The secretary of state “declared” in a meeting, according to Haley, “that he wanted to be on record opposing the move.”

By World Israel News Staff 

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says that the previous secretary of state in the Trump administration, Rex Tillerson, opposed the president’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and tried to stop it from happening.

In her new book, With All Due Respect, Haley – who stepped down as U.N. envoy at the end of 2018 – says Tillerson was her biggest adversary in the administration.

Trump announced American recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017. The dedication of the new embassy took place in May 2018.

Tillerson left as secretary of state at the end of March 2018. He was replaced by Mike Pompeo.

Haley writes of her own support for the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, arguing that it was “simply common sense” because  “in virtually every country in the world, the U.S. embassy is located in the host country’s capital city.”

She charges that Tillerson, among others in the administration “seemed to be thinking primarily about how the decision would affect their reputation.”

The secretary of state “declared” in a meeting, according to Haley, “that he wanted to be on record opposing the move.”

Others in the cabinet argued that moving the embassy “would set off violence that would damage the peace process,” she writes in her book.

Haley also asserts that some top administration officials, including Tillerson and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, wanted her help in acting against the president in order to “save the country,” but that she declined.

They said that the president “didn’t know what he was doing,” writes the former ambassador, and believed that it was “their decisions, not the president’s, that were in the best interests of America,” adds Haley, who was interviewed by CBS ahead of Tuesday’s release of the book.

“Instead of saying that to me, they should’ve been saying that to the president, not asking me to join them on their sidebar plan,” said Haley in the interview which aired on Sunday.

“It should’ve been, ‘Go tell the president what your differences are, and quit if you don’t like what he’s doing.’ But to undermine a president is really a very dangerous thing,” according to the former U.N. ambassador.

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“It bothers me that an ally that close and important to us would do that to us,” Tillerson reportedly said about Israel.

By World Israel News Staff 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says “it’s always useful to carry a healthy amount of skepticism” when talking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Speaking on Tuesday at Harvard University, Tillerson charged that despite the close relationship with Israel, Washington had to be wary of its close ally because of a tendency on Israel’s part to share “misinformation” to persuade the U.S. of something if necessary, reports The Harvard Gazette.

Tillerson, who served as secretary of state under President Donald Trump from February 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018, was paying a daylong visit to the university organized by the American Secretaries of State Project, says the Gazette.

His visit this week to Harvard included a “private talk about his time as the nation’s top diplomat,” according to the university publication.

“It bothers me that an ally that’s that close and important to us would do that to us,” Tillerson reportedly told the gathering about Israel, referring to his accusation of Israeli misinformation.

“They did that with the president on a couple of occasions, to persuade him that ‘We’re the good guys, they’re the bad guys.’ We later exposed it to the president so he understood, ‘You’ve been played,’” said Tillerson.

The former secretary is also said to have expressed frustration with Trump, saying that instead of relying more heavily on his secretary of state, the president solicited foreign policy advice from outsiders and handed over responsibility for such a key issue as an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord to his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“I did believe that we were at a moment in time where perhaps we could chart a way where the Arab world could support an outcome that the Palestinians might not think was perfect…but with enough encouragement, pressure from the Arab world, that we could get it close enough that the Palestinians would finally agree,” said Tillerson on Tuesday, according to the Harvard Gazette.

“In my view, it was a two-state solution,” he added, though the Trump administration has not been consistent and clear on whether it envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of the solution.

Asked what he would be recommending now regarding a U.S. response to last Saturday’s bombings on Saudi oil facilities, Tillerson said he would urge waiting until forensics can provide the best available information about who is responsible before taking any action, though he acknowledged that it “may be very hard to do.”

Trump responded to the attacks by saying they had Iran “written all over it.”

Current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the bombings “an act of war” but did not say what military response might follow.

“I have no doubt we’re going to find Iran’s fingerprints on this attack, but we may not find their hands on it,” Tillerson said, according to the Harvard publication.

Tillerson said the U.S. should take its case to the U.N. Security Council and build a global coalition for additional sanctions, said the Gazette, rather than trying to implement unilateral sanctions, which he argued Iran could manage.

