Pompeo visits Israel museum honoring Christian Zionists

JERUSALEM (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up a trip to Israel on Friday with a visit to a museum in Jerusalem that honors Christian Zionists and was founded by a prominent evangelical adviser to the Trump administration.

The museum visit came a day after Pompeo became the first secretary of state to visit an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. He also announced a new policy allowing settlement products exported to the U.S. to be labeled “made in Israel” and a new initiative to combat the Palestinian-led international boycott movement.

Christian Zionism is a belief by some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land and the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 were in accordance with biblical prophecy.

The Friends of Zion Museum was founded by Mike Evans, a prominent evangelical supporter of Israel. Evangelical Christians are among President Donald Trump's most loyal supporters and have hailed his unprecedented support for Israel. They would also be an important constituency should Pompeo pursue elected office following Trump's presidency.

Pompeo did not deliver any public remarks at the museum and departed Israel midday.

The Trump administration has broken with decades of U.S. policy to support Israel's claims to territory seized in war and to isolate and weaken the Palestinians.

It moved the U.S. Embassy to contested Jerusalem, adopted the position that settlements are not contrary to international law, recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights — which Pompeo also visited on Thursday — and released a Mideast plan that overwhelmingly favored Israel and was rejected by the Palestinians. It has also adopted a “maximum pressure” campaign against Israel's archenemy Iran while brokering normalization agreements with Arab nations.

The moves Pompeo...