WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump on Thursday announced his recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which were captured in the June 1967 War from Syria.
Trump said: “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!”
In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was apprised of the news during a visit to the Israeli capital of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Netanyahu exulted, “President Trump has just made history. I called him. I thanked him on behalf of the people of Israel. He did it again. First he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved the U.S. embassy here. Then he pulled out of the disastrous Iran treaty and re-imposed sanctions. But now he did something of equal historic importance. He recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and he did so at a time when Iran is trying to use Syria as a platform to attack and destroy Israel. And the message that President Trump has given the world is that America stands by Israel.
“We are celebrating Purim when, 2,500 years ago, other Persians, led by Haman, tried to destroy the Jewish people. They failed then. And today, 2,500 years later, again Persians, led by Khamenei, are trying to destroy the Jewish people and the Jewish state. They are going to fail again. We are deeply grateful for the U.S. support. We are deeply grateful for the unbelievable and unmatchable support for our security and our right to defend ourselves and everything that you do on behalf of Israel and for the state of Israel in so many forms. So it is a distinct pleasure to welcome you [Pompeo] and Susan to our home at any time, but especially today.”
Pro reaction
The Republican Jewish Coalition promptly lauded the announcement. “The RJC applauds President Trump on this decision, one in a long series of decisions that prove he is the most pro-Israel President ever,” Matt Brooks, the organization’s executive director said. “This move serves to ensure Israel’s security, especially at a time when Iran is openly operating in Syria, right on Israel’s doorstep. That is why the RJC has worked tirelessly to advocate for US recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
“Israel is one of our greatest allies, and its security is paramount to President Trump,” Brooks added. “Bold policy decisions like this are made possible by the incredible bond between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Without that bond, pro-security measures like this might not be possible. Thank you, President Trump!”
The American Jewish Congress applauded the decision of the United States to finally recognize the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory. “This is a necessary and long-overdue action, and we fully support President Trump in this important step,” said its president Jack Rosen.
“For all intents and purposes, this territory has been part of Israel since 1967,” he continued. “During the Six-Day War, Israel took control of the Golan Heights from Syria as a necessary self-defense measure to ensure the country’s survival. In the 52 years between then and now, the Golan has functioned as a fully-integrated part of Israel. And it is not only Israel that treats the Golan as Israeli, but also Syria, Iran, Hezbollah, and every other geopolitical actor in the region. When Iranian forces in Syria flew a drone into the Golan last year, they were fully aware that this was Israel. Syrians wounded due to the Syrian Civil War flee to the Syrian border with the Golan Heights to receive lifesaving medical care from the IDF.
“The security needs which mandated that Israel take the Golan Heights in 1967 are no less pertinent today,” Rosen added. “Syria used the Golan’s strategic geography in two separate offensive wars against Israel in the past. Today, Iran and Hezbollah, both of which have vowed Israel’s destruction, use Syrian territory as a front for violence against the State of Israel. Israel has never waged an offensive war and its actions in the Golan Heights have represented pure self-defense. By recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the U.S. is helping to secure the ability of its closest regional ally to defend itself. We hope that other members of the international community will follow President Trump’s example.”
Con reaction
Americans for Peace Now condemned Trump’s action, saying it resolutely opposes a change in US policy – consistent across consecutive administrations, Republican and Democratic – that would recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.
“Such a revolutionary policy shift would hurt prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and harm Israel’s chances for peace with Arab states,” the organization said. “This step, as a result, would negatively impact Israel’s national security. It would also severely harm America’s moral standing and national security interests.
“The extension of Israeli law to the Golan Heights in 1981, effectively annexing the territory, is considered by an overwhelming majority of international legal experts to be a violation of international law. US recognition of that would threaten the prospects for an eventual Israeli-Syrian peace settlement – and by extension the prospects of a peace accord between Israel and other Arab states – once Syria becomes a governable, stable nation that can credibly negotiate peace with Israel. To be clear, we are not advocating Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights under the current circumstances. Syria is in shambles, swarming with belligerent extremist groups, and Iran has gained a foothold there in the course of Syria’s horrific civil war. There is no credible Syrian regime with whom Israel could conduct peace negotiations. Under the current circumstances, returning this territory to Syria could put Israeli security in jeopardy. The fact is that for these very reasons there is no pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights now.
“Israel’s current hold on the Golan Heights is solid and US recognition of the annexation of the Golan Heights will not enhance Israeli security, despite President Trump’s claim it is of ‘critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!’ Such a policy change would serve as wind in the sails of those in Israel who want to annex the West Bank or parts of it. West Bank annexation is a top priority of Israeli right-wing politicians, and they view an American recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights as a precursor to a US endorsement of Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
“MK Yuli Edelstein, Knesset chairman and second on Likud’s election slate, said that explicitly last week, following the publication of the State Department’s annual human rights report, which for the first time referred to the Golan Heights as ‘Israeli-controlled,’ rather than ‘Israeli-occupied.’ The US should not in any way help pave the way for annexing the West Bank. Annexation of the West Bank – whether all or part of it – could very well mean the death knell to the two-state solution and therefore to Israel’s future as a national homeland for the Jewish people and a liberal democracy.
“In 1981, the US government under President Reagan joined the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous adoption of UNSC Resolution 497, which proclaimed that the “Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect” and called on Israel to rescind its decision. Acceptance of annexation in the case of the Golan Heights, contra international law and longstanding US policy, would enflame anti-US sentiments in the Middle East and beyond, while further eroding US moral authority around the world. There is simply no affirmative reason to make this policy change. If the Trump administration does it now, on the eve of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, before the Israeli elections, the only reason can be Trump’s desire to boost his personal friend and ally’s electoral fortunes. That’s wrong, and it’s no basis on which to conduct US foreign policy.
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Preceding culled from news sources.
I visited the Golan area right before the Six Day War. I stayed at a moshav right beneath the cliffs where Syrian snipers regularly took aim at the farmers in the fields below. I visited the Golan heights again a few years ago and Israeli farmers no longer cower beneath Syrian guns, now they control the high ground.
We saw a pomegranate orchard with the fruit hanging heavy on the bushes. Then our guide took us to a Druze village where the residents expressed how glad they were to now be under Israeli rule, as under the Syrians they were oppressed.
Israel is never giving the Golan Heights to ISIS or Hezbollah or Iran or that butcher in Damascus regardless of what the US does.