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Pompeo to discuss annexation, Iran, China with Israel’s new government

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will arrive in Israel with a long list of issues to discuss the day the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz is sworn in.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slistens during a joint press conference with Israel's health minister regarding preparations and new regulations for the coronavirus, at the Health Ministry in Jerusalem on March 4, 2020. (Photo by GALI TIBBON / AFP) (Photo by GALI TIBBON/AFP via Getty Images)

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel May 13, the day the country's two-headed unity government scheduled to be sworn in. The formation of Israel’s 35th government is supposed to end the political crisis that has plagued Israeli politics for the past year and a half. Pompeo’s visit comes about 500 days after the demise of Israel’s last elected government and on the cusp of a newly elected one.

Three rounds of inconclusive elections over the past year failed to break the political deadlock. The last-minute agreement on a unity government comprising the Likud Party and its election challenger, the Blue and White Party staved off deterioration into a fourth round of elections that could have also exacerbated the pandemic-induced economic downturn and further fueled the battle between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country’s legal and law enforcement authorities.

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