US: no change to policy recognizing Israeli sovereignty on Golan

“US policy regarding the Golan has not changed, and reports to the contrary are false,” the State Department tweeted under its Near Eastern Affairs account on Friday.

It spoke up less than 24-hours after the Beacon published its report which claimed that the US was rescinding that Golan sovereignty recognition granted Israel in 2018 under the Trump administration.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the Six Day-War in 1967 and annexed it in 1981. The international community has refused to recognize Israeli sovereignty there and routinely calls on Israel at the United Nations to return it to Syria. To date the US is the only country to have supported Israel’s Golan annexation.

A Syrian presence on the Golan hilltops overlooking the Jewish state is considered by Israel to be an existential threat. Israel has no plans to return the territory to Syria, given the state of enmity between them.

The Biden administration has insisted when asked about former US President Donald Trump’s Golan sovereignty recognition that it has not changed it policy, but it refrained from promising to maintain that policy stance in the future.