Pompeo Charts Controversial Itinerary for Israel Visit

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Israel on Wednesday as part of a three-day farewell tour of the region. While in Israel, he will meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, and attend a special summit with Netanyahu and Bahrain’s foreign minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani. The Bahraini envoy, leading the first-ever official delegation from Manama, touched down at Ben-Gurion Airport several hours before Pompeo arrived and was welcomed by Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi. During his stay in Israel, Pompeo will conduct two highly controversial and unprecedented tours for an American diplomat. He will visit a winery in a settlement in the West Bank, and go sightseeing in the Golan Heights, both territories that were conquered by Israel during the 1967 war and have since remained in dispute according to international resolutions.