A congressional panel convened in Washington on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights.
The discussion was initiated by Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Florida), chairman of the House Subcommittee on National Security and one of the leaders of the campaign to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. DeSantis invited Dr. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a former director general of the Foreign Ministry, to be the keynote speaker at Tuesday's session.
Gold told the panel that three U.S. administrations (those of Presidents Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush) had given Israel "diplomatic assurances regarding the international status of Israel's position on that strategic plateau."
Gold said that Iran's Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Hossein Salami had recently announced that the Islamic Army in Syria was "now operating on the Golan Heights was awaiting orders to eradicate the 'evil regime' of Israel," meaning that Israel could not withdraw from the Golan without imperiling itself.
"With the imminent victory of the forces of [Syrian] President Bashar Assad in the sector of south Syria, new arrangements for Syria are being considered by various countries," Gold said.
"Now is the time for the United States to recognize Israel's sovereignty on the Golan Heights."
DeSantis said it would be "madness" for Israel to transfer the Golan Heights to Assad or "any of the other forces active in Syria."
