In a historic first US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to visit the Psagot winery in the West Bank and Jesus’ baptismal site in the Jordan Valley as well as the Golan Heights, during his visit to Israel next week, according to a report published in the Hebrew news site Walla on Thursday.
An English version of the story ran in Axios; The Jerusalem Post has learned that Pompeo is indeed weighing a visit to the winery.
Pompeo’s visit would mark the first time a US Secretary of State has visited a West Bank settlement or the Golan.
It’s the latest in a series of steps Pompeo has taken to legitimize Israeli settlement activity. The Trump administration suspended plans to annex the West Bank settlement, as a prerequisite for Israel’s normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates.
A visit by Pompeo, however, is a symbolic gesture that speaks to his support for eventual Israeli sovereignty of all the settlements. It is particularly significant that Pompeo has chosen the Psagot winery, which lost a case before the European Union’s top court on the issue of product labelling.
The winery already has a vintage name for Pompeo in appreciation for his role in the US declaration that West Bank settlements are not inconsistent with international law.
Pompeo is also expected to visit the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and formally annexed in 1981. The Trump administration has recognized Israeli sovereignty on the Golan.
Political pundits have speculated that the Pompeo visit is one of the opening salvos for a potential White House run in 2024.
Yesha Council CEO Yigal Dilmoni said, “We appreciate the declaration Pompeo made about the rights of the Jewish people to the land of Israel. We are happy to host him and to raise a glass of wine together in a toast.”