Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited the Israeli West Bank settlement of Psagot. This is the first time that a high ranking American diplomat visited one of the West Bank settlements, which are considered illegal under international law. What did a Jewish leader once decide to do regarding Secretary Pompeo, explaining “if we would have passed up the opportunity...after everything he’s done for the Jewish people and Israel, I believe he would have been offended in some place.”

Visit of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Austria by U.S. Embassy Vienna is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

A. Last June, Secretary Pompeo was given the Friends of Zion award. The award, commissioned by former Israeli president Shimon Peres, has previously gone to President George W. Bush, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and other world leaders who have demonstrated great support for Israel. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was scheduled to speak at the event, but he was under great pressure to withdraw from the event when shortly before the ceremony, Pompeo announced that the United States no longer viewed Israeli West Bank settlements as illegal. Ultimately, Barak decided to fulfill his commitment to speak.    

B. Amir Peretz, head of Israel’s opposition Labor Party, set up a meeting between Pompeo and Labor Party officials in August, even though the Labor Party largely disagreed with the policies of the Trump administration regarding Jerusalem and the Palestinians. Peretz felt that the meeting was a good idea despite their political differences in case President Trump would be reelected in November.

C. Rabbi Aharon Israel, the head rabbi of Thessaloniki, Greece, agreed to open the city’s Jewish museum for a visit by Secretary Pompeo on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year. Pompeo originally requested a visit to the synagogue, but Rabbi Israel felt that would be too disruptive during Yom Kippur services. Instead, the museum visit was scheduled during an afternoon break.

D. In January 2019, Secretary Pompeo visited Israel, and he was scheduled to tour Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, on Friday at noon. However, the Secretary was delayed as a morning meeting ran long, causing Pompeo to arrive just before the museum’s Friday afternoon closing. The museum’s director, Dorit Novak, decided to keep the museum open past the onset of the start of Shabbat to allow Secretary Pompeo to tour the facility.

E. Secretary Pompeo attended Rosh Hashanah services in 2019 with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at their synagogue, TheShul of the Nation’s Capital. Following a request from Jared, Rabbi Levi Shemtov, spiritual leader of the Chabad synagogue, offered an aliyah to the non-Jewish Pompeo despite this being a violation of Halacha, Jewish law. When asked about the unusual request, Jared Kushner replied, “Hey. It’s not like I asked them to give him the Koheyn!”

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