On Friday, hours before Shabbat, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, visited the Golan Heights. Among the places they visited was the ancient synagogue of Um el Kanatir located in the southern Golan Heights.

“One of the first places in our beautiful country that Sara and I toured together was the ancient town of Gamla in the Golan Heights. We were there 27 years ago, before we were married, and today we returned to the place that speaks to our hearts. It’s impossible not to fall in love with the place, with the wonderful view, and with our deep historical roots in the Land of Israel,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook.

“A year after our first visit there, we arrived with my parents, of blessed memory, on the occasion of my father’s 80th birthday, and looked out to Gamla from above,” he added.

“Today we also visited the ancient synagogue of Um el Kanatir, in the southern Golan. I was excited to see how the synagogue is being restored. In its heart is the Torah ark made of the local basalt stone, decorated with the historical symbols of the Jewish people.

“From the Golan Heights, from our beautiful country, I wish all of Israel and the Jewish people a Shabbat Shalom,” wrote Netanyahu.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)