Pompeo Arrives in Israel to Push Mideast Ties – The New York Times

JERUSALEM — As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo touched down in Israel on Monday at the start of a Middle East tour billed as an effort to further regional peace and security, the visit was already stirring controversy.

Mr. Pompeo made it known that he would be using Jerusalem as the backdrop for an address to the Republican National Convention, breaking a longstanding taboo against mixing a diplomatic mission with partisan politics.

For President Trump, and particularly his evangelical Christian supporters, few locations have the resonance of the holy, but fiercely contested, city of Jerusalem.

“Looking forward to sharing with you how my family is more SAFE and more SECURE because of President Trump,” Mr. Pompeo wrote on Twitter. “See you all on Tuesday night!” He ended the post with a U.S. flag emoji.

Soon after landing in Israel, Mr. Pompeo met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

One of Mr. Trump’s signature foreign policy actions was recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017, and relocating the United States Embassy to the city from Tel Aviv a few months later, flouting decades of American policy and international consensus.

As questions arose about the appropriateness of Mr. Pompeo’s planned speech to the convention, which starts on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., the State Department clarified that Mr. Pompeo would be addressing the convention “in his personal capacity.”

“No State Department resources will be used. Staff are not involved in preparing the remarks or in the arrangements for Secretary Pompeo’s appearance. The State Department will not bear any costs in conjunction with this appearance,” the State Department said.

But Wendy R. Sherman, who served as under secretary of state for political affairs in the Obama administration, described the plan to record the address in Jerusalem as “unprecedented and wrong.”

“At a time when peace and security in Middle East is so tough, Jerusalem should not be a prop for the RNC, and @SecPompeo should not be tarnishing the office of SecState,” she said on Twitter.

Halie Soifer, executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America and former national security adviser to Senator Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, called the planned remarks “unprecedented and highly unethical,” adding in a statement, “Trump is once again using Israel to score political points.”

For both Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Netanyahu, the visit will highlight the recent diplomatic coup of reaching an accord, brokered by the Trump administration, for the normalization of ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the Persian Gulf country to agree to establish formal relations with Israel.

In a televised speech on Sunday night, Mr. Netanyahu, appearing in campaign mode for the next Israeli election, which could take place within a few months, said that the deal had opened “a new era of peace in the Middle East” and that he would discuss “expanding the circle of peace,” in his meeting with Mr. Pompeo.

“We are working on peace with other countries,” said Mr. Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud party. “In my assessment, there will be other countries. In the not-too-distant future, we will have peace with other countries.”

Mr. Pompeo’s four-day tour includes planned stops in the United Arab Emirates, as well as Sudan and Bahrain, two more countries that have shown signs of warming ties with Israel.

The State Department said in a statement that Mr. Pompeo would meet in Sudan with Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Abdel Fattah el-Burhan, the country’s top general, to discuss continued American support for the civilian-led transitional government and to “express support for deepening the Sudan-Israel relationship.”

“The U.S. commitment to peace, security, and stability in Israel, Sudan, and among Gulf countries has never been stronger than under President Trump’s leadership,” the statement read.

In Jerusalem, the State Department statement said, Mr. Pompeo would discuss “regional security issues related to Iran’s malicious influence, establishing and deepening Israel’s relationships in the region, as well as cooperation in protecting the U.S. and Israeli economies from malign investors.” Mr. Pompeo was also scheduled to meet with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, both of the centrist Blue and White party.

The intersection of American and Israeli politics can be fraught for both sides, and Mr. Pompeo’s address to the Republican Convention could deal another blow to international relations, further to fraying the bipartisan support that Israel has long considered one of its most strategic assets.

Mr. Netanyahu had a rocky relationship from the outset with President Barack Obama and was also accused of meddling in the 2012 presidential campaign by embracing the Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, in Jerusalem.

Before Mr. Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the United States had long insisted that the city’s status be settled in negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Palestinians claim the eastern half of the city, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war, as the future capital of an independent state. But as a result of the recognition move, the Palestinians curbed their contacts with the Trump administration and have rejected the Trump plan for resolving the Middle East conflict, which they view as biased toward Israel.

At a recent campaign rally in Oshkosh, Wis., Mr. Trump promoted the embassy move to Jerusalem, saying, “That’s for the evangelicals.”

“The evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people,” he added. “That’s right, it’s incredible.”