Mike Pompeo arrives in Israel in first trip abroad since March
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Israel on Wednesday, on his first foreign trip since March.
Pompeo’s visit comes a day before Israel’s new government is scheduled to be sworn in, ending a stalemate that has paralyzed Israeli politics for more than a year and seen the country hold three elections in a bid to break the deadlock.
Under an agreement between Benjamin Netanyahu, of the right-wing Likud party, and his former rival Benny Gantz, who heads the centrist Blue and White alliance, Netanyahu will serve as prime minister for 18 months before switching places with Gantz in October 2021.
For the first six months, Israel’s emergency government is to deal primarily with the coronavirus outbreak and related economic crisis – with the exception of one major issue: The extension of Israeli sovereignty over its West Bank settlements under US President Donald Trump’s controversial Middle East peace plan announced in January.
Speaking to reporters earlier in the week, David Schenker, a top official overseeing Middle East diplomacy at the State Department, said Pompeo will meet with Netanyahu and Gantz.
Schenker would not comment on potential discussions of annexing Israeli settlements between Pompeo and the Israeli leaders.
Palestinians claim the West Bank for a future state, any Israeli annexation there will likely be met with widespread international backlash. Pompeo last left the US to visit Afghanistan on March 23.
William Walters, a top medical official at the State Department, said the trip to Israel is “highly choreographed” and “very, very safe.”
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David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, will not accompany Pompeo due to “mild upper-respiratory symptoms,” a US Embassy spokesperson said.
“He was tested for Covid-19 and the result was negative. Nevertheless, in an abundance of caution, State Department medical staff have recommended that Ambassador Friedman not be in proximity with Secretary Pompeo,” the spokesperson said. (dpa)
