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In last days of Trump administration, Pompeo showers gifts on Israel

Visiting Israel before the end of the administration he serves, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's grandiose gestures and warm reception were clearly the last hurrah of a relationship with a time limit.
Wine labels named after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo await to be put on a bottle at Israeli winemaker Yaakov Berg's Psagot Winery, in the settlers industrial park of Sha'ar Binyamin near the Israeli Psagot settlement in the occupied West Bank north of Jerusalem on November 18, 2020. - Berg's decision to name his red blend after US Secretary Mike Pompeo may capture attention, but for him the hashtag on the label's top right corner "#madeinlegality" is just as important, categorically rejecting the notio

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was wined and dined this week as he paid a sentimental farewell three-day visit to Israel.

Pompeo’s visit spanned the country and he arrived with as many gifts as he could carry. He flew by helicopter to the West Bank settlement Psagot, setting a historic precedent for a visit by a US secretary of state to the settlements. He sipped from a bottle labeled “Pompeo Wine,” an honor second only to the one conferred on his boss, President Donald Trump, who has a future Golan Heights settlement named after him. Pompeo was then choppered off for a rare visit by a US secretary of state to the Golan, an area Trump recognized as sovereign Israeli territory. There, he received a briefing by former army chief and current Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi.

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