Will Trump Be First Sitting President To Visit Western Wall?
While President Trump’s official itinerary for his visit to Israel later this month has yet to be released, Israeli media has reported that Trump is likely to visit the Western Wall, making him the first sitting president to do so.
Trump will be in Israel May 22-23, shortly before the 50th anniversary of Israel’s capture of the Western Wall and the rest of Jerusalem’s Old City during the Six Day War. The United States, along with most other countries, does not recognize Israel’s claim over the Old City and eastern Jerusalem.
The president’s Western Wall excursion, should it occur, would be “an innovation,” Shlomo Slonim, professor emeritus of American history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the Times of Israel.
While Trump would be the first sitting president to visit the holy site, his four predecessors ventured there before or after their terms.
Trump will deliver a speech at the ancient desert fortress Masada. However, it’s unclear if he will visit Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum..
Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30