Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) released a joint resolution on Dec. 18 that calls for the United States to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The resolution states that Syria used the Golan Heights as a strategic location to attack Israel until Israel took control of the area during the 1967 Six-Day War. The resolution proceeded to argue that since “Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has killed hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians, including with weapons of mass destruction” and that “Iran and its proxies have repeatedly attacked Israel from inside Syria,” it’s necessary for Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights to be recognized.
“Israel’s control over the Golan Heights provides a defensible border, deters attacks from hostile forces, facilitates intelligence gathering, and allows Israel to detect threats to its national security,” the resolution stated.
Cruz and Cotton said in a statement, “Israel’s northern border is threatened by Iranian forces and their proxies in Lebanon and Syria, including Hezbollah’s 150,000 rockets, armed drones, newly discovered terror tunnels, and more.”
“Meanwhile, with the ayatollahs’ help, Bashar al-Assad’s regime is on the verge of securing victory in Syria’s civil war,” they continued. “He may soon turn his attention back to threatening the Jewish state.”
According to Jewish Virtual Library, when the Golan Heights was under Syrian control, Israelis had to sleep in bomb shelters as protection from Syrian military snipers; Fatah was also allowed to roam free through the area. Israel eventually gained control of the territory in the aftermath Six-Day War; following the Yom Kippur War, Israel and Syria signed a disengagement agreement in 1974 that allowed Israel to maintain control over the Golan Heights.
“For Israel, relinquishing the Golan to a hostile Syria could jeopardize its early-warning system against surprise attack,” Jewish Virtual Library states. “Israel has built radars on Mt. Hermon, the highest point in the region. If Israel withdrew from the Golan and had to relocate these facilities to the lowlands of the Galilee, they would lose much of their strategic effectiveness.”
The Jerusalem Post reports that Trump administration officials have said that they don’t foresee the U.S. recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights anytime soon.
