On Friday, something occurred that raised a few eyebrows at the State Department and in the Trump administration. A U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria appears to have pushed the clutch down, letting his memory free-wheel while making a statement about Israel and the Golan Heights.
Ambassador Tom Barrack, speaking with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal on Friday, observed that Israel "still" occupies the Golan Heights. That's technically incorrect, at least according to the policy of the United States, for which Ambassador Barrack works; President Trump officially recognized Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019, a position that remained in place during the Biden administration. That means, according to official U.S. policy, Israel is not occupying the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights are Israel's home territory.
Now, Ambassador Barrack is walking those comments back.
The U.S. special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey on Sunday walked back his comments from two days ago that Israel “still” occupies the Golan Heights in violation of U.N. resolutions, remarks that went against U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s position on the disputed territory.
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in 1981. The United Nations and most of the international community consider the territory occupied Syrian land and do not recognize Israel’s annexation of it.
In 2019, Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the territory, reversing decades of U.S. policy.
Ambassador Tom Barrack on Friday said that Israel “still” occupies the territory in an interview with Lebanese-Australian entrepreneur Mario Nawfal.
Barrack now says that was a description of the territory’s historical status, “not an endorsement of the United Nations’ position” on the Golan.
He also, in that same interview with the AP, gave a reason for the earlier comments:
He said he intended to explain why he does not anticipate annexation in Lebanon, where Israeli forces are occupying parts of the south after the latest Israel-Hezbollah war, and to argue that negotiated agreements, rather than territorial maps, are more durable and that he had cited the Golan as an example that “territory taken by force remains contested for generations.”
In the Friday interview, Barrack had also criticized Israel’s strikes on an airbase in northern Syria earlier last week. Israeli officials said the strikes intended to prevent Turkey from establishing a presence at the base.
The original comments and the later walk-back drew some unwelcome attention from, among others, Senator Rick Scott (R-FL):
Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott wrote on X that the ambassador appears to have “forgotten” Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory.
This doesn't seem like something an ambassador to a NATO ally nation and special envoy to a new and likely uncertain government of a nation that was once a major source of Islamic terrorism should just forget.
Washington Bureau Chief for Breitbart News Network Matthew Boyle replied sharply to another statement Ambassador Barrack made on his official X account:
This statement is bonkers—the USA literally just sanctioned Turkish banks for providing aid to Iran. More proof of what I was saying before about Barrack having “gone native.” It happens in the diplomatic world a lot — which is why career diplomats often rotate quickly from… https://t.co/XK8pWkKcTD
— Matthew Boyle (@mboyle1) September 6, 2026
Mr. Boyle writes:
This statement is bonkers—the USA literally just sanctioned Turkish banks for providing aid to Iran. More proof of what I was saying before about Barrack having “gone native.” It happens in the diplomatic world a lot — which is why career diplomats often rotate quickly from assignment to assignment within a couple years — but no harm no foul and it’s not too late for @SecRubio to rein this guy in and reassign him to something else very far away from Ankara and Turkey. Praying that Secretary Rubio has the courage to do something here to fix this.
As one commenter observed, has Ambassador Barrack forgotten which country he works for? That statement of the ambassador's reads a lot like the kind of apologetic statement one would expect from a Turkish diplomat, not an American one.
Granted, the ambassador finds himself in an interesting position at the moment. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's Operation Economic Fury is not only putting the squeeze on Tehran, but the United States is, as part of that, isolating and sanctioning several international banks that have been doing business in Iran, including one in Turkey. But even so, it's beginning to look a lot like Ambassador Barrack is overdue for reassignment - or retirement.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
Help us continue to report on the administration’s peace through strength foreign policy and its successes. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the Conversation
VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.