Friday, March 22, 2013

FOXNews.com: Obama ends Israel visit with sightseeing tour- EXCLUSIVE: Peres: US would strike Iran to stop nukes- Leader says Iran will level cities if Israel attacks

FOXNews.com
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Obama ends Israel visit with sightseeing tour- EXCLUSIVE: Peres: US would strike Iran to stop nukes- Leader says Iran will level cities if Israel attacks
Mar 22nd 2013, 10:55

  • IsraelObamaWreaths.JPG

    Mar. 22, 2013: President Obama, right, with Israeli President Shimon Perez, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, watching, lays a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl during his visit to Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, Israel.AP

JERUSALEM –  Wrapping up a three day visit to Israel, President Obama is paying his respects to heroes of Israel and victims of the Holocaust as well as touring the Biblical birthplace of Jesus Chris.

Accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Obama laid wreaths at the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism who died in 1904 before realizing his dream of a Jewish homeland, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.

Obama and his hosts arrived at the somber Herzl grave site under cloudless skies. Obama approached Herzl's resting place alone and bowed his head in silence. He turned briefly to ask Netanyahu where to place a small stone in the Jewish custom, then laid the stone atop the grave.

Later in the day, Obama was traveling to Jordan where he planned to meet with King Abdullah II. Among the topics is Jordan's struggle with the influx of a half-million refugees from the Syrian civil war. Abdullah has voiced fears that extremists and terrorists could create a regional base in Jordan.

Friday's stop at Herzl's grave, together with Thursday's visit to see the Dead Sea Scrolls, the ancient Hebrew texts, were symbolic stops for Obama that acknowledged that the rationale for Israel's existence rests with its historical ties to the region and with a vision that predated the Holocaust.

At Rabin's grave a short walk away, Obama was greeted by members of Rabin's family. He initially placed a stone on Rabin's wife's side of the grave, then returned to place one atop Rabin's side. In a gesture linking the U.S. and Israel, the stone placed on Rabin's grave was from the grounds of the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, the White House said.

Obama told family members that Rabin was "a great man."

He joked that "Bibi arranged for perfect weather," using Netanyahu's familiar name. He then added that "Shimon plied me with wine" at the official state dinner Thursday evening. During small talk with Rabin's family about the singer who performed at the dinner, Obama pointed out that he was known to sing, too. "They had me on YouTube," he said with a laugh.

Before touring the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, a solemn Obama donned a white skull cap and visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.

At the memorial, Obama was accompanied by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, a survivor of the Buchenwald Concentration camp who lost both parents in the Holocaust. Obama visited Yad Vashem's Hall of Names, a circular chamber that contains original testimony documenting every Holocaust victim ever identified.

"Nothing could be more powerful," Obama said.

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