Netanyahu still hopes US will recognise Israel's Golan claim
JERUSALEM - Israel still hopes the United States will recognise its claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday, after a top US official said the issue was not currently under consideration by Washington.
Israel captured much of the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed it, a move not endorsed internationally. Netanyahu raised the possibility of US recognition in his first White House meeting with President Donald Trump in February 2017.
Trump reversed a long-standing US policy by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017. Few other countries have followed the move, which angered Palestinians who want East Jerusalem as capital of their own future state.
Last May, Netanyahu's intelligence minister said that US recognition on the Golan issue could be forthcoming within months.
But in a Reuters interview during a visit to Israel this week, Trump's national security adviser John Bolton said "there's no discussion of it, no decision within the US government".
Netanyahu was asked by reporters whether Israel, in light of Bolton's remarks, had dropped expectations of US recognition of Israel's Golan claim. He replied: "Would I give up on such a thing? No way."
