Weather may change Obama's schedule
Strong winds and heavy haze causes US President Obama to drive, not fly, to Bethlehem and may delay scheduled flight to Jordan
BETHLEHEM - Due to strong winds and hazy weather, United States President Barack Obama's flight from Israel to Jordan, scheduled to depart at 15:15, may be delayed.
The president's itinerary was already changed due to the weather conditions, when he had to travel to Bethlehem by car and not by helicopter as previously planned.
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Due to the possible delay, Route no. 1 may be closed down in both directions from 13:30 until 16:00.
Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
The departure ceremony organizers have decided to disassemble the stage in Ben Gurion International Airport because of the strong winds.
Earlier Friday morning, Obama visited assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 's grave. The US president was accompanied by President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu .
Ben Gurion Airport (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)
Former Prime Minister Rabin's daughter Dalia Rabin, his son Yuval and his grandchildren were also at the site as Obama laid a wreath presented by two US marines and placed a rock on the headstone, a Jewish tradition.
Obama then visited Yad Vashem accompanied by the museum's Chairman Avner Shalev and former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau, a survivor of the Buchenwald Concentration camp who lost both parents in the Holocaust. US Secretary of State John Kerry also joined the visit.
Obama and Netanyahu at Yad Vashem (Photo: Emil Salman)
Obama signed the Yad Vashem guestbook and then said: "We see the barbarism that enfolds when we begin to see other human beings as less than us."
Obama added: "Here on your ancient land let it be said: The state of Israel doesn’t exist because of the Holocaust, but due to the State of Israel, the Holocaust will never happen again."
Earlier Thursday, President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to secure peace and lasting security for the Jewish state.
Telling a lively audience of some 600 university students that the United States is their country's best friend and most important ally, Obama said the US will never compromise in its own commitment to Israel's defense, particularly against threats such as the one posed by Iran and its nuclear program.
But he also stressed that Israel must make peace with the Palestinians if it is to ensure its survival and long-term viability as a homeland for the Jewish people. Israeli occupation of areas that the Palestinians claim for their state must end, he said.
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