A new train station that will go up next to the Western Wall will be named after President Donald Trump, Israel’s transportation minister declared Wednesday.
In May, Trump became the first U.S. president to visit the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall, during his term in office. The wall is the last remnant of the Second Temple, and it remains the holiest site in Judaism.
“The Western Wall is the holiest place for the Jewish people, and I decided to name the train station that leads to it after president Trump – following his historic and brave decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel,” Transportation Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
Katz approved construction plans for the train on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported. The train will extend from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The transportation minister ordered officials in his ministry to define this project a top priority mission. The high-speed Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway has been under construction since 2001. It will join a slower railway already linking the two cities.
Katz might have used Trump’s statement as an opportunity to reinvigorate a project marked by numerous setbacks and delays.
In November, Trump took the step of formally recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This move, a fulfillment of campaign promises and decades of U.S. policy, inspired backlash at the United Nations and abroad. The Arab city of Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, even turned off its Christmas lights in protest — and the Muslim mayor of Nazareth seemed to announce Christmas festivities would be cancelled due to the Trump declaration.
Israelis have hailed the move, however. It seems Trump may already be set to go down in history — and right by the holiest site in Judaism. Talk about an accomplishment.
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