Cruz, Cotton push U.S. to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Golan
It’s past time for the United States to recognize reality by affirming Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” the senators said.
By MICHAEL WILNERUpdated: DECEMBER 19, 2018 06:06HIGH-ALTITUDE, cool with volcanic, basalt-rich soil: The Golan vineyards.(photo credit: KFIR HARBI)
WASHINGTON – Two of the Senate’s most conservative members proposed a non-binding resolution on Tuesday encouraging US recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights as punishment for Bashar Assad in Syria.According to a draft of the resolution, first obtained by Jewish Insider, a Washington-based newsletter, the move would “ensure that the Assad regime faces diplomatic and geopolitical consequences for the killing of civilians, the ethnic cleansing of Syrian Sunnis, and the use of weapons of mass destruction.”Republican senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas authored the resolution after direct and public lobbying from politicians in Israel, which has pushed unsuccessfully for US recognition of its control there for years.Trump administration officials bristled at such requests last spring, privately accusing Israel of ingratitude in asking for yet another major diplomatic overture shortly after US President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last year.With Syria debilitated from eight years of civil war, few expect that Israel will ever lose control over the Golan, a territory that was annexed by the Jewish state in 1981 after it hosted several battles with the Syrian army.Administration officials told The Jerusalem Post there are no plans to change longstanding US policy against recognition, which began with former president Ronald Reagan.The Senate resolution would need the support of Senate Majority Mitch McConnell to earn a vote on the floor and would not have any enforcement power if it were to pass.
