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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Chris McGreal in New York

Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is ‘not an occupying nation’

Mike Pompeo
Pompeo spoke ahead of the publication of his book, fuelling speculation he is laying the groundwork for a presidential run. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, has defended Israel’s decades-long control of the Palestinian territories by claiming that the Jewish state has a biblical claim to the land and is therefore not occupying it.

Pompeo told the One Decision podcast that his religious beliefs, US strategic interests and his view of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, as a “known terrorist” underpinned his support as the Trump administration’s top diplomat for the shift in US policy away from mediating a two-state solution and toward more openly siding with Israel.

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