Netanyahu Promises To Name New Golan Heights Town After Trump

Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu during the president’s visit to Israel in May 2017. Image by Getty

By Aiden Pink April 23, 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that he would name a new community in the Golan Heights after President Trump, who recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the disputed area last month.

“All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said in a video posted to his YouTube page, where he was speaking from the Golan. “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.”

President Trump signed a declaration last month recognizing Israeli control of the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state captured from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967. Official U.S. maps have already been altered to show this designation.

Trump is very popular in Israel due to his support for Israeli policies like recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the United States embassy there. After the capital recognition in December 2017, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz pledged to name a Jerusalem train station after Trump. Then-Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in 2018 that a public square near the new embassy site would also be named after Trump.

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor for the Forward. You can reach him at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

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