Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slams Iran for its record of anti-Semitism and threat to world peace, praises the US-Israel relationship.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday the U.S.-Israel relationship continues its special bond and condemned the rise in worldwide anti-Semitism – citing Iran as being the worst source of inciting hatred against Jews and Israel.
Speaking to the opening plenary of the 2020 American Jewish Committee Global Forum, Pompeo said, “Since 1948, Israel has proven time and again that it’s up to any challenge to the Jewish people’s right to govern themselves in their ancestral homeland. The United States will always support Israel’s right to defend itself.”
Due to the the coronavirus pandemic, the AJC was forced to cancel its annual Global Forum that was originally scheduled to take place in Berlin. However, moving the event online allowed thousands more to participate and hear the speakers, including the keynote address from Pompeo who said that as secretary of state he has been to Israel four times, most recently last month.
“As a Christian, being in Israel is deeply moving, it’s a moving experience for me,” he said.
“The United States and Israel are blessed nations, and we share a very special bond. Our bilateral partnership is all the more vital given the rise in anti-Semitism around the world.”
Pompeo praised AJC for its leadership in combating anti-Semitism around the world, including the implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
“You are confronting the vile BDS movement and textbooks that teach innocent Palestinian children to hate Jews, making peace that much harder,” said Pompeo, adding that “anti-Zionism is indeed anti-Semitism.”
U.S. support for Israel is clearest, he said, when looking at how the Administration has “handled the number one supporter of anti-Semitism, the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“We will continue to squeeze the regime until Iran starts behaving as a normal nation, stops threatening its own people and its neighbors. The mullahs must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon,” Pompeo said.
Declaring that “standing against bad actors is at the core of American values,” the secretary announced that the State Department Commission on Unalienable Rights, which focuses on human rights, will issue next month a report showing how “shared principles bring us closer to friends like Israel.”
On the prospect for advancing the stalled peace process, Pompeo said that “the president’s Vision for Peace is the most realistic path to end the conflict for the good of both the Israeli and Palestinian people.”
In conclusion, Secretary Pompeo declared that “with the AJC’s help, the U.S. and Israel will proudly honor our shared foundation of freedom and democracy, and confront the challenges of the day.”
“We are grateful to Secretary Pompeo for speaking to AJC,” said AJC CEO David Harris. “He addressed our priority concerns in a powerful and principled way, as he has done in each of our encounters.”
