An Open Letter to Vice President Vance
#1307 February 1,, 2026
From: Jerome R. Verlin, Elkins Park PA
Hon. J. D. Vance, Vice-President of the United States
The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington DC 20500
February 1, 2026
Dear Mr. Vice-President:
I’m a MAGA Republican. I voted for Trump three times and for you so far once.
I’m also a Jew. Recent reports of Netanyahu rejecting a Palestinian Arab state inside the land of Israel, Palestine west of the Jordan, reference your October 2025 Israel visit. Fox News on 10/23/25 quoted you: “The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. That will continue to be our policy.”
I object to your using pejoratives “West Bank” and “annex.” Jordan coined “West Bank” in 1950 to disassociate what was Jewish from Jews. It’s an antonym. The biblical names “Judea and Samaria” remained in use for 3,000 years, including by the UN in 1947: “The boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea starts on the Jordan River ….” And applying Israel’s sovereignty is not “annexation,” defined as taking over another state’s lands. As House Speaker Johnson recognized: “Judea and Samaria belong to Israel,” as did the UN-endorsed Palestine Mandate.
But deeper than pejoratives is the struggle itself. Israel, the one-quarter of Mandated Palestine west of the Jordan, with historic Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria as its very core, is historically, legally, equitably, indispensably my Jewish people’s national home. Ripping from it historic Jerusalem and Judea-Samaria heartland would render it a nine-miles-wide in the lowland middle indefensible Jewishly meaningless Jewish national ghetto. Believe that this is an existential issue to us.
There is a realistic equitable alternative, Trump’s first-term peace plan as modified by Amb. Friedman in his “One Jewish State.” This would give Palestinian Arabs internal autonomy in parts of Judea-Samaria, in addition to their huge majority in three-quarters of Mandated Palestine, judenrein Jordan. I ask you and President Trump and your administration to support this.
Respectfully,
Jerome R. Verlin
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A New Weekly Blog on Our Website
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Then “Israel Good News: Restore the Pride, by Bob Altman”
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Click “2026 Pentagon National Defense Strategies Calls Israel “Model Ally”
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Welcome to the first installment of our new weekly addition: GOOD NEWS ISRAEL: RESTORE THE PRIDE.
Our goal is simple, but profound: To celebrate the innovation, resilience and diversity that truly defines Israel. We are turning the spotlight on the incredible stories, breakthrough technologies and inspiring people that rarely make the headlines.
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And here’s the Good News this week:
The Pentagon this week issued its 2026 National Defense Strategy, placing Israel at the center of U.S. strategic thinking in the Middle East, describing it as a “model ally,” and underscoring its strength as a key pillar of regional stability. This rarely makes headlines, but I hope it puts a smile on your face.
Jerusalem Post: “The strategy defined Israel as a ‘model ally,’ a country that does not ask the United States to fight on its behalf, but demonstrates both the willingness and the ability to defend itself independently, and is therefore deserving of unequivocal support.”
And here’s the first comment on it:
Visit our “Good News Israel: Restore the Pride” and leave a comment each week.
Comments on letter to VP received as reply to my email (oops, I forgot to include the website links)
Frank: “Great letter, Jerry”
Howard: “… nails it! His description and vital importance of Judea and Samaria should be understood by all of us. And the term ‘West Bank’ should never be used. Please read this week’s item, a letter to VP Vance.”
Bob S: “Sound letter but doubtful if any effect, at least not made public. A good reminder none the less.”
Stu: “Good letter, good column.”
Myron: “Jerry, Shavua Tov. I am sending this to our 1800 on Bcc, this is super important. Vice President Vance comes across as anything but a friend of Israel.
Your letter to him needs to be read by Jew and non Jew alike and needs to be distributed by my 1800 to their friends with instructions to keep this letter circulating from one end of America to the other,”
Jerry D: “KUDOS TO YOU. YOUR OPEN LETTER TO VP VANCE WAS NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT. YOU BACKED UP YOUR CONCLUSIONS VERY CONVINCINGLY WELL DONE.”
Danny P: “Great letter. Thank you.”
Dov: “Great letter.”
Bob A: “Liked your letter to the VP, right on the money.”
Cathy: “Thank you, what I would like to say, but you say it so well.”
Rainer: “You forgot to put in links to your #1307 and ‘Good News Israel: Restore the Pride.”
Me: “Oops!”
Me: I’ll send it again with the links. Those of you who forward, please do. Thanks, Jerry (Paltry forgetting links excuse: When I was a little kid I used to say, ‘I’m five, going on six.’ This week I say, ‘I’m 85, going on 86.’)