US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Israel Wednesday morning, ahead of planned talks with the leaders of Israel’s soon-to-be-formed national unity government.
A day before the new unity government is sworn in, Pompeo is expected to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and coalition partner MK Benny Gantz to discuss a number of key issues, including US-Israeli cooperation against Iran, efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic, and Israel’s plans to apply sovereignty over large swaths of Judea and Samaria.
On Tuesday, Israel Hayom published an interview with Pompeo on his upcoming meetings with Israeli leaders.
“There are a number of issues that I’m interested in discussing with the Prime Minister and General Gantz,” Pompeo said in the interview. “The threats from the Iranians, how to continue to work together to deter them and prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And I will update [Netanyahu and Gantz] on the progress we’ve been making regarding President Trump’s vision for peace.”
“There are, of course, also a number of issues relating to the coronavirus crisis, including Israeli-American efforts to find a cure.”
Pompeo emphasized that applying sovereignty in parts of Judea and Samaria is Israel’s decision to make, and that he will meet with Israeli leaders to “understand what the new government thinks about that.”
But former US Ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, who served under President Obama, claimed Pompeo was playing down the Trump administration’s eagerness for Israel to apply sovereignty, a move Shapiro says the Trump administration hopes will boost support from evangelical Christians.
"I think the Trump administration very much wants this annexation to happen," said Shapiro, according to AFP.
"It is probably less concerned about the specific boundaries, but it wants to have an achievement in Israeli annexation that it can tout to President Trump's evangelical supporters (and) right-wing Jewish supporters to excite them and energize them."
Pompeo will not meet with the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, after Friedman was found to be suffering from “mild upper-respiratory symptoms”.
Officials from the US Embassy in Israel emphasized that Ambassador Friedman had tested negative for the coronavirus, and that the decision not to attend meetings with Pompeo was taken from "an abundance of caution."