“Look, leaving aside the legalities of that question, as a practical matter, the Golan is very important to Israel’s security,” Blinken said.

“As long as [dictator Bashar] Assad is in power in Syria, as long as Iran is present in Syria, militia groups backed by Iran, the Assad regime itself – all of these pose a significant security threat to Israel, and as a practical matter, the control of the Golan in that situation I think remains of real importance to Israel’s security,” he said.

However, he indicated that in the future US could be open to reexamining that position.

“Legal questions are something else. And over time, if the situation were to change in Syria, that’s something we’d look at. But we are nowhere near as that,” Blinken said.

Blinken’s comments stand in stark contrast to those of his predecessor Mike Pompeo, who made a rare visit to the Golan Heights in November.

“You can’t stand here and stare out at what’s across the border and deny the central thing that President Donald Trump recognized, what the previous presidents have refused to do,” Pompeo said. “This is a part of Israel and central part of Israel.”

“Imagine with Assad in control of this place, the risk of the harm to the West and to Israel,” Pompeo said.

While Blinken distanced himself from the Trump administration position on the Golan Heights, he reiterated there would be no change regarding Jerusalem, and refused to commit to US support for a Palestinian capital in the capital’s eastern neighborhoods.

In 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the US Embassy to the city, in another move that broke ranks with the global community.

Blinken said that both he and US President Joe Biden regard Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and had no intention of moving the embassy back to Tel Aviv.

The US Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to keep the United States Embassy in Jerusalem, with only three senators voting against establishing funding to maintain the diplomatic mission.