Israel has officially renamed a small town after Donald Trump in appreciation for Trump’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the area. The town is small, only ten residents and it’s also young, at just 30 years old. “Israel is hoping the rebranded “Ramat Trump,” Hebrew for “Trump Heights,” will encourage a wave of residents to vastly expand it.”
“It’s absolutely beautiful,” said U.S. Ambassador David Friedman, who attended Sunday’s ceremony. Noting that Mr. Trump celebrated his birthday Friday, he said: “I can’t think of a more appropriate and a more beautiful birthday present.”
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. Most of the international community considers the move illegal under international law.
President Trump recently signed an executive order recognizing the area Israel captured during the 1967 war as Israel’s territory.
“Few things are more important to the security of the state of Israel than permanent sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Friedman said. “It is simply obvious, it is indisputable and beyond any reasonable debate.”
Netanyahu called Trump a “great friend” of Israel. “The Golan Heights was and will always be an inseparable part of our country and homeland,” he said.
Trump is not the first president to have a place named for him in Israel.
Ramat Trump joins a handful of Israeli places named after American presidents, including a village for Harry S. Truman, who first recognized the Jewish state, and George W. Bush Plaza, a square the size of a modest living room in central Jerusalem.
Watch the ceremony below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hw1-LPR_WqA]
(Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)