Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo received the 'Crown of Israel' award from the Israel Heritage Foundation (IHF) on Sunday.

Speaking to Israel National News from the ceremony in Manhattan, Pompeo graciously praised the members of his team for contributing to his success as Secretary of State in terms of the relationship with Israel, which he described as "central to American national security."

“It was given to me in recognition of the work that so many people on my team did supporting the relationship with the United States and Israel which is central to American national security and it's obviously important to me as a Christian as well,” Pompeo said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel and made statements about what he defined as “settler violence” and spoke against building in Judea and Samaria. Given the Sunday terrorist attack that occurred in Israel that appears to be connected to ISIS, what does he think about Blinken’s message?

“it's inconsistent with reality,” he says. “We know the truth, that Israel’s not an apartheid nation, is not an occupier, that Judea and Samaria are indeed the rightful homeland of the Jewish people. We said during my time as secretary of state that not every settlement is illegal per se as the UN had said for an awfully long time. We changed U.S. policy. They have taken a very unbalanced position in this administration, much to the detriment of American security, and certainly to the rightful place of the Jewish people in their homeland.”

Pompeo explains that the potential new Iranian nuclear deal appears to be much worse than the first deal, which the Trump administration exited.

“They're going to end up relieving sanctions. That'll probably accrue some 90 billion dollars in benefits to the Ayatollah. For those who are worried about terror around the world, for those who are worried about the Iranian people themselves, for those who are concerned about a nuclear weapon in the hands of a religious theocrat running Iran: 90 billion dollars is bad."

"This this is an enormous mistake," he adds. "They're going to lift sanctions on people who have killed Americans and kill people all across the world. The deal that they're going to strike is going to be weaker than the one they had before. It's going to be less meaty, less intrusive in inspections than the one that they had before. It does nothing to prevent Iran from ultimately getting a nuclear weapon and a nuclear weapons program.”

Pompeo believes that Israel has the ability to change the deal by voicing its concerns and providing reasons why the deal should not go forward.

“To articulate rational reasons why this deal ought not to move forward, Israel should certainly do that,” he explains. “Peace loving people all around the world, those who worry about nuclear proliferation in the world, we should all continue to make the case for why this administration ought not to do it. I hope that ultimately they come to a conclusion that's different than the one they've been pushing for 15 months.”

In terms of the Russian war with Ukraine, Pompeo praised Israeli leadership for attempting to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

“I’ve seen what the Israeli leadership is trying to do. They're trying to find a way to bring the the stalemate to a peaceful ceasefire conclusion. That is going to be necessary. We're going to have to get to that point. I applaud them for that effort. I think Israel was very clear that they knew who the aggressor is here. They know who the victims are here. They've been very plain about that. I applaud their efforts to try to mediate between the two sides.”

Pompeo recalled that during his term as Secretary of State, his support for Israel was deeply personal.

“It always starts with an understanding of belief about how it is you take care of the American people,” he says. “That's your duty as a secretary of state but it's very personal for me as well. I care deeply about this relationship. I had studied it when i was a cadet when I studied the '67 and '73 wars. I knew the history of this place, its diplomatic history, its military history, the history of it's great people. I now know the importance of its economy as well. These are all things that we were passionate about because it made good sense for the United States of America to have a deep and abiding relationship with the nation of Israel.”