Kushner visits Western Wall prior to historic flight en route to UAE
Kushner is currently leading a high level US delegation on a Middle East tour that started in Israel, and will run this week through the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, among others.
By ZACHARY KEYSERKushner visits Western Wall prior to historic flight en route to UAE.(photo credit: WESTERN WALL HERITAGE FOUNDATION)
A United States delegation, led by Senior Advisor to the US President Jared Kushner, visited the Western Wall on Sunday.Kushner was accompanied by United States National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien, Assistant to the President and Special Representative for International Negotiations Avi Berkowitz, outgoing US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook in addition to other senior diplomats who were also present on the tour.Kushner is currently leading a high level US delegation on a Middle East tour that started in Israel, and will run this week through the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and possibly Oman and Morocco.Kushner visits Western Wall prior to historic flight en route to UAE. (The Western Wall Heritage Foundation)While in Israel, the delegation traveled to the Western Wall to pray preceding their trip to the United Arab Emirates in order to consolidate the US-brokered Israel-UAE deal, and convince other countries to get on board.The US diplomats were greeted at the Wall by the Director of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation Mordechai (Suli) Eliav. He gave the delegation a rundown on how the holy site has been operating amid the coronavirus pandemic, in addition to how the Wall serves as a representation for "maintaining the routine of prayer and visits while abiding by directives."Kushner visits Western Wall prior to historic flight en route to UAE. (The Western Wall Heritage Foundation)The Rabbi of the Western Wall Shmuel Rabinowitz penned a personal letter to Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan which he gave to Kushner in order to present to the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince upon his arrival in the Emirates, blessing the newly established diplomatic relations between the UAE and Israel.To sum up the tour, Eilav presented to the delegation the myriad of archaeological findings unearthed at the Western Wall Tunnels over the years - ending the visit with a prayer prior to their flight to Abu Dhabi, praying for the success of peace, for the health of those affected by the coronavirus and a healthy happy new year for all with Rosh Hashanah nearing.Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
