BICOM

 

Donald Trump yesterday became the first sitting US President to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The President and his wife Melania began their tour of the Old City of Jerusalem with a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. The delegation then drove to the Western Wall that was cleared of Jewish worshippers for the visit. Trump touched the stones; the last remnants of the outer wall of the Jewish temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, and put a note inside in accordance with tradition.

The Western Wall is the Jewish people’s holiest place of prayer and was captured along with the rest of the Old City and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and annexed by Israel as part of a unified capital. Israel is due to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of the capture of the Old City on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Prime Minister’s residence later in the day, President Trump said: “I was deeply moved by my visit to the Western Wall. Words fail to capture the experience. It will leave an impression on me forever.”

Earlier in the day, the President met Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and told a joint press conference that his visit to Saudi Arabia left him encouraged about the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Trump said Israel was an “amazing” country and vowed to tackle the nuclear threat from Iran.  He said: “The United States and Israel can declare with one voice that Iran can never be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.”

He added that Iran “must cease its training and funding of terror groups and militias”.

President Rivlin said: “Our destiny — Palestinians and Jews — is to live together in this land, Mr. President. We must build trust and cooperation between us. But in order to achieve this we need new ideas, new energy, that will help us move forward, together.”