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It appears that President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, CIA director Mike Pompeo, views Israel favorably and sees the Iran nuclear deal as fatally flawed.

By: Ebin Sandler, World Israel News

By all accounts, President Donald Trump is preparing to nominate CIA chief Mike Pompeo to serve as the next US Secretary of State following Trump’s dismissal of Rex Tillerson earlier in the week. Tillerson and Trump failed to see eye to eye on the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran, which the president is determined to either significantly alter or eliminate completely.

In the past, Pompeo’s positions on Israel have reflected an appreciation for the Jewish state’s role in maintaining stability in the Middle East. According to former Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, Pompeo has a very positive disposition toward Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported. Oren’s comments were based on interactions with Pompeo when the latter served as a congressman representing Kansas.

Oren explained to the Post that Pompeo breaks the mold of many State Department career employees and appointees, whom he says pursue an Arabist worldview in their positions at the agency. Oren cited as examples of this posture former Secretaries of State John Kerry, Condoleezza Rice, and Madeleine Albright.

Pompeo has been described in the past as “a friend of American Jews and a true friend of Israel” by Matt Brooks, who leads the Republican Jewish Coalition. During a 2015 visit to Israel as a congressman from Kansas, Pompeo was briefed by the Israel Police and made a stop at the Western Wall. At that time, Pompeo lauded Israelis’ “admirable restraint in the face of unspeakably cruel attacks,” in reference to a wave of Palestinian terrorism, including a rash of fatal stabbings.

With regard to Iran, Pompeo unequivocally criticized the nuclear deal signed with the Islamic Republic in 2015, subsequently tweeting that he advocates “rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.” Pompeo favors extending sanctions on Iran, in addition to taking further actions to reign in the nation’s regional aggression and nuclear ambitions.

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President Donald Trump stopped briefly to explain to reporters why he fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and nominated CIA director Mike Pompeo.

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President Donald Trump took to Twitter to comment on the work of his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, whom Trump believes should “save his energy” rather than to try to negotiate peace with North Korea.

The post WATCH: Trump calls North Korea negotiations ‘wasting time’ with ‘little rocket man’ appeared first on World Israel News.

Rex Tillerson emphasized that one of the reasons the US is reviewing its Iran policy is that, ‘Iran maintains a longstanding hostility towards Israel, providing weapons, training, and funding to Hamas.’

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US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sent a letter late Tuesday to House Speaker Paul Ryan, advising him that President Trump is reviewing the Iran nuclear deal to determine whether there are grounds to reinstate sanctions on the Islamic Republic based on its sponsorship of terror.

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A White House foreign policy adviser says the type of missile North Korea used in its failed launch exploded within 4-5 seconds.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency says China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula in a phone call Sunday amid escalating tensions in the region.

It was unclear exactly when the conversation took place on Sunday, but Xinhua’s report of the call came out after a failed missile launch by North Korea. The report included no further details on the call between State Councilor Yang and Tillerson. China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China, North Korea’s most important ally and key provider of food and fuel aid, has sought to cool tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs, repeatedly calling for dialogue.

US officials say the Trump administration’s emphasis will be on increasing pressure on Pyongyang with the help of China.

A White House foreign policy adviser says the type of missile North Korea tried to fire on Sunday was medium-range, and it exploded 4-5 seconds after it was launched.

According to the adviser, the US had good intelligence both before and after the launch. The adviser is traveling with Vice President Mike Pence, who arrived in Seoul in the afternoon to start a 10-day trip to Asia.

No planned response is expected from the Trump administration because the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the administration’s initial understanding of the launch, said there was no need for the US to reinforce the failure.

The official said that had it been a nuclear test, “other actions would have been taken by the US.”

North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests, including two last year. Recent satellite imagery suggests the country could conduct another underground nuclear test at any time.

By: AP

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North Korea tested a new rocket engine, which the regime claims is meant for its “peaceful” space program. 

North Korea has conducted a ground test of a new type of high-thrust rocket engine that leader Kim Jong Un is calling a revolutionary breakthrough for the country’s space program, the North’s state media said Sunday.

