Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the US, is worried. Not about Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, not about the 56,000+ civilians Israel has killed there in the past 19 months, not about the crimes against humanity. No — he’s worried that the United States might, in some hypothetical future, support Syria’s internationally recognized claim to the occupied Golan Heights.

In his latest article, published in Thursday’s Ynet News, Oren – the founder and director of Israel’s so-called ‘Lobby for the Development of the Golan’ — warns that “America’s embrace of Damascus could result in Israel’s forfeiture of the Golan Heights.” Never mind that there’s no sign the U.S. is anywhere close to recognizing Syria’s sovereignty there. The mere suggestion that the occupied Golan might one day be returned to its rightful owners is, in Oren’s view, an existential crisis. As if such a demand is unreasonable. As if Syrians should instead be grateful that Israel merely occupies the Golan instead of leveling it like it has Gaza.

Israel, of course, has worked hard to make its occupation of the Golan look permanent. It unilaterally annexed the area in 1981 — an act unrecognized by every major country except the U.S. under Donald Trump, whose administration even celebrated with the opening of the surreal ‘Trump Heights’ settlement in 2019. Like so much else with Israel’s posture on the Golan, this was a photo-op masquerading as policy, relying on spectacle to mask illegality.

Let’s be 100% clear on this: the occupied Golan is Syrian land, occupied since 1967. The idea that Damascus might demand its return — as any state would — is neither radical nor surprising. What is surprising is the degree to which Oren thinks even the consideration of any such demand should be silenced, delegitimized, or ignored, though of course this is standard Israeli policy on demands for justice, plus maybe decades of the Assads’ appeasement have accustomed him to such craven mollification.

Here we get to the crux of the hypocrisy. While Oren extols the "stability" and "security" Israel supposedly brings to the Golan via occupation, the same state continues turning Gaza into an open-air morgue. Since October 2023, over 56,000 Palestinians — overwhelmingly civilians — have been killed by ongoing Israeli airstrikes, artillery, and siege tactics. Entire neighbourhoods have been flattened. Water and medical supplies have been cut off. Starvation continues to be used as a weapon. This “stability” is the manufacture of ruin and desolation.

Meanwhile, as Israel presses for normalization with the newly installed Syrian government under President al-Sharaa, it ignores one critical detail: Syrians and Palestinians are not distant strangers. They are brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, family, friends and neighbours, tied by shared history, blood, faith, and adjacency — and no PR campaign, diplomatic push, or geopolitical skulduggery will sever that bond. Without a fundamental shift in the geopolitical landscape — a real, comprehensive peace deal that recognizes a Palestinian state and dismantles Israeli occupation — there will be no relationship, beyond forced mutual diplomatic recognition, to normalize.

Oren also neglects to mention that since Assad’s ouster in December 2024, Israel has escalated its military operations inside southern Syria, particularly in Daraa and Quneitra. These are not defensive maneuvers. They are unprovoked incursions aimed at grabbing more land while the world is distracted elsewhere, dressed up in hot air about national defence. If Israel fears regional instability, perhaps Tel Aviv should stop manufacturing it.

As for the Druze in the Golan, Oren claims Israel is protecting them. Many Druze would beg to differ. They’ve long rejected Israeli claims of guardianship, seeing them instead as a cynical ploy to divide communities and justify occupation. Their loyalty lies not with the occupier, but with their land, their people, and their dignity.

Oren’s article isn’t analysis — it’s another anxious sales pitch for permanent occupation. But no amount of diplomatic fearmongering or rebranded settlements will change the basic truth: the Golan is occupied Syrian territory. And regardless of whatever Michael Oren, Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump or any other foreign official says or doesn’t say, Syrians will never accept or forget that.

By Ruth Riegler
Photo: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at a ceremony inaugurating the 'Trump Heights' settlement in the occupied Golan, June 2019