U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo disembarked his airplane after landing at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, on November 18, 2020. The secretary was greeted by U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Chief of Protocol Gil Haskel.
? Welcome back to Israel, and Mrs. Pompeo! On the agenda: furthering peace via the , security cooperation to benefit the region, and defending religious freedom and shared values. pic.twitter.com/xtrpDFaLa0
— USEmbassyJerusalem (@usembassyjlm)
Israeli media folks were immediately engaged in a hot debate over the Secretary of State was flying on board Air Force One or Air Force Two.
זה אירפורס 2https://t.co/CmRVBHWZom
— Amir Levin ? (@amirlevin)
זה לא! אייר פורס 1!!
— Efi Weiss (@EfiWeiss)
We checked. Air Force Two, which normally serves the Vice President of the United States, Boeing C-32, a variant of the 757, recognizable for its upturned wing folds. There are two aircraft serving as Air Force One, both are Boeing VC-25, which has a flat wing.
If you focus on the slowly taxiing plane you should be able to see that its wing is folded, which leads this reporter to believe Mike Pompeo borrowed VP Pence’s Air Force Two for the trip to Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold a trilateral meeting with Secretary Pompeo and Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdel Altif bin Rashd Alziani at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem.