The real issue, though, is that the ambassador contradicted administration policy. During his first term, Trump declared that the “United States recognizes that the Golan Heights are part of the state of Israel.” That proclamation has remained in force since it was uttered on March 25, 2019. So it is not American policy that the Golan Heights are “occupied,” as Barrack asserted. They belong to Israel, and for good reason.

The heights are strategically vital to America’s interests and those of our allies. They were controlled by Syria up until June 5, 1967, but on that day, Syria joined Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon in attacking Israel.

The Arab armies were intent on eliminating the Jewish state. In the run-up to the war, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser declared, “Our basic objective is the destruction of Israel.” Yet the tiny new nation defeated its numerically superior opponents with lightning efficiency in what became known as the Six-Day War.

Israel seized several territories: Gaza, which Egypt had occupied since 1948; Judea and Samaria, which Jordan had renamed the “West Bank” shortly after occupying and illegally annexing them in 1948; and, finally, the Golan Heights from Syria.

Israel’s triumph stunned the world and ended the ambition of some Arab states, such as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, to destroy its neighbor.

Syria did not have to join the Egyptian-led war. It chose to do so, and it paid the consequences. It willingly participated in a war of territorial conquest and has no right to complain afterward that the territory conquered was its own.

Ambassador Alan Baker, an expert on international law, pointed out that “an aggressor state that loses its territory after an offensive war and consistently refuses to make all efforts to make peace cannot expect to maintain a bona fide right to claim back the territory.”

Jordan and Egypt made peace with Israel and thus recognized it. They renounced their claims to the West Bank and Gaza.

Syria did not. Damascus has consistently refused to negotiate with Jerusalem or recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Nonetheless, for decades, the U.N. declared the Golan Heights “occupied.” During the Clinton and Obama administrations, the U.S. put tremendous pressure on Israel to surrender the land. Thankfully, it refused.

Under dictator Bashar Assad, Syria became a “land bridge” in Iran’s campaign to destroy the Jewish state. During the Syrian Civil War, jihadists seized redoubts within view of the Golan.

Had Israel submitted to what Barrack called the “international order,” it would have forfeited ground offering an important vantage point to Islamist terrorists.

In his 2019 proclamation, Trump noted that “aggressive acts by Iran and other terrorist groups” have continued to “make the Golan Heights a potential launching ground for attacks on Israel.”

The Iranian threat to Israel from Syria has decreased since the 2024 ouster of Tehran’s ally, Assad. But the jihadi threat hasn’t diminished.

Syria is now ruled by Ahmad al Sharaa, a former member of al Qaeda and a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan has called Jerusalem “ours” and supported Hamas.

Barrack doesn’t decide or change U.S. policy. Voters did not elect him. They elected Trump.

EDITORIAL: IF DC WON’T ARREST ATV RIDERS, TRUMP SHOULD

Barrack’s freewheeling approach to diplomacy is no mere distraction; it’s a liability. In the same interview with Nawfal, he called for Iran and Hezbollah to participate in negotiations over Lebanon, the precise opposite of the approach called for by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Barrack is undercutting the policies of the administration he serves. He should be dismissed.