Trump becomes first US president to visit the Western Wall

Trump’s visit to the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem was the first-ever by a sitting US president.

After landing at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv Monday on the first-ever direct flight from Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, US President Donald Trump then visited at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. In another protocol-shattering diplomatic development, his visit was the first-ever by an American president in office to Judaism’s holiest site.

In a highly anticipated – and photographed – gesture, Trump secreted a note in a crack between the weathered, massive 2000-year-old ashlars of the Kotel (Western or Wailing Wall) in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter. His son-in-law Jared Kushner and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson touched the wall and prayed.

Meanwhile, Trump’s wife Melania visited the women’s section of the holy piazza with the president’s daughter, Ivanka – a convert to Judaism – who was seen tearing up with emotion.

Earlier in the afternoon, Trump visited the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Since taking over the White House in January, Trump has expressed his hope to “reach the ultimate deal” on the Middle East peace process. His state visit to Israel includes a meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday in Bethlehem.

By: Gil Zohar, World Israel News

Ivanka TrumpJared KushnerPalestinian AuthorityTillersonWestern Wall