Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said he wanted 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 recognise 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 Trump,’’ he said.
Netanyahu is currently talking to potential coalition partners in order to form Israel’s next government after he won election earlier this month.
The Arab world has rejected Trump’s March decision to recognise 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 recognised internationally.
The move followed 2018’s relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which sparked anger in the Muslim world.