Israeli settlement gets Pompeo visit
Official: U.S. to label boycotters anti-semitic
JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday became the first top American diplomat to visit an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank as the State Department in a policy shift announced that products from the settlements can be labeled “Made in Israel.”
The two moves reflected the Trump administration’s acceptance of Israeli settlements.
Pompeo also announced that the U.S. would brand the international Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel as “anti-semitic” and bar any groups that participate in it from receiving government funding.
It was not clear which groups would be affected by the move.
Pompeo’s announcements were largely symbolic and could be reversed by the incoming administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
In a Twitter post, Pompeo confirmed his visit to the Psagot winery, located in a settlement near Jerusalem.
“Enjoyed lunch at the scenic Psagot Winery today,” he tweeted. “Unfortunately, Psagot and other businesses have been targeted by pernicious EU labeling efforts that facilitate the boycott of Israeli companies. The U.S. stands with Israel and will not tolerate any form of delegitimization.”
The European Union opposes Israeli settlements and requires imports from the occupied territory to be labeled as coming from the West Bank.
Pompeo later visited the Golan Heights, a plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed.
Pompeo was joined by Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Avigdor Kahalani, a decorated retired Israeli general famous for leading Israeli forces against a Syrian tank invasion during the 1973 Mideast war.
“You can’t stand here and stare out at what’s across the border and deny the central thing that President Trump recognized, what the previous presidents have refused to do,” Pompeo said. “This is a part of Israel and a central part of Israel.”
Pompeo had announced the U.S. will regard the Palestinian-led boycott movement as “anti-semitic” and cut off government support for any organizations taking part in it.
“We will regard the global, anti-israel BDS campaign as anti-semitic,” Pompeo said, referring to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
“We will immediately take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful BDS conduct and withdraw U.S. government support for such groups,” he said, adding that all nations should “recognize the BDS movement for the cancer that it is.”
The EU’S former foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said while in office that she opposed BDS but backed the movement’s right to call for boycotts as freedom of speech.