U.S. Presidents Kiss the Western Wall When Visiting Israel to Honor the Site

Since the country's founding, the United States and Israel have had an exceptionally close relationship. That means that, without exception, every U.S. president visits the country, and most of them go through the same ritual once they arrive.

In addition to all of the normal political meetings, most presidents take visits to some of the holiest sites in the country, including the Western Wall. While there, most presidents touch it with reverence, and a few have even kissed it. If you want to know what's behind this tradition, you're not alone. Here's what we know.

The Western Wall is considered to be one of the holiest sites for the Jewish people in Israel, and its most famous section is known as the Wailing Wall. The wall is an ancient structure that abuts the Temple Mount, which is considered to be a holy site not just in the Jewish religion, but also in Christianity and Islam. The Wailing Wall is where people go for prayer, and it's the place where most politicians visit.

The reason U.S. presidents touch and kiss the wall would likely vary from person to person. The most obvious explanation is that it's a way for them to signal their respect for the traditions of the Jewish religion, and in so doing, honor the people of Israel.

If you want to look at it more cynically, you might say that it's a political gesture designed to signal the virtue of the person performing it.

Whether it's a genuine show of respect or an empty gesture, though, it's become a must-do for every U.S. president who has traveled to Israel. Some of those men are genuinely spiritual people, and may have taken a moment of quiet contemplation while visiting the site. Others may have just been going through the motions, well aware that this is what you do at the Wailing Wall.

The contentions around Israel's founding were in large part related to which faiths had rights to lands that both Judaism and Islam consider to be holy. The wall was one such site that became a subject of conflict because Muslims worried that Jews would use the wall to strengthen their own claim on Temple Mount, at the expense of Islam.

It's not without political significance, then, for U.S. presidents to come to the wall and show respect for it. It's a signal not just of respect for Judaism but also of Israel's right to exist and to defend its boundaries.

As the conflict continues in Gaza, and Israel's tactics in that war become more and more brutal, that show of support is more significant than ever.

The wall has stood for millennia and isn't likely to go anywhere any time soon. The politