Residents of Golan’s ‘Trump Heights’ see opportunity after namesake wins US election
Remote community in Hezbollah’s line of fire hopes president-elect, who recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights in his first term, will help turn its fortunes around
Residents of “Trump Heights” are welcoming the election of their namesake, hoping Donald Trump’s return to the United States presidency will breathe new life into this tiny, remote community in the central Golan Heights.
During his first term, Trump became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israel’s sovereignty of the Golan, which it captured from Syria during the Six Day War in June 1967 and later annexed. Israel thanked Trump by rebranding this hamlet after him.
But a large-scale influx of new residents never materialized after that 2019 ceremony, and just a couple dozen families live in Trump Heights, or “Ramat Trump” in Hebrew. Job opportunities are limited, and Israel’s more than yearlong war against Hezbollah in nearby Lebanon has added to the sense of isolation.
Trump’s election has inspired hope in the community that it will attract more members and also more funding for security improvements.
“Maybe it can raise more awareness and maybe some support to help here and help our kids here,” said Yarden Freimann, Trump Heights’ community manager.
Ori Kallner, head of the Golan’s regional council, showed off dozens of plots of land, replete with new asphalt roads, lampposts and utility lines, that residents have prepared for future housing developments.
“President Trump’s return to the White House definitely puts the town in the headlines,” he said.
Hanging on while war rages nearby
Kallner stood next to a metal statue of an eagle and a menorah, symbolizing the United States and Israel, as Israeli warplanes flew overhead. Two explosions from rockets fired from Lebanon punched the hills nearby, and just across the border in Lebanon, plumes of smoke rose into the air from Israeli airstrikes.
An enormous sign with the settlement’s name in Hebrew and English gleamed in the sun, while two large sunbaked metal flags of Israel and the United States were faded almost beyond recognition.
Surrounded by ashen ruins of villages abandoned by Syrians in the 1967 war, Trump Heights is perched above the Hula Valley, where Israel has amassed tanks, artillery and troops for its fight in Lebanon. Most towns in the valley have been evacuated.
Trump Heights sends its kids to a makeshift daycare in a nearby settlement after the government shuttered all schools in the region in the wake of the launch of the October 1 ground operation in Lebanon.
The operation followed months of relentless rocket attacks by Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, as a result of which some 60,000 northern residents remain displaced.
“We find ourselves hanging by our fingernails to be in our own community, not be evacuated, and on the other hand, we cannot work, we cannot send our kids to any kind of an education system,” said Freimann.
Trump Heights is only about 12 kilometers (seven miles) from Lebanon and Syria. Alerts for incoming fire give residents about 30 seconds’ head start to get to a bomb shelter.
Hezbollah-led forces have been firing rockets into Israel on a near-daily basis since October 8, 2023, a day after thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Fearing a similar shock assault in the north, Israel evacuated communities along the Lebanon border. In Lebanon, the IDF has found tunnels and infrastructure it says Hezbollah was planning to use to invade northern Israel.
Since October 2023, 41 civilians have been killed in Hezbollah’s attack in the north, and 62 soldiers have died in cross-border skirmishes with the terror group and the ensuing ground operation.
Trump broke with other leaders on the Golan Heights
Israel annexed the Golan, a strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, in 1981 in a move that was not internationally recognized.
That changed in March 2019 when Trump, without notice, tweeted that the US would “fully recognize” Israel’s control of the territory. His announcement drew widespread condemnation from the international community, which considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory and Israeli communities there to be illegal settlements. The administration of US President Joe Biden left the decision intact, but the US remains the lone country in the world to recognize Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights.
Kallner said he hopes Trump will now persuade European countries to recognize Israeli sovereignty there.
According to Israeli figures, the Golan is home to about 50,000 people — roughly half of them Jewish Israelis and the other half Arab Druze, many of whom still consider themselves Syrians.
Israel has encouraged and promoted communities in the Golan, and the Druze residents operate farms and a tourism and restaurant sector popular with Israelis. But the area has struggled to develop because of its remoteness, several hours from Israel’s economic centers.
That economic hardship has only worsened during the war as the hospitality sector cratered. On July 28, a rocket killed 12 Druze children on a soccer field in the town of Majdal Shams, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away. Israel sent troops into Lebanon months later.
In June 2019, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led an inauguration ceremony for Trump Heights. The US ambassador at the time, David Friedman, noted that the ceremony came days after Trump’s birthday and said: “I can’t think of a more appropriate and a more beautiful birthday present.”
As president, Trump was close with Netanyahu
The Golan recognition was among a series of diplomatic advances that Trump delivered to Israel during his first term. They included recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the American embassy there, and a series of diplomatic agreements with Arab countries known as the Abraham Accords.
He has vowed to bring peace to the tumultuous region during his second term, but has not said how.
Netanyahu enjoyed a close relationship with Trump during his first term but ran afoul of the former US president when he congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 victory. The premier announced Tuesday that he was one of the first foreign leaders to call the US president-elect and congratulate him on his victory.
An official in Netanyahu’s office, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications, said aides were upbeat and giddy.
“Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!” the prime minister said in a statement. “Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.”
At Trump Heights, Kallner was optimistic too: “The Golan community is strong and resilient, and people that want to come and live here are from the same material. I believe we will overcome these challenging times and won’t stop growing.”
