden administration defends funding scientific research in Wuhan with the Chinese Communist Party, but they’re discriminating against and banning cooperation with Jews based on where they live.”

David Friedman, former President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel, condemned the Biden administration’s move, likening it to participating in the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.