Trump Denies That Tweet Urging US Recognition Of Golan As Israel’s Is Election Boost For Bibi
Trump and Netanyahu shaking hands in May 2017, during Trump’s visit to Israel. Image by Getty
(JTA) — President Donald Trump said his announcement about favoring recognition of Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights was unconnected to the Israeli elections next month.
Trump, who on Wednesday announced the policy change on Twitter, said on “Fox News Friday” that the move was not designed to help Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election bid in the April 9 vote.
“No, I wouldn’t even know about that,” Trump said in the interview when asked about the issue.
“I have no idea, I hear he’s doing OK, I don’t know if he’s doing great right now,” the president said of Netanyahu. “But I would imagine the other side, whoever’s against him, is also in favor of what I just did.”
On Thursday, Yair Lapid, one of the four leaders of Israel’s newly formed centrist Blue and White party, thanked Trump for the move in a tweet some saw as an attempt to take credit for the president’s decision.
”We started this campaign a year ago, and the leadership of Blue and White stood on the Golan Heights and called for recognition,” Lapid wrote. “President Trump has shown again that he’s a true friend of Israel.”
His party and Netanyahu’s Likud are neck and neck in the polls.
Israel captured the strategically important Golan area in 1967 in a defensive war against Syria. That country has since descended into civil war rife with atrocities.
Israel annexed the Golan in 1981. The United States would become the only country besides Israel recognizing Israeli sovereignty there.
“I’ve been thinking about doing that for a long time,” Trump said, likening the move on the Golan to his decision last year to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
World leaders, the president said, told him about the embassy move: “Don’t do it, don’t do it. I did it, and it’s been done, and it’s fine. Golan Heights is the same thing.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward In NYC, Itamar Ben-Gvir says he’s changed — and wants ‘the Trump plan’ in Gaza
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 3
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture In Germany, a Jewish family is reunited with a treasured family object — but also a sense of exile
-
Opinion Trump’s heedless approach to an Iran deal could be a big problem for Israel
-
Fast Forward In NYC, Itamar Ben-Gvir says he’s changed — and wants ‘the Trump plan’ in Gaza
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.