Pompeo in Israel for meetings on annexation, Iran and China

JERUSALEM — With Israel preparing to annex territory in the occupied West Bank, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Jerusalem on Wednesday promising to push ahead with the Trump administration’s proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Pompeo also addressed efforts to fight the coronavirus and to stop Iran’s nuclear project and contain its expansionist moves in the Middle East.

But in brief remarks alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo revealed China was also on the agenda.

“You’re a great partner,” he said to Netanyahu. “You share information, unlike some other countries that try and obfuscate and hide information. We’ll talk about that country, too.”

But Pompeo’s pointed reference to China was not just a surprising attempt to draw Israel into a dispute on the U.S. side; it was also an allusion to a source of growing friction between Israel and the U.S.

Israel has antagonized Washington by allowing Chinese companies to make major infrastructure investments in recent years, including in sensitive locations. In Haifa, a company majority-owned by the Chinese government has struck a 25-year lease to run Israel’s commercial seaport; it is a frequent port of call for the U.S. Navy’s 6th Fleet.

Netanyahu appeared to gently but firmly push back. “The most important thing is actually generating the information and then sharing the information,” Netanyahu said, an unmistakable reference to the Israeli intelligence services’ track record of developing information of value to the United States.