NEW YORK — The United Nations General Assembly once again targeted Israel with two resolutions demanding that the Jewish state return the Golan Heights to Syrian control, despite the ongoing turmoil, instability, and Iranian entrenchment on Israel’s northern border. The votes, held on December 2 and December 5, reflect a deepening diplomatic hostility toward Israel’s security needs and the rights of Israeli families who have lived on the Golan for generations.
On December 2, a resolution sponsored by Egypt passed with the support of 123 nations, calling for Israel to withdraw to the June 4, 1967 lines, and rescind its 1981 decision to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Golan Heights. This represents a significant increase from the 97 nations that supported similar measures in 2024. A second resolution, voted on December 5, went even further, labeling Israeli communities on the Golan as “illegal.” That vote passed with 146 nations in favor.
Israel’s supporters argue that these resolutions deliberately ignore both historical reality and current regional threats. Had Israel surrendered the Golan Heights during previous diplomatic pushes, the consequences would have been catastrophic. In December 2023, Syria was engulfed in chaos, and Iran-backed militias continued to expand their influence. A Syrian-controlled Golan would have placed Iranian proxies directly above Israeli communities at one of the most sensitive points along the northern frontier.
The danger became even clearer after the Hamas-led atrocities of October 7, 2023. Had the Golan been handed to Damascus decades earlier, Iran’s militias and Syria’s military forces could have joined the assault, opening a deadly third front against Israel. The question of how many Israeli lives would have been lost in such a scenario underscores why Israeli leaders across the political spectrum have long insisted that the Golan Heights is not negotiable.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu articulated this view clearly during a White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on March 25, 2019. “Mr. President, just as Israel stood tall in 1967, just as it stood tall in 1973, Israel stands tall today. We hold the high ground, and we shall never give it up,” he said. Netanyahu added in Hebrew, “Ha’am im Hagolan,” meaning “The people are with the Golan.”
In New York, on the same day as the General Assembly’s first vote, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder addressed the Israel Hayom summit and warned of “a full-scale assault on truth, on democracy and on the safety of Jewish people everywhere.” His words captured the broader climate but stopped short of naming the United Nations itself as a key source of this escalation.
Lauder also spoke of the need for Muslims and Arabs who reject extremism to build a coalition against hatred. However, expecting Israel to engage in such an effort while Hamas remains armed and operational is unrealistic. In the current Middle East, where autocracies dominate, and only Israel is a functioning democracy, the notion of a durable, united anti-extremist coalition is more fantasy than policy.
Any such coalition would almost certainly require Israel to accept the creation of a Palestinian state. That concession would heighten the risks facing Israelis not just in Judea and Samaria, but on the Golan Heights as well. Critics of Israel do not draw distinctions between the two regions. As the article notes, to those who seek to undermine Israel’s legitimacy, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and Jewish communities on the Golan are seen through the same distorted lens of supposed illegality.
This reality was underscored in August 2025 when Lauder criticized Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for advocating that Israel “bury the idea of a Palestinian state.” Just weeks later, the Hamas-led massacre of October 7 forced many Israelis who had once supported the concept of a Palestinian state to fundamentally reassess their positions. Among them was President Isaac Herzog, who told CNN in January that he had experienced a “wake-up call” after October 7, and that any viable future must begin with Palestinians unequivocally rejecting terrorism.
The General Assembly’s latest votes show how distant that future remains. Instead of confronting Iran’s growing regional influence, Syria’s ongoing instability, or Hamas’s continued military buildup, the UN continues to fixate on pressuring Israel to forfeit strategic territory that protects millions of its citizens.
It is long past time for American Jewish leaders, policymakers, and diaspora advocates to recognize this reality. Just as Israeli leaders in the 1990s understood the existential necessity of defending the Golan Heights, today’s leaders are correct to stand with Israeli families who wish to remain in Judea and Samaria. UN diplomats, media commentators such as Fareed Zakaria, and even well-meaning Jewish figures like Lauder may dismiss these communities as “settlements,” but for Israelis, they are home.
The UN’s December votes once again demonstrate how disconnected international diplomacy has become from the security needs and lived experiences of the Jewish state. Israel’s responsibility is to protect its people, not to indulge fantasies that ignore the dangers of surrendering vital land to hostile or unstable regimes.
Moshe Phillips is national chairman of Americans For A Safe Israel (www.AFSI.org), a leading pro-Israel advocacy and education organization.
