Cabinet okays next step toward ‘Trump Heights’
Netanyahu thanks US for sanctions on ICC ‘bullies’
The cabinet voted in favor of the initial budget for establishing a new town in the Golan Heights named for US President Donald Trump on Sunday, which is his 74th birthday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted the steps towards establishing “Trump Heights” at the start of the meeting, noting that the current US administration recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Netanyahu took the opportunity to thank Trump and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for their announced sanctions on the International Criminal Court.
“The court in The Hague is a biased, political body that bullies Israel, the US and other democracies that respect human rights, while ignoring human rights violators, foremost of which is the terrorist regime in Iran,” Netanyahu said.
According to the prime minister, the ICC “made up absurd accusations against Israel, including the outrageous claim that the presence of Jews in the heart of our homeland is a war crime.”
Netanyahu said the claim goes against international law for the past 100 years, since the San Remo conference in which the Allied powers in World War I divided up territory that had been part of the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain was given the mandate for Palestine during the San Remo conference, incorporating the Balfour Declaration supporting “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” into the Treaty of Peace with Turkey.
“I thank President Trump and the American government again for standing on the side of truth and justice,” the prime minister added.
Netanyahu announced Trump Heights a year ago, when the government voted to begin planning processes to establish the new town. He unveiled a large sign with gold lettering on the planned site of Trump Heights, near Kela Alon in the western Golan.
The cabinet approved the plans on Sunday, which are budgeted at NIS 8 million, NIS 3 million of which are for planning in the Housing and Construction Ministry and the rest for the World Zionist Organization to build temporary structures.
The next step towards establishing the town is marketing its land for construction.