McMaster Says Trump to Speak at Israel Museum in Jerusalem During Trip to Jewish State; Masada Visit Not on Itinerary

By Staff Reporter
Posted on 05/16/17 | News Source: Algemeiner

US President Donald Trump’s visit to Israel next week will not include an address at Masada, according to the itinerary laid out by his national security adviser on Tuesday.

Instead, contrary to numerous previous reports, Trump will speak at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Monday, May 22, rather than the following day at the ancient mountaintop fortress in the Judean Desert.

While Trump is in Israel, H.R. McMaster said, he will hold meetings in Jerusalem with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He will also lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, visit the Western Wall and be hosted for dinner by Netanyahu and his wife Sara.

Trump will also stop in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday, May 23, to tour the Church of the Nativity and meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The president, McMaster noted, will not be accompanied by any Israeli politicians at the Western Wall. McMaster declined to say whether the Trump administration considers the Western Wall — located in Jerusalem’s Old City — to be part of Israel, calling the matter a “policy decision.”