| Notes |
In March 2017, Miller, a conservative Christian who believes God gave Jews the land of Israel, made a trade trip to Israel to explore export opportunities for Texas agriculture companies and to meet with Israeli companies looking to invest in Texas.
By the end of Miller’s trip, the agriculture commissioner had signed a one-of-a-kind trade agreement with the Shomron Regional Council, which provides municipal services to 35 Jewish-only settlements in the northern occupied West Bank. Settlements in what Israelis call the Shomron region are part of the ever-growing infrastructure for Israeli settlers whose presence has sliced through the Palestinian West Bank, cutting off towns from one another and killing the dream of an independent Palestinian state.
“I wanted them to know that the Department of Agriculture and Sid Miller stand in solidarity with them, recognizing Israel as a country, as a sovereign nation, a sovereign people, and push back on the BDS movement, which is absolutely terrible,” Miller told The Intercept, referring to boycott, divestment, and sanctions, or the social movement trying to enact an economic price on Israel over its human rights abuses against Palestinians. “What we did over there is now being mirrored by Trump and his peace plan for that part of the region. So we were kind of the leading edge of it.”
Now, Miller, who says he remains in contact with Trump, says he thinks the White House will follow his lead and recognize Israeli settlements, which would mark a sharp break from decades of U.S. policy that held that settlements are an obstacle to Palestinian statehood. |