Stevens was formerly press secretary to Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who strongly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.
In recent days, the US Department of Agriculture and a city administration in Arkansas have also removed references to the state of Palestine from their websites after queries from JNS.
In May 2024, Xavier Becerra, then US secretary of health and human services, referred to “Israel and Palestine” during a speech at the 77th World Health Assembly. A spokesperson for the department told JNS at the time that Becerra had misspoken and did not intend to reflect a change in American policy.
Under the second Trump administration, the State Department has repeatedly been asked to clarify its position on a two-state solution.
While it publicly opposed a recent French and Saudi-led UN conference on the topic, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce has said on multiple occasions that the administration’s focus in the region is on ending the Israel-Hamas war, returning the hostages held in Gaza and seeing that Hamas is removed from power, declining to outline the administration’s own policy on a Palestinian state.
