Yair Lapid visits the Golan
Yair Lapid visits the GolanPR

Yesh Atid chairman and former Finance Minister Yair Lapid toured the Golan Heights Thursday, along with Colonel (reserve) Kobi Marom in a visit hosted by Golan Regional Council chief Eli Malka.

The three visited a lookout point on the border with Syria overlooking the city of Kuneitra, in order to see firsthand the complex reality on Israel’s northern border, following a series of recent stray-fire incidents in which mortars and gunfire from the Syrian civil war struck the Israeli side of the Golan.

During the visit, Lapid was told of the difficulties faced by residents in the Golan, and was given a briefing regarding the situation on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights.

Regarding the recent wave of stray fire hitting Israel from Syria, Lapid insisted that Israel must respond quickly and decisively to any such incident.

“Israel must respond immediately and harshly to every spill-over [from Syria], and they know that. That needs to be the policy and that’s how it must remain.”

“The State of Israel has two strategic goals,” Lapid continued. “First, we need to ensure that no axis between Iran and Hezbollah be formed in any future talks with the Americans, the Russians, the Jordanians, or even the Syrian military. We won’t accept and we won’t agree to the idea of an Iranian-Hezbollah axis that reaches Israel’s border.”

The former Finance Minister added that the time had come for Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan to be recognized, given the chaos in Syria.

“The Israeli government has an opportunity here, and [the government] needs to strive to get to a situation where the entire world recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan. There is no one to return the Golan to, and we will never give away the Golan, and the world doesn’t want us to give back the Golan. The time has come for them to recognize our sovereignty.”