Israeli winemaker Yaakov Berg captured the attention of many
when he named his red wine after US Secretary Mike Pompeo, the first top US
diplomat to be visiting the West Bank settlement.

But Berg also insists that the tag on the label’s top right
corner — #madeinlegality — is as important as the name, as per an AFP report.

Berg is the owner of the Psagot Winery, which sits on a
hilltop in the occupied West Bank, and overlooks the Palestinian village of
Mukhmas.

For much of the international community, the winery is
located in Palestinian territory illegally seized by the Jewish settlers.

Pompeo’s visit to a West Bank settlement has outraged the
Palestinians. The diplomat is visiting Israel to iron over the details of
Abraham Accords—a treaty it brokered between Israel and UAE in September this
year.

He may be the first diplomat, but he is not the only top
US official to have visited the settlements.

Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump
have visited the controversial territory during their tenure. The region is
administrated by Israel and Palestinian Authority as per the 1993 Oslo Accords,
but the two are at dispute with each other over Israel’s encroaching space to
build settlements in the PA-held territory.

Berg spoke to AFP on Wednesday, the day before Pompeo’s
visit at his restaurant.

In his interview given to the agency, Berg expressed his jubilation
at the fervent support Israel has received from the Trump administration.

Pompeo’s support will ensure he is remembered by Jews
“100 years from now,” Berg told the agency.

“I felt like we need to honour him, to thank him, to
really show some appreciation,” Berg said about the decision to name a
wine after him.

For Berg, the #madeinlegality label affixed to his Pompeo
blend is not a branding gimmick but a statement about “morality”.

His idea of morality also received a boost from Pompeo, when
during his visit, he announced that the US is to consider goods made in
settlements as ‘Made in Israel’.

“We are not thieves. We didn’t (steal) this land,”
he told AFP, categorically rejecting the notion that his winery is on land
where Israelis do not belong.

According to the Israeli anti-occupation organisation Peace
Now, the Psagot Winery is on “stolen land”, taken incrementally from
the Palestinians who owned it, AFP reported.

“A significant portion of the grapes from which the
wine is made from plundered soil,” Peace Now said.

It called Pompeo’s visit “a last pathetic attempt to
undermine the prospects for peace by normalising the settlements”.

Berg, on the other hand, emphasised the right of Israelis to
live in West Bank as fundamental, saying that it would be unrealistic of anyone
to consider Jews to leave Judea and Samaria, calling the West Bank territory by
its ancient name.

“We are here forever,” he said. “We have been
praying to come back to Israel and specifically to here for 2,000 years … We
didn’t conquer. We just came to our homeland.”