US envoy Nikki Haley visits Western Wall, thanks warm welcome
Following her meetings with Pres. Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Amb. to the UN Nikki Haley vows to keep defending Israel at UN by 'telling the truth'; Haley visits Western Wall on the same day Israel marks 50 years of site's capture during the Six-Day War.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley visited the Western Wall—exactly 50 years after it was captured by Israeli forces in the Six-Day War—and said a prayer.
The Western Wall Heritage Foundation said that Haley received an explanation from the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, about the place and its importance to the Jewish people, and expressed great excitement at the visit. When a fence was put up to separate her from the crowd, she insisted on praying together with all the women who were there at the time, saying she wants to be treated like everyone else.
Haley added that she is "very moved by the warm welcome that the Israeli public is giving me. I do not deserve it, I'm just telling the truth, it hurts very much that only now, after many years, do we openly say the truth."
Before that, Haley visited the Davidson Center, where she was presented with archeological findings from the Second Temple period and an exhibition depicting the unification of Jerusalem.
In her meetings with President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haley said she is seeing a change in perception of Israel at the UN headquarters in New York, declaring: "It is a new day for Israel at the United Nations."
"If there's anything I have no patience for is bullies, and the UN was being such a bully to Israel, because they could," Haley, who harshly criticized the UN Human Rights Council's behavior towards Israel on Tuesday, told Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
