State Department will help US businesses threatened by UNHRC blacklist
Pompeo announced that the State Department released official guidance on the subject only hours before his address.
By LAHAV HARKOVU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers remarks during the AIPAC convention at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, U.S., March 2, 2020.(photo credit: REUTERS//TOM BRENNER)
WASHINGTON – The State Department will take action against the harassment of businesses blacklisted by the “UN’s so-called human rights council” for operating in the West Bank, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the AIPAC Policy Conference.Pompeo announced that the State Department released official guidance on the subject only hours before his address.“Neither the UN Human Rights Council nor the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights can tell you what to do,” he said on Monday. “If you face harassment, let America know and the US will respond to take action [to help] members of our business community that are being threatened by this release that was so sorely mistaken.”The secretary of state called the blacklist “a real threat,” but also said that all it does is strengthens BDS and delegitimizes Israel.“This was an organization set up to ensure no one ever endured suffering like Jews did in the Holocaust, and now it is antisemitic,” Pompeo said, adding that the “UN’s so-called human rights council... betrays its most fundamental mandate.”Pompeo reiterated the Trump administration’s position, the “common-sense truth, that settlements aren’t per se inconsistent with international law.”He also spoke out against 106 members of Congress who wrote him a letter protesting the Trump administration’s policies toward Israel.“What damages peace is not recognizing truth, and recognizing truth is what our administration has done... What damages and discredits the US is denying that Palestinian terrorism has been the real obstacle to peace. What discredits the relationship is when you deny the settlement issue is a political dispute,” he stated.US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also touted the administration’s position on settlements, saying in response to those complaining that Israelis will remain in the West Bank under the Trump peace plan that “Judea and Samaria will not be judenrein,” referring to the term used by the Nazis meaning “free of Jews.”The new State Department opinion issued by Pompeo says Israel has an “unassailable” right to build in the West Bank, Friedman said, mocking “hysteria [that] overcame the progressive Left” about the new policy.
Friedman said to those who accuse the Trump peace plan of being too pro-Israel: “Sure it is pro-Israel on the issue of security. Security is not a game and it is not political. Security... is life and death. We will never compromise Israel’s security. And by keeping this pledge we are ensuring the security of the Palestinians as well.”The ambassador warned against supporting people who are inconsistent in their support of Israel.When politicians say they will support Israel’s security, Friedman said, “you should make sure they will not return to the disastrous Iran deal and make sure they will not impose their view as to how Israel should defend itself. If you get the wrong answers to these questions, I would suggest you run, don’t walk, from these so-called friends. The Trump administration demonstrates not in words, but deeds and in detail, just how committed we are to Israel’s security.“I have wanted to say this for a while to my friends on the Left,” Friedman added. “Hating President [Donald] Trump is not an Israel policy.”An AIPAC source expressed dissatisfaction with Friedman’s remarks about critics of the Trump administration, as the organization emphasizes bipartisan support for Israel.
