US President Donald Trump (L) and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering press statements before an official diner in Jerusalem on May 22, 2017.Mandel Ngan / AFP – Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will name a Jewish community in the Golan Heights after President Donald Trump in honor of his decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the strategic plateau.
Netanyahu made the announcement Tuesday while visiting the Golan.
“All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” the prime minister says in a video.
“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.”
Trump made history last month by signing a proclamation recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The decision reversed 52 years of US policy but Trump said it “should have been done numerous presidents ago.”
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War, but Israel’s sovereignty over the area is still not recognized by the international community.
The United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 497 declared Israel’s decision to control the Golan “null and void and without international legal effect.”
Israel views the Golan as strategic for fending off Iranian-sponsored terrorists in Syria and Lebanon.
“I am taking historic action to promote Israel’s ability to defend itself and have a powerful national security which they’re entitled to have,” Trump said.
