TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he wants to have a new community on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights named after U.S. President Donald Trump.
Israelis “were deeply moved” by Trump’s decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Netanyahu said in a video statement while visiting the area with his family during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
“Therefore, after the Passover holiday, I intend to bring to the government a resolution calling for a new community on the Golan Heights named after President Donald J. Trump,” he said.
Netanyahu is currently talking to potential coalition partners in order to form Israel’s next government, after he won the Israeli general election earlier this month.
The Arab world has rejected Trump’s March decision to recognize Israel’s claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the territory in 1981, though this move has not been recognized internationally.
The move followed last year’s relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which sparked anger in the Muslim world.
In part, Trump and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence have framed the recognition of the Golan as a security issue, to help Israel counter both Iran and Syria.
During the Syrian civil war, Israel repeatedly launched airstrikes against Iranian targets in Syria. Syria and Israel have never signed a peace deal, and Israel and Iran remain staunch regional rivals.
There are still some 20,000 Druze in the Golan, ethnic Arabs who adhere to a minority faith that is an offshoot of Islam and remain loyal to Syria. There are an estimated 25,000 Israeli settlers living on the territory as well.
