Netanyahu Hails Strongest-Ever U.S.-Israel Ties as Rubio Prays at Western Wall

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday hailed the U.S.-Israel relationship as being at its strongest point in history during a high-profile visit to the Western Wall with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

Rubio, a devout Catholic, and Huckabee, an evangelical Protestant pastor, placed kippas on their heads as they prayed alongside Netanyahu at one of Judaism’s holiest sites. The three then toured excavated ruins beneath the Old City, including remains of the Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD during a crushed Jewish revolt.

Underground, Netanyahu, Rubio, and Huckabee posed for photographs with their wives, who had been barred from joining them in prayer at the gender-segregated Western Wall.

Calling Rubio an “extraordinary friend of Israel,” Netanyahu declared, “I think his visit here is a testament to the durability and strength of the Israel-American alliance. It is as strong and as durable as the stones of the Western Wall that we just touched.”

He added that under Rubio and President Donald Trump, “the alliance has never been stronger, and we deeply appreciate it.”

Netanyahu’s remarks came only days after the United States expressed unease over Israel’s unprecedented strike on Qatar, a key American partner, which targeted senior Hamas leaders in Doha.

Both President Trump and Rubio voiced concern over the operation, warning of potential diplomatic fallout. Nevertheless, Rubio insisted that the attack would not shake bilateral relations. “I will address the Qatar strike with Prime Minister Netanyahu,” he said before his visit, but stressed that the U.S.-Israel partnership remained “unbreakable.”

Rubio’s presence marks the highest-level U.S. visit to the Western Wall since 2019, when former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo prayed at the site with Netanyahu. Pompeo’s visit was significant as previous U.S. administrations had avoided such appearances in deference to international consensus, given the compound’s dual identity as home to the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

Rubio is scheduled to attend Monday’s inauguration of a newly excavated tunnel for pilgrims heading toward the Wall. Speaking before his departure from Washington, he described the site as “one of the most important archaeological sites in the world,” and played down its political sensitivities.

The visit comes against the backdrop of a shifting U.S. policy toward Jerusalem. In his first term, Trump formally moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, defying global consensus not to recognize Israel’s claim to the city as its “indivisible capital.”

Rubio’s predecessor, Antony Blinken, who is Jewish, visited Israel numerous times following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack but refrained from praying at the Western Wall, opting to remain in more secular Tel Aviv.

The current visit highlights not only the symbolic and religious dimensions of U.S.-Israel ties but also Washington’s willingness under Trump and Rubio to embrace positions seen as directly validating Israel’s claims over contested sites.

While Netanyahu celebrated deepening ties with Washington, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani urged the international community to “stop using double standards” and punish Israel for its “crimes.”

Speaking on Sunday at a preparatory meeting ahead of an emergency Arab and Islamic summit in Doha, Sheikh Mohammed condemned Israel’s unprecedented strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar.

“The time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” the prime minister said. “Israel needs to know that the ongoing war of extermination that our brotherly Palestinian people is being subjected to, and whose aim is to expel them from their land, will not work.”

The Qatari leader stressed that the summit would rally Arab and Islamic leaders around accountability for Israel, warning that unchecked Israeli actions risk destabilizing the entire region.

The juxtaposition of Netanyahu’s remarks at the Western Wall and the Qatari prime minister’s warning reflects the starkly divided international landscape. While Israel underscores its unbreakable alliance with Washington, Arab leaders are intensifying calls for global action to hold Tel Aviv accountable for what they describe as war crimes and an attempted expulsion of Palestinians.