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Pompeo vows to fight UN blacklist

“Neither the UN Human Rights Council nor the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights can tell you what to do,” said Pompeo.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced during Monday’s AIPAC conference that he will not hold back from helping U.S. companies conducting business in Judea and Samaria, who have found themselves on the UN Human Rights Council’s blacklist.

“Neither the UN Human Rights Council nor the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights can tell you what to do,” Pompeo said.

“If you face harassment, let America know and the U.S. will respond to take action [to help] members of our business community that is being threatened by this release that was so sorely mistaken,” he said.

According to Pompeo, all the UN blacklist does is strengthen the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Notable U.S-based companies that conduct business in Judea and Samaria include Motorola, Airbnb, Trip Advisor, Expedia, and General Mills.

The secretary of state took the opportunity to highlight the strong relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

“Under President Trump, Israel is not a pariah, but a partner, and rightly so. Our special nations share so much: a pioneering spirit; basic rights and freedoms, including religious freedom and pluralism; rough-and-tumble politics,” Pompeo said.

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“Indeed, Israel loves democracy so much, today they are holding their third election. They cannot get enough of them,” he quipped.

Pompeo also slammed a letter he received in November from 106 members of congress that criticized President Trump’s favorable attitude towards Israel.

Their claim was that this “discredited the United States as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” and “endangered the security of America, Israel, and the Palestinian people,” Pompeo said.

“You know what discredits the United States. What damages peace, what endangers security, is not recognizing the truth. The truth must be spoken, and it’s what President Trump and our administration has done,” he added.