When the Labor Zionists, Revisionists, and writers and poets like Nathan Alterman and Moshe Shamir founded the Movement for Greater Israel in 1967, they never could have dreamed the day would come when not only the nations of the world, but Israelis themselves would act to undermine the Jewish people right to their birthright. For decades, Israelis have wrestled with this notion. As a result, even our greatest friends have refused to recognize Israel's historic right to Hebron and Shiloh, Beit El, and Elon Moreh.
In what seemed like a military operation, a convoy of Israeli Air Force helicopters brought US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's entourage to the Sha'ar Binyamin Industrial Zone. This was the first time a foreign minister of another country had set foot in a "settlement." As soon as Pompeo's feet touched the ground, a long boycott was lifted. His very presence at the site, and of course his statement declaring the Jewish settlement of Judea and Samaria legal, put an end to the 53-year battle. The United States had recognized the Jewish people's moral and historical right to the territories of Judea and Samaria.
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This was not something that happened by chance, or without an understanding of the significance of the move. Quite the opposite. Pompeo visited the Psagot winery to make clear that the Movement for Greater Israel was the natural expression of a moral stance, and that the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria was on solid ground.
Of course, there will be other secretaries and other administrations that will adopt a different stance on the matter. But what's done is done, and the verbal and symbolic statement has been made, and it cannot be taken back. It will serve Israel and its representatives, and certainly those who support the settlement movement, from now on. To every secretary or head of state that says occupied territories and settlements are illegal, we can now reply, "There were US administrations who thought otherwise, and there will be others in the future. Law and morality are not a political game. Our claim to Judea and Samaria is a legitimate one, whether or not you agree."
Pompeo, like US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and other senior administration officials, wanted to do more. If the process for applying sovereignty hadn't gone wrong, Sha'ar Binyamin could have been recognized as Israeli territory right now. And yet, in the absence of sovereignty, and the reasons for this absence will be made clear in the future, Pompeo's statement and his visit are the closest thing to it. When the helicopter carrying a senior US official took off from Sha'ar Binyamin on Thursday, that was the message it was carrying with it to the rest of the world.
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