Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Psagot Winery in the Benjamin area today (Sunday) and said that "our decision at the time was to say that Israel does not occupy Judea and Samaria, is not an apartheid state and that the Jewish people have a right to their land.
We want it to be good for everyone but we know what the truth is. '
Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu attended the event, which was his first political appearance outside the Knesset.
Netanyahu told Pompeo that his statement at the time "contributed to the recognition of the Jewish people's right to Judea and Samaria. It is ours, this land of ours. This is a statement of high moral standard and of great geopolitical importance. Israel is the hope of nations not forgetting where the future lies."
Pompeo reiterates his statement regarding American recognition of Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria, Photo: Ariel Kahana
The head of the Binyamin Council, Israel Ganz, said at the event that "establishing a Palestinian state means taking the promised land from the people of Israel. This is something that will not happen."
This is not the first time a senior U.S. official has visited the region.
During the Trump administration about a year ago, Pompeo visited the "Sha'ar Binyamin" industrial and commercial area.
It was, as far as is known, the first time a foreign minister had visited a "settlement," and certainly the first US Secretary of State did so.
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