After Golan, Netanyahu Will Want the West Bank
Emboldened by Trump, the prime minister believes he can get U.S. recognition of Israeli claims in the West Bank.
It’s in writing.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP /Getty Images
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are rarely in accord on anything, but they seem to agree on the implications of U.S. President Donald Trump’s declaration recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. One believes — and the other fears — a similar recognition can now be achieved for Israel’s claims in the West Bank.
Delighted by the announcement, Netanyahu compared Trump to three historical figures: Persian King Cyrus, who allowed exiled Jews to return to Zion in biblical times; British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour, whose 1917 declaration granted the Jewish people the right to return; and U.S. president Harry Truman, who recognized the birth of Israel in 1948 over the strenuous objections of his own State Department.