State of Judea

The State of Judea or Free State of Judea (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יְהוּדָה, Medīnat Yəhuda) is a proposed halachic state in the West Bank. The idea was put forward by Israeli Jewish settlers.[1] After the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) declared the existence of a Palestinian state in 1988, some Israeli settler activists (notably Kahanist) feared international pressure would cause Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and sought to lay the groundwork for an Orthodox Jewish state in the West Bank and Gaza if this came to pass.[2] The declaration of independence of this state was announced in a Jerusalem-based hotel on December 27th, 1988. Notorious Kahanist, Michael Ben-Horin was declared the President of the Free State of Judea[3][4][5]. In January 1989, several hundred activists met together and announced their intention to create the infrastructure of such a state following the declaration of a Palestinian state.[6][7][8]

The idea was revived in the wake of the unilateral disengagement plan which resulted in the forcible eviction of most Jewish settlers from the Gaza strip by the IDF in 2005.[9] In 2007, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe suggested the establishment of a new Jewish state in the West Bank if Israel withdrew.[10][11]

Flag

The flag of the free state of Judea is nearly the same as the flag of the state of Israel. Like the flag of Israel, it has a blue symbol on a white background, between two horizontal blue stripes, but unlike the flag of Israel the symbol is a Temple menorah instead of a Star of David. Another version has a Star of David of a different sort than appears on the flag of Israel, together with some other symbols.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ Rafel, Rosanna (22 July 2014). "The Death of the One-State Solution in Israel". Asfar. Retrieved 18 September 2025. A further solution, which has a strong following from the religious-Zionist camp, is the State of Judea. ... ... Walsh stated that Israel has the right to annex the West Bank if the Palestinians declare a State, which they arguably have done previously in 1988 and with the successful bid at the United Nations at the close of 2012. This would either lead to a one-state solution, or open up the avenue for a religious-Zionist controlled State of Judea in the West Bank.
  2. ↑ Rafel, Rosanna (22 July 2014). "The Death of the One-State Solution in Israel". Asfar. Retrieved 18 September 2025. A further solution, which has a strong following from the religious-Zionist camp, is the State of Judea. This concept is heavily supported by the decedents of the Kahane movement, a radical West Bank movement that has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States. ... ... This would either lead to a one-state solution, or open up the avenue for a religious-Zionist controlled State of Judea in the West Bank. ...
  3. ↑ Pedahzur, Ami (2009). Jewish terrorism in Israel. Internet Archive. New York : Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-15446-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)
  4. ↑ "Never Again, Indeed (Extract) | The Jerusalem Post". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 1 September 2008. Retrieved 19 September 2025. Pedazhur also recalls Michael Ben-Horin, a Kach movement activist, who in the 1980s, at the time of the peace agreement with Egypt and the Israeli withdrawal from Sinai, founded what he called the State of Judea. Later, he was one of the editors of Baruch Hagever (lit. "Blessed [is] the Man" or "Baruch [Goldstein] is the man"), which eulogized Baruch Goldstein, the Tomb of the Patriarchs murderer, and a key participant in the Yitzhak Rabin pulsa denura (curse of death) ceremony before Yigal Amir shot the prime minister...
  5. ↑ "Levinger Brought in for Questioning in Israel's Crack-down on Extremists". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 20 September 2025. A blackout has meanwhile been imposed on proceedings against Michael Ben-Horin of the Golan village of Nob, who is also in custody. Ben-Horin is the self-styled president of the State of Judea, which was founded in the late 1980s by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane to claim control over the West Bank in the wake of any Israeli withdrawal.
  6. ↑ Ron, James (19 May 2003). Frontiers and Ghettos: State Violence in Serbia and Israel. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-93690-4.
  7. ↑ Kass, Ilana; O'Neill, Bard E. (1997). The Deadly Embrace: The Impact of Israeli and Palestinian Rejectionism on the Peace Process. Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. ISBN 978-0-7618-0535-9.
  8. ↑ "Ellensburg Daily Record - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 18 September 2025. A group of right-wing Israeli settlers, vowing to not ever allow a PLO state within the splitting range of Israel's borders. ... Israel has been under increasing International Pressure to resolve the Palestinian issue because of the diplomatic moves by the Palestinian Liberation Organization's chief Yassir Arafat. Since the Palestinian parliament-in-exile declared the independent state in November, dozens of countries have recognized it and the USA opened dialogue with the [[Palestinian Liberation Organization|]].
  9. ↑ Weiss, Efrat (7 June 2004). "הימין הקיצוני: נתנתק מישראל ונקים את "מדינת יהודה"" [We will secede from Israel and establish a State of Judea.]. ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  10. ↑ "Rightist initiative: Picking flag and anthem for settler state". Ynetnews. 6 December 2007. Retrieved 18 September 2025.
  11. ↑ Rafel, Rosanna (22 July 2014). "The Death of the One-State Solution in Israel". Asfar. Retrieved 20 September 2025. A further solution, which has a strong following from the religious-Zionist camp, is the Free State of Judea. This concept is heavily supported by the decedents of the Kahan movement; a radical West Bank movement that has been designated as a terrorist group by the United States. This proposal is for a halachic, Jewish law, state in the West Bank and heavily supported by Jewish settlers. Further figures who support this move are the prominent author and political actor, Chabad Rabbi, Shalom Dov Wolpol, and the Republican congressman Joe Walsh. Walsh stated that Israel has the right to annex the West Bank if the Palestinians declare a state, which they arguably have done previously in 1988 and with the successful bid at the United Nations at the close of 2012. This would either lead to a one-state solution, or open up the avenue for a religious-Zionist controlled State of Judea in the West Bank. This will automatically counter any nationalistic independence claims from Palestinians in the West Bank ...
  12. ↑ ""State of Judea" Movement (Israel)". www.crwflags.com. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Other political flags (Israel)". www.crwflags.com. Retrieved 19 September 2025.

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