Kim attended Saturday’s test at the Sohae launch site, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which said the test was intended to confirm the “new type” of engine’s thrust power and gauge the reliability of its control system and structural safety

Kim called the test “a great event of historic significance” for the country’s indigenous rocket industry, the KCNA report said.

He said the “whole world will soon witness what eventful significance the great victory won today carries” and claimed the test marks what will be known as the “March 18 revolution” in the development of the country’s rocket industry.

A Peaceful North Korean Missile?

The report indicated that the engine is to be used for North Korea’s space and satellite-launching program.

North Korea is banned by the United Nations from conducting long-range missile tests, but it claims its satellite program is for peaceful use – a claim that many in the US and elsewhere believe is questionable.

North Korean officials have said that under a five-year plan, they intend to launch more Earth observation satellites and what would be the country’s first geostationary communications satellite — which would be a major technological advance.

Getting that kind of satellite into place would likely require a more powerful engine than what was used previously. The North also claims it is trying to build a viable space program that would include a moon launch within the next 10 years.

A Deliberate Provocation?

The test was conducted as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in China on a swing through Asia that has been closely focused on concerns over how to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

It’s hard to know whether this test was deliberately timed to coincide with Tillerson’s visit, but Pyongyang has been highly critical of ongoing US-South Korea wargames just south of the Demilitarized Zone and often conducts some sort of high-profile operation of its own in protest.

Earlier this month, it fired off four ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan, reportedly reaching within 200 kilometers (120 miles) of Japan’s shoreline.

Japan, which was Tillerson’s first stop before traveling to South Korea and China, hosts tens of thousands of US troops.

While building better long-range missiles and smaller nuclear warheads to pair with them, North Korea has marked a number of successes in its space program.

It launched its latest satellite — the Kwangmyongsong 4, or Brilliant Star 4 — into orbit on Feb. 7 last year, just one month after conducting what it claims was its first hydrogen-bomb test.

It put its first satellite in orbit in 2012, a feat few other countries have achieved. In 2013, rival South Korea launched a satellite into space from its own soil for the first time, though it needed Russian help to build the rocket’s first stage.

By: AP

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed at Maryland’s Andrews Air Force Base Monday night ahead of meetings with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Democratic and Republican Congress leaders, culminating in his first meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

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Unaware that the cameras were still rolling, Washington Post reporter Doris Truong was caught on film sneaking photos of Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson’s personal notes at a break in his confirmation hearing in the Senate.

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During Senate confirmation hearing, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State criticized John Kerry for his Dec. 28 speech condemning Israeli “settlements” and committed to fully support Israel. 

Rex Tillerson, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US Secretary of State, criticized his would-be predecessor, outgoing US Secretary of State John Kerry, on Wednesday for his speech on the Middle East peace process on December 28. Kerry delivered the speech shortly after the UN Security Council passed a resolution condemning any Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria, with the US failing to veto the resolution.

“The secretary’s speech, which followed that UN resolution, I found quite troubling because of the attacks on Israel and in many ways undermining the government of Israel itself in terms of its own legitimacy and the talks,” said Tellerson during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

In the speech, Kerry not only focused primarily on criticizing Israeli “settlements” in Judea and Samaria but also attacked the composition of the current Israeli government by referring to it as “the most right wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by the most extreme elements.” The United Kingdom condemned Kerry for those remarks the next day.

Tillerson also criticized the UN resolution, arguing that it actually hindered any progress in peace talks.

“The UN resolution that was passed, in my view, is not helpful,” Tillerson contended. “It actually undermines a good set of conditions for talks to continue.”

Tillerson also stressed that he will fully support Israel as Secretary of State.

“We have to recommit that we’re going to meet our obligations to Israel as our most important strategic partner in the region,” he added. “Israel is, has always been and remains our most important ally in the region.”

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News

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US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to choose political outsider Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil, as secretary of state, according to sources close to the transition team.

Former Republican candidate Mitt Romney appeared publicly last month to praise Trump in hopes of landing the job, after earlier calling him “a fraud.”

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