Al-Sharaa Jokes Trump Should Give Israel New Jersey Not Golan Heights

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said Tuesday that he jokingly suggested Donald Trump give Israel New Jersey instead of recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in New York, al-Sharaa recounted raising the issue directly with the U.S. president.

“Why don’t you give New Jersey to the Israelis? You don’t own the Golan Heights to give it to them, but you own New Jersey, and I believe New Jersey is full of Democrats, and they are not voting for Trump. So it will be good to give it to the Israelis. At least this is something that you own.”

Golan Sovereignty

Al-Sharaa then shifted from the joke to Damascus’ underlying sovereignty claim.

“President Trump doesn’t own the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights is owned by its own people. It’s neither for the Syrian President nor the American President nor any other person to abandon them or give them up to others.”

His remarks challenged Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and stressed that Syrian territory could not be transferred by an outside government or an individual leader.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war and applied Israeli law there in 1981. The UN Security Council later declared that move “null and void.”

Trump formally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory in 2019 during his first presidential term.

Al-Sharaa said more than 137 countries, along with the U.N., continued to recognize the Golan Heights as Syrian territory.

Israel-Syria Tensions

The Syrian president also accused Israel of undermining efforts to reduce tensions through continued military operations inside Syria.

He said Israeli forces had twice bombed the presidential palace and had also targeted airports and other sites.

“Will that bring security to Israeli citizens?” al-Sharaa asked. “I believe the problem is with Israel, not Syria.”

Al-Sharaa said Syria had pursued diplomacy and participated in several rounds of direct talks with Israel, some facilitated by the U.S.

He claimed the two sides had reached “almost 90 percent” of a security agreement before Israel withdrew over new issues it introduced.

According to al-Sharaa, further progress would require Israel to pull back from positions taken in southern Syria after December 2024 and move toward the 1974 disengagement lines.

Political Future

Al-Sharaa also said he had not decided whether he would seek office once Syria’s transitional period ends.

“I haven’t thought about being elected,” he said, adding that his immediate priority was governing Syria and serving its population.

He nevertheless left open the possibility of standing in a future election if he believed more time in office was required to complete his political program.

“If remaining in office is necessary to complete my work, I will nominate myself,” he said.

Lebanon and State Control

On Lebanon, al-Sharaa said Damascus wanted a stronger Lebanese government and more effective state institutions.

He backed efforts to place weapons inside Lebanon under state authority, arguing that stronger institutions would support stability.

“The Syrian ideas that we have are to empower the Lebanese government to have better institutions ... to have the state taking control over all the weapons in the Lebanese state,” he said.