Judea and Samaria Governors Yisrael Ganz and Yossi Dagan, along with Christian Zionist leaders Mike Evans, Michelle Bachmann and Albert Veksler at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast, May 28, 2026 (YouTube screenshot).
The October 7th massacre and the war that followed ripped away every comfortable illusion. It exposed, with brutal clarity, the vile hatred of Israel’s enemies and the sincere, selfless loyalty of Israel’s truest friends.
As the smoke clears and Israel repositions itself for the future it is building, militarily, diplomatically, and spiritually, the Jewish state must ask itself a question that is long overdue: what can we do to formally recognize the millions of Christian brothers and sisters who have demonstrated tremendous sacrifice, solidarity, and love on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people?
At the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast last week at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, two of Israel’s most visionary regional leaders provided a historic answer. Governor Yisrael Ganz of Judea and Governor Yossi Dagan of Samaria jointly announced the establishment of an honorary citizenship program for Christian Zionists in Judea and Samaria. It was a moment that deserves far more attention than it has received.
Their announcement marks the first step toward a fundamental shift in Israeli policy: a formal, institutional recognition of those who, for seventy-eight years since the founding of the modern state, have stood with Israel even when it was costly and even when it meant standing against the tide of global opinion. For the first time in the history of the modern Jewish state, Christian friends have the opportunity to link not only their faith but their fate to Israel. And if we dare to imagine boldly, we can begin to envision an Israel with not ten million citizens, but hundreds of millions of honorary citizens across the globe.
To apply for Judea and Samaria Honorary Citizenship, click here.
This vision is not without precedent. Israel has a meaningful and moving legal tradition of bestowing this title upon the righteous among the nations.
The foundation was laid in 1953, when the Knesset passed the Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Law, establishing Yad Vashem as Israel’s Holocaust memorial authority. Embedded within that law is a remarkable provision: Yad Vashem is authorized “to confer honorary citizenship of the State of Israel upon the Righteous Among the Nations, and commemorative citizenship if they have passed away, in recognition of their actions.”
On January 17, 1986, the anniversary of the day he vanished into Soviet captivity, Israel granted honorary citizenship to Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from Nazi extermination. Wallenberg had issued protective passports, established safe houses, and risked everything when nearly every other nation looked away.
“Thousands of Israelis and their descendants owe their lives to his daring and nobility of spirit,” said President Chaim Herzog as he presented Wallenberg’s citizenship certificate.
In the years of the Holocaust, the Righteous Among the Nations were heartbreakingly few. Against an ocean of indifference, collaboration, and active persecution, a small number of extraordinary individuals chose conscience over conformity. Their bravery was singular precisely because it was so rare.
Today, the world looks very different.
As Israel and the Jewish people face a new wave of hatred, from genocidal terrorist organizations to international institutions and media that rush to condemn Israel while ignoring the atrocities committed against her, there are not dozens but millions of righteous gentiles standing with us. They march, they donate, they pray, they speak when their own friends and family turn against them. They fly Israeli flags from their homes in Texas and Indiana and South Korea and Brazil.
The honorary citizenship program announced for Judea and Samaria is Israel’s answer to this new reality. Where Yad Vashem’s mandate was shaped by the trauma of the past, honoring those rare few who helped when almost no one would, the Judea and Samaria initiative is shaped by the promise of the future: to formally embrace the millions around the world who stand with Israel today and to encourage even more to join them.
US Ambassador Mike Huckabee was the first to receive honorary citizenship to Judea and Samaria in 2025, as a symbol of unity, friendship, and appreciation. His recognition was just the beginning.
The Jewish people have always known that our story is not ours alone. We were called to be a “Light to the Nations,” with distinct roles for Jews and non-Jews alike, standing shoulder to shoulder against the forces of evil and on behalf of the biblical values we all cherish. Israel is rapidly becoming not only a military and economic force but, most significantly, a moral, ethical, and spiritual power. The nations that rushed to condemn Israel after October 7th revealed the bankruptcy of their own moral framework. Israel, by contrast, has shown the world what it looks like to fight for survival with a conscience.
Honorary citizenship is an expression of that moral vision, and it is an invitation for both Israel and today’s righteous among the nations.
While the Jewish people are few in number, the community of those who love Israel, who pray for her, who stand with the Jewish people without hesitation, is innumerable. In Wallenberg’s day, the righteous could be named one by one. Today, they fill stadiums, churches, and living rooms on every continent. They deserve more than our gratitude; they deserve to be formally recognized as part of our story.
The Governors of Judea and Samaria have opened the door. It is time for the rest of Israel to walk through it, and to welcome the hundreds of millions of potential honorary citizens who are waiting on the other side.
To apply for Judea and Samaria Honorary Citizenship, click here.
