Western Wall rabbi said to rule out Pence presser at holy site
Report says Shmuel Rabinowitz denied request citing religious objections, but privately feared potential for violence
The chief rabbi of the Western Wall reportedly rejected an American request for US Vice President Mike Pence to hold a press conference at the Jerusalem holy site during his trip to Israel later this week.
While making preparations for the visit, US diplomats inquired last week about holding a press conference for reporters accompanying Pence at either the Western Wall Plaza or Western Wall Tunnels, Channel 10 reported Monday.
Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz rejected the request, however, arguing it would be inappropriate to hold a press conference at the religious site. According to the report, Rabinowitz said in private that his main concern was the threat of renewed violence due to the press conference likely conveying a political message, coming exactly two weeks after US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The report said the US is now searching for an alternative site nearby in which to hold the press conference.
Pence is set to land in Israel on Wednesday and while here is scheduled to light a Hannukah menorah at the Western Wall, which stands adjacent to the Temple Mount, the holiest place in Judaism and site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest shrine.
Hebrew media reports on Friday said Pence would visit the Wall in his role as vice president and not in a private capacity, as Trump did in May. Trump was the first ever US president to visit the site while in office.
After Trump’s December 6 announcement, in which the US president stressed the city’s borders should be determined in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and access to holy sites shouldn’t be impeded, a senior administration official told reporters on Friday that the White House “envisions” the Western Wall will remain part of Israel under any accord with the Palestinians.
“We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not be part of Israel,” the official said. “But as the president said [in his speech on Jerusalem], the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement.”
Furthermore, the official added, “We note that we cannot imagine Israel would sign a peace agreement that didn’t include the Western Wall.”
The Western Wall, along with the rest of the Old City, lies in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel maintains the entire city is its undivided capital.
Trump’s declaration, in which he also said he would move the US embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, has infuriated the Palestinians, with the Palestinian Authority refusing to meet with Pence during his trip to the region.
PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party has called for a day of rage to coincide with Pence’s visit.
On Monday the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning its recognition of Jerusalem. An Abbas spokesman called the veto “unacceptable” and a threat to international stability.
The US was the only country in the Security Council to vote against the measure. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Trump and America’s envoy to the UN Nikki Haley for vetoing the resolution, saying “truth defeated lies.”
