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| President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall. |
He sent a signal of solidarity to an ally he's pushing to work harder toward peace with the Palestinians. But Trump's historic gestures in Jerusalem were shadowed even here by reminders of tumult back home.
In this second stop on his maiden foreign trip, Trump unexpectedly offered a new defence of his disclosure of classified information to Russian diplomats in a recent Oval Office meeting.
Standing alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he argued he never mentioned Israel, the source of the classified intelligence, according to various officials something he has not been accused of doing.
"So you have another story wrong," he told reporters. Netanyahu played down what has appeared to be a violation of an intelligence-sharing agreement with his country, saying US-Israeli intelligence co-operation is "terrific".
But Trump's offhand remark was another stark reminder that his troubles at home, including the investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia and his firing of FBI Director James Comey, have followed him across the ocean.
The moment was an abrupt interruption of an otherwise warm and smooth welcome for Trump to the Holy Land. After years of butting heads with Trump's predecessor, Netanyahu celebrated a new American president's arrival as a moment of hope in the stalled peace talks between Israel and Palestinians.
Trump, having visited Saudi Arabia for two days, declared he saw the possibility of a new alignment of Muslim nations and Israel against a shared foe - Iran.