Hilarity ensued

Netanyahu Seeks to Name a Golan Settlement for President Trump

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Tuesday that he would ask his government to approve naming a new Jewish settlement in the Golan Heights for President Trump, in appreciation of the American leader’s proclamation recognizing Israel’s authority over the long-disputed territory.

Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement, made during a Passover tour of the Golan Heights with his family, came a month after Mr. Trump’s proclamation, which delivered a valuable pre-election gift to Mr. Netanyahu even as it upended decades of American policy in the Middle East.

Despite facing corruption charges, Mr. Netanyahu has since won a fourth consecutive term in office — a fifth over all — setting him on course to become Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, surpassing the record of the founding premier, David Ben Gurion.

“All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video on Tuesday, against the backdrop of the sunny, windswept strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967.

“Therefore, after the Passover holiday,” he said, “I intend to bring to the government a resolution calling for a new community on the Golan Heights named after President Donald J. Trump.”

Situated above the Sea of Galilee, the Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan Heights covers less than 500 square miles, with commanding views over much of northern Israel and into Syria. 

Syrian forces tried to reclaim the territory in 1973 but were beaten back.

The armistice that ended the war left most of the Golan Heights in Israeli hands, and in 1981 Israel passed a law that effectively annexed it.

About 50,000 people live in the area, with Israeli Jewish settlers making up nearly half. The rest are mostly Druze Arabs with Syrian roots. 

The area contains a handful of Druze villages and more than 30 Jewish settlements that have been built since 1967.