Mike Pompeo, first US Secretary of State to visit an Israeli settlement
Mike Pompeo and Benyamin Netanyahu leaving a joint press conference in Jerusalem, November 19, 2020 © REUTERS - POOL
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4 min
Second day of visit for Mike Pompeo in Israel.
The US Secretary of State is currently making his probable last tour of the Near and Middle East.
A tour against the backdrop of the fight against Iranian influence in the region, a workhorse shared with the Israeli authorities.
But this Thursday, Mike Pompeo especially wanted to show unconditional support for Israel.
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With our correspondent in Jerusalem
,
Guilhem Delteil
In Jerusalem, alongside a smiling Mike Pompeo, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu recalled everything the Trump administration had already done for Israel: recognizing Jerusalem as the country's capital, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights, acceptance of Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
But the US
Secretary of State
took advantage of this visit to make a new announcement.
It targets the boycott movement of Israel, denounced by the country's leaders.
“
We will regard the global anti-Israel BDS campaign as anti-Semitic.
We will immediately take action to identify organizations that have engaged in hateful BDS behavior and withdraw US government support from them.
We want to stand with all other nations who recognize BDS as the cancer that it is and we are committed to fighting it.
"
"
Israel is deeply grateful to you
"
Strong gesture, Mike Pompeo also wanted to show that he supported Israel beyond its internationally recognized borders by becoming the first US Secretary of State to visit a West Bank colony and
the Golan Heights
.
For all his action, Mike Pompeo has obtained the gratitude of the Israeli Prime Minister.
“
Israel is deeply grateful to you, Mike, for your continued support.
As director of the CIA as well as head of the State Department, you have strengthened the alliance between Israel and the United States
”, welcomed Benyamin Netenyahu.
"
I wish many more years of a fruitful partnership between our two countries,
" concluded Mike Pompeo, who did not recognize the results of the US presidential election and who seems to have personal ambitions for 2024.
Visit of a colony
As he said, the Secretary of State then made the first visit by a US foreign minister to an Israeli settlement.
He went to the Psagot vineyard, whose offices are located in the industrial area of Shaar Benjamin, which is part of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, his services confirmed.
Israeli colonization in the Palestinian Territories has boomed in recent years under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu and since the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House.
More than 450,000 Israelis live in settlements, deemed illegal by international law, in the West Bank, a territory occupied by Israel since 1967 and home to approximately 2.8 million Palestinians.
In November 2019, almost a year ago to the day, Mike Pompeo claimed that these settlements were no longer, according to Washington, contrary to international law.
During his visit to Shaar Benjamin, the US Secretary of State indicated that the United States would label exports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as coming directly from Israel.
"
All producers in areas where Israel exercises its authority
...
will have to mark their products
" Israel "," Produced in Israel "
or
" Made in Israel "
when exporting to the United States,
" he said. he specified in a press release, after his visit to the Psagot vineyard.
Mike Pompeo is yet to make, this Thursday, an equally unprecedented trip to the annexed Syrian Golan Heights.
►
To read: West Bank: Palestinians are outraged
by Pompeo's visit to an illegal colony
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