Pompeo Gives Netanyahu Boost Ahead of U.S. Visit, Israeli Vote
Pompeo Gives Netanyahu Boost Ahead of U.S. Visit, Israeli Vote
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo praised Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint appearance in Jerusalem, a visit just three weeks ahead of national elections in which the Israeli prime minister is trying to fend off corruption allegations and a resurgent opposition.
“I know that you and the president have an outstanding working relationship,” Pompeo said alongside Netanyahu on Wednesday. “He sent me here to build upon that and to represent him here.”
With the April 9 election approaching, Netanyahu has emphasized his close ties with the Trump administration as a key part of his campaign for a fifth term, even adopting Trump’s catchphrases like "Fake News" and "witch hunt" to describe the corruption allegations confronting him.
Pompeo, who isn’t meeting Netanyahu’s chief election rival, ex-military chief of staff Benny Gantz, shrugged off questions about whether his appearance would be seen as an endorsement of the prime minister.
“So there’s always an election,” Pompeo told reporters aboard his plane March 18. “I’m going to Israel because of the important relationship we have.”
Trump has spent much of his two years in office bestowing political gifts on the Israeli leader, including moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. The close relationship contrasts with the more distant ties between Netanyahu and former President Barack Obama, who declined to meet the Israeli leader when he was in Washington weeks before an election in 2015.
Netanyahu will have a chance to further burnish his credentials as a statesman -- and generate camera-ready campaign material -- when he visits the U.S. to attend the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, known as AIPAC, and then meet with Trump next week at the White House. The two leaders will have a “working meeting” on March 25 and a dinner on March 26, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement Wednesday.
While heads of state typically avoid picking favorites in foreign elections, the Israel-U.S. relationship has sometimes deviated from that norm. President George H.W. Bush gave not-so-subtle support to help Yitzhak Rabin defeat Yitzhak Shamir in 1992. Netanyahu made a failed attempt to help Mitt Romney defeat Obama in 2012.
Along with meeting Netanyahu, Pompeo was slated to participate in an evening event on Wednesday with the Israeli leader, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. The event was intended to promote the development of a pipeline that will carry natural gas from Israel to Europe by way of those countries.
The Israel visit is part of a three-nation tour for the chief U.S. diplomat, which also includes Kuwait and Lebanon.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ivan Levingston in New York at ilevingston@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Bill Faries
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