Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not join US President Donald Trump when he visits the Western Wall during his trip to the region next week, the White House announces.
“No Israeli leader will join President Trump to the Western Wall,” National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster tells reporters during the daily press briefing.
Earlier this week, a US official doing advance work for the president’s trip reportedly told his Israeli counterparts that Netanyahu will not be allowed to accompany Trump when he visits one of Judaism’s holiest sites.
The senior American official reportedly told the Israeli official the Kotel is “not your territory. It’s part of the West Bank.”
The White House promptly sought to distance themselves from that officials remarks.
“The comments about the Western Wall were not authorized communication and they do not represent the position of the United States and certainly not of the president,” a senior administration official told The Times of Israel.
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Tuesday, May 16, 2017
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