Syria’s al-Sharaa jokes Trump should give Israel New Jersey

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said he jokingly suggested to US President Donald Trump that Israel should be given New Jersey instead of the Golan Heights during their meeting at the White House.

Speaking at an Atlantic Council event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, al-Sharaa said he had raised the issue of Washington’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights with Trump, The National reports.

Al-Sharaa said he suggested that Trump give Israel New Jersey because the United States owned it and its residents had not voted for him.

“But President Trump doesn’t own the Golan Heights,” he said. “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.”

Al-Sharaa also criticised Israeli strikes on Syria and questioned whether they were making Israelis safer.

“Even the presidential palace has been bombed twice by Israel. Our airports are being bombed by Israel. Will that bring security to Israeli citizens?” he asked. “I believe the problem is with Israel, not Syria.”

On his political future, Al-Sharaa said he had not decided whether to seek re-election after Syria’s transitional period. “I haven’t thought about being elected,” he said. “Right now, we are focusing on serving people.”

However, he added that if remaining in office was necessary to complete his work, “I will nominate myself".

Regarding Lebanon, Al-Sharaa said Syria wanted to strengthen the Lebanese government and its institutions, including by bringing all weapons under state control.

“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.

By Sabina Mammadli