(VIDEO & PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
Extending his hand at the holiest site where Jews can pray, Vice President Mike Pence visited the Kosel on Tuesday amid tensions with the Palestinians over President Donald Trump’s recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Wearing a Yarmulka on his head, Pence quietly approached the Kosel and placed a small white note of prayer in its cracks. The vice president held his right hand on the wall momentarily, his eyes closed, and stood solemnly to glance at the hallowed wall in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Pence aides called it a “personal visit,” in the same manner in which Trump prayed there during his visit to Israel last year. The vice president was joined by Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, the the Kosel Rav, and Mordechai “Suli” Elias, the director general of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.
[READ: Kosel Rav Rabbi Rabinowitz’s Words to VP Pence Upon His Arrival at the Holy Site]
A privilege to pray at the Western Wall. This is our 4th trip to the Holy Land, but Karen & I never fail to leave without a sense our faith has been renewed – our faith in God, but also our faith in the people of Israel & their commitment to freedom, security & peace. #VPinIsrael pic.twitter.com/DbujemM0fO
— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 23, 2018
The visit to the wall, on Pence’s final day in the Middle East, followed weeks of strained relations with the Palestinians, who have assailed the Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It capped a two-day visit to Israel in which the vice president repeatedly referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and used a high-profile speech to the Knesset to announce plans to speed up the timing of the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem – moving it from Tel Aviv – by the end of 2019.
Trump’s announcement in December declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital has created reverberations through the region and countered decades of U.S. foreign policy.
White House officials said they were hopeful Pence’s meetings with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II might help encourage the leaders to serve as intermediaries with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has denounced Trump’s decision and refused to meet with Pence.
Pence’s appearance at the Kosel was brief and sought to remove politics from the setting — he did not make any public remarks and was not accompanied by any Israeli officials there. Aides said the contents of the note he placed inside the wall would remain private.
When Trump’s ambassador, David Friedman, visited the Kosel for a Chanukah Menorah-lighting ceremony in December, a government minister and deputy minister joined him. At the ceremony, Friedman said it was a “great honor” to be standing in “the capital of the state of Israel.”
(AP)
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One Response
What a great day.
The Second lady looks so reverent.
We are fortunate to have this representative of our great country travel in the Holy Land, and restate our president’s thoughts.