Israel consolidates grip on Golan

"Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, thus chose last year to declare that the Golan Heights will “forever remain in Israeli hands,” taking full advantage of the chaos in Syria to openly challenge international law." “Syria will collapse, and Israel will demand to keep control over the Golan – and maybe even more than that,” Fakherldeen argued. Israel’s posture as a politically exceptional actor in the region, moreover, mirrors the exclusivist theology of Islamic State, Fakherldeen said. “Israel says it’s the only democracy, it’s the only liberal state in the Middle East. But really it’s something like Daesh,” he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State."