Blinken refrains from endorsing Trump decision to deem Golan Heights part of ‘Israel’
Netanyahu replied saying that "Israel will keep the Golan Heights forever"
Washington (QNN)- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken refrained from endorsing the Trump administration’s decision to deem the occupied Golan Heights as part of the occupation state of Israel.
Blinken, however, claimed that the territory was “important for Israel’s security”.
“As a practical matter, the control of the Golan in that situation I think remains of real importance to Israel’s security,” Blinken told CNN. “Legal questions are something else and over time if the situation were to change in Syria, that’s something we look at, but we are nowhere near that.”
Biden’s advisers had said previously that he would not withdraw US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan.
On the other side, the Israeli Prime Minister replied to Blinken’s statement on Tuesday saying that “Israel will keep the Golan Heights forever”.
Briefing reporters, Netanyahu said in response: “Look, they said they are looking at it – but I have already looked at it. As far as I am concerned, the Golan Heights will remain forever part of the State of Israel, a sovereign part.”
“What, should we return it to Syria?” he added, noting the war in Syria. “Should we return the Golan to a situation where mass-slaughter is a danger?”
Former President Donald Trump officially granted US recognition of the Golan as Israeli territory in 2019, in a dramatic shift from decades of US policy. The occupation state captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and annexed it in 1981 in a move that is not recognized internationally.
