Settlement winery unveils ‘Pompeo’ wine in show of appreciation

An Israeli winery in the West Bank has introduced a new bottle named after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, following the top US diplomat’s decision to upend long-held American policy deeming settlements to be illegal.

In a statement issued earlier this week, the central West Bank’s Psagot winery thanked Pompeo, saying he had “recogniz[ed] the Jewish right to self-determination in our historical homeland” in his November announcement.

At the time, Pompeo repudiated a 1978 State Department legal opinion that held that civilian settlements in the territories are “inconsistent with international law,” in a move welcomed by Jerusalem and slammed by the Palestinians as well as much of the international community.

In an apparent jab at the European Court of Justice, which ruled days before Pompeo’s announcement that Israeli goods made in the settlements must be labeled as such, Psagot labeled its latest edition bottles with the hashtag #MadeInLegality.

The new edition is not a new wine flavor but rather a special label printed in honor of Pompeo to be used on several kinds of Psagot’s wines.

The EU decision had been in response to a case brought by Psagot challenging a 2016 ruling by a French court that said goods produced in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights must be marked as originating in an “Israeli settlement.”

Psagot said in a statement that it would continue bringing legal cases around the world against what it deemed as discriminatory labeling requirements targeting settlements.