Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton Klein released the following statement:
ZOA criticizes Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s speech at the United Nations last week. Al-Sharaa falsely claimed that the Golan Heights is “Syrian territory” and threatened to “stop”, “thwart” and “confront” what Sharaa referred to as Israel’s violation of Syrian sovereignty and Israel’s attempt to make a “fait accompli” in the Golan.
Al-Sharaa’s speech demonstrated that he has not changed his spots from his jihadi terror leader days. Under his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, al-Sharaa led the terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (“HTS”) and HTS’s predecessor, al-Qaeda in Syria, prior to ousting Syria’s former president, Bashar al-Assad, two years ago. Since al-Sharaa seized control of Syria, Syrian terror groups have attacked and slaughtered Druze, Christian and Alawite minority communities in Syria.
Moreover, al-Sharaa entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with extremist anti-Israel Turkey last year, and has allowed Turkey to build multiple military bases and positions in Syria, and station an estimated 20,000 troops in Syria, as a springboard for attacking Israel. Turkey’s military buildup and entrenchment in Syria is occurring while Turkish President Erdogan, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and other Turkish leaders are publicly calling for Israel’s destruction and inciting genocide against Israel, and while Turkey has become Hamas’ new “center of gravity.” Moreover, for years, Turkey has openly financed, armed and supported Hamas and harbored Hamas leaders. Back in October 2023, forty-four bipartisan Congressmembers wrote a letter strongly urging then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take decisive action to hold Turkey accountable for its longstanding support and facilitation of Hamas’ operations.
If al-Sharaa a.k.a. al-Jolani is so concerned about supposed Syrian “sovereignty,” why is he allowing the Hamas-allied Turkish military to entrench itself throughout Syria?
Al-Sharaa is also wrong about Syrian sovereignty in the Golan. The long, substantial Jewish presence in the Golan predates any Muslim or Syrian Arab Republic presence in the area. As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated in his brilliant, compelling UN speech last week: “Mr. al-Sharaa, you should know the Jews have been on the Golan Heights since the days of Moses. You can read it in the Bible.”
Indeed, the Golan area was assigned to the Hebrew tribe of Manasseh; and in Deuteronomy 4:43, Moses designated “Golan in the Bashan of the Manassites” as a sanctuary city. Jews lived in Golan villages, and built and worshiped in dozens of synagogues throughout the Golan, through many centuries. Israel restored remains of several of these ancient Jewish synagogues, villages and sites in the Golan, including Gamla, Katzrin, and Umm El-Kanatir. In the 1800s, during Ottoman rule, Jews purchased, returned and farmed large tracts of land in the Golan.
The Golan was moreover part of the original League of Nations mandate designated as a “sacred trust” for reconstituting the Jewish homeland. (See “Morton Klein’s Written Congressional Testimony on the Recognition of Israeli Sovereignty Over the Golan Heights,” July 17, 2018, detailed sections on the Golan Heights’ Jewish History and Israel’s Legal Right to the Golan Heights.)
The Syrian Arab Republic only ruled the Golan for 21 years. During that time, Syria used the Golan’s heights to continuously shoot at Israelis in farms and villages below the heights. In 1967, Syria massed troops and hundreds of tanks on the border, and Syrian Defense Minister (and later president) Hafez Assad threatened to “explode the Zionist presence” in a “battle of annihilation” to destroy Israel – the casus belli for the ensuing Six Day War. In that defensive war, Israel miraculously recaptured the Golan, and has the right to retain it under international law. Israel’s presence in the Golan saved Israel from being overrun in the surprise 1973 Yom Kippur War, when Syria again attempted to annihilate Israel. The Israeli Golan Heights formally became part of Israel in 1981, and the U.S. recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan in 2018. All in all, the Israeli Golan has been a lawful, historic and strategically essential part of the modern state of Israel for 59 years, almost three times as long as the brief period when it was in the SAR’s bloody hands.