Netanyahu's Victory Lap: 'We Will Change the Face of the Middle East'

Israel is allowed to steal any land it wants in the eyes of the U.S. government

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that the “Golan Heights will be an inseparable part of the State of Israel forever,” drawing a swift rebuke from his neighbors who — given the U.S. support of Tel Aviv’s theft — will do nothing to stop him.

“The collapse of the Syrian regime is a direct result of the severe blows with which we have struck Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. I would like to make it clear: Additional challenges yet await us in the campaign and we are still active,” his office said in a post on X.

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The thread continued:

On October 9, two days after the outbreak of the war, I told the local council heads in the south – "We will change the face of the Middle East." My first decision, and that of the Security Cabinet, was to focus, first of all, on the south, and afterwards on the north: To eliminate Hamas's military and governing capabilities in Gaza, and block the danger of a Hezbollah invasion in the north.

In the Gaza Strip – we cut off Iran's arm, destroyed Hamas's brigades, eliminated the organization's leadership, and smashed its terrorism infrastructure both above and below ground. We have returned 155 hostages, including 117 who are alive.

Now we are working to demolish Hamas's remaining military capabilities and all of its governing capabilities, and bring back the hostages and I emphasize – down to the last of them.

In Lebanon – we used a daring stratagem that struck a severe blow to Hezbollah: We eliminated the organization's leadership, destroyed its terrorist strongholds close to the border, and destroyed a considerable part of its arsenal of Hezbollah's missiles and rockets.

Iran cleared a path of terrorism from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea: From Iran to Iraq, from Iraq to Syria and from Syria to Lebanon. In the south, it armed Hamas and in the more distant south – the Houthis, whom we have also struck hard.

Netanyahu told reporters on Monday that the Golan Heights, which sits on Israel’s border with Syria, “will forever be an inseparable part of the state of Israel,” as he ordered forces to take up new positions after the retreat of the Syrian army.

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The demilitarized zone now occupied by Israeli troops came about in 1974, during an armistice deal. Netanyahu said the agreement “collapsed” now that Syria troops are no longer there. He insisted that the troops at the new location will be only temporary to ensure that no “hostile force embeds itself right next to the border of Israel,” according to the Financial Times.

Israel’s decision to move so quickly into Syrian territory was criticized by its neighbors. The Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement that Tel Aviv “exploited” the vacuum left behind after Assad’s demise in the country.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry and Saudi Arabia were also critical of the move. Riyadh blamed Israel for its “continued violation of the rules of international law and its determination to sabotage Syria’s chances of restoring its security, stability and territorial integrity,” according to Al Jazeera. The report noted that Saudi Arabia still considers the Golan Heights “occupied Arab territory.”

The Golan Heights has been a source of contention for years between Israel and much of the world.

Former President Donald Trump revised U.S. policy on the matter in 2019 to officially recognize the Golan as belonging to Israel. The UN Security Council said in 1981 that Israel’s control over the Golan Heights “is null and void and without international legal effect.”

The Biden administration did not turn back Trump’s policy. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Washington acknowledges the safety concerns that Israel has if it had to return the territory it secured during the Six-Day War. The Jerusalem Post noted at the time that every country but the U.S. had called on Israel to return the land to Syria.