U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accompanied Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on Thursday in the first such gesture since Washington recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, angering Palestinians.
Israel has long considered all of Jerusalem as its eternal, indivisible capital, while Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
Shortly after entering office in January 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump visited the Western Wall, though without Netanyahu.
Later that year Trump reversed decades of U.S. policy and officially recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, though making clear that he was not prejudging a settlement on where the city's borders should be.
Since that shift, the U.S. ambassador to Israel has paid visits to the Western Wall along with Netanyahu. Pompeo suggested that his own visit as the top U.S. diplomat in Netanyahu's presence was significant.
Pompeo, Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador David Friedman together approached the wall and each leaned against its massive stones with one hand. Pompeo then placed a prayer note between the stones, as is customary.
