Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has gifted him an official State Department map, updated to incorporate the long-disputed Golan Heights as part of Israel, VOA reports.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday in Jerusalem, Netanyahu addressed a nation rattled by the prospect of an unprecedented second election campaign, after the newly re-elected Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition.
In a bid to play down the political chaos and focus public attention on his foreign policy prowess — in particular his close friendship with Trump — Netanyahu whipped out Kushner’s map, on which Trump had scribbled, “Nice.”
The White House upended decades of policy when it recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and later annexed, a move not internationally recognized.