Marking fifty years since Israel's military victory in the Golan Heights during the 1967 Six Day War, President Reuven Rivlin called on the world to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the disputed territory, calling it "essential" to the country's continued survival.

"The nations of the world must formally recognize that the Golan is an integral part of the state of Israel, and is essential to our existence as a people," Rivlin said at an event celebrating northern Israel's Jewish communities.

"The Golan Heights are strategic to the State of Israel’s ability to exist as a people able to safeguard its borders," he said.

Israel seized 1,200 square kilometers (460 square miles) of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War and later asserting Israeli law over the territory essentially annexing it in a move never recognized by the international community.