JERUSALEM— Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday visited the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The two men approached the wall and placed their hands on its stones during the brief visit in rainy weather. They both placed a note in the Wall. Afterwards, the leaders toured the Western Wall tunnels together, including the Wilson’s Arch excavations and the Shaarei Teshuva synagogue.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said it was the first time a sitting head of state had visited there with an Israeli Prime Minister.
In May 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump became the first sitting American president to visit the wall, the holiest site where Jews are allowed to pray, but he was not accompanied by any Israeli leaders.
Bolsonaro has pledged to follow in U.S. President Donald Trump’s footsteps and move Brazil’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem, but that is on hold for now. Brazil is to open a trade mission in Israel’s capital in the meantime