Harsh altercation reported between US and Israeli officials ahead of Trump visit

DEBKAfile was founded by a team of journalists in June 2000 as an independent Internet Web site, providing an intelligence and security news service. May 15, 2017, 10:38 PM (IDT)

“The Western Wall is not in your territory,” a US official is reported by Israeli Channel 2 television as saying Monday, when members of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s office asked if Netanyahu would join Trump on his visit to the Western Wall. When Israeli photographers asked if they could document the event, the Americans replied that the Western Wall was “disputed territory.”  The PMO, shocked by the American visitors’ conduct, asked the White House for an explanation, noting that it ran contrary to avowed Trump policy as expressed by the US ambassador to the United Nations.
Also Monday, a Fox News correspondent Connor Powell, wrote on Twitter that “everyone I’ve spoken to in DC that has been briefed on Jerusalem embassy move says Netanyahu told Trump not to move embassy at this time.” 

Netanyahu’s office said this was a lie, and attached a transcript taken during his lunch at the White House with President Trump last year to prove the point. ‘President Trump was asked about the embassy and explained that it (moving the embassy) will not cause bloodshed in the region, like he has been warned against (President Trump).’
DEBKAfile: The new US ambassador to Israel David Friedman arrived Monday, driving straight from the airport to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
 

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