Syrian President Jokes With Trump: Give New Jersey to Israel

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has described a lighthearted exchange with US President Donald Trump over the Golan Heights that took place during his visit to the White House. The story was reported on Tuesday by the Lebanese outlet L'Orient Today, in New York, where the Syrian leader had traveled for the UN General Assembly.

"Once, when I was visiting the White House, I joked with President Trump after he brought up his recognition of the Golan Heights. I told him: why not give them New Jersey instead? The Golan isn't yours to give away to Israel. New Jersey is full of Democrats, and I doubt they'd vote for Trump anyway, so it wouldn't hurt him to hand it over," al-Sharaa was quoted as saying by the outlet's source.

"The Golan belongs to its people, and neither the Syrian nor the American president has the right to give it away to anyone," the Syrian leader added.

The Only Known White House Meeting

Al-Sharaa did not specify the exact date of his conversation with Trump, but the only known visit by the Syrian president to the White House took place on November 10 of last year. Notably, just three days before that meeting, the United States removed al-Sharaa from its list of designated international terrorists.

Al-Sharaa, also known as al-Jolani, was previously a senior figure in Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian offshoot of the al-Qaeda terrorist network. He rose to power in Syria as the leader of the armed factions of HTS, which played the leading role in the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.

The Dispute Over the Golan Heights' Status

The Syrian Golan Heights were seized by Israel during the Six-Day War in June 1967, and Tel Aviv has controlled this strategically important territory ever since. In 1981, Israel passed a law extending its legal and administrative system to the Golan.

Nevertheless, the UN and most countries around the world continue to regard the territory as Syrian land under Israeli occupation. The United States is the exception: in 2019, during his first term as president, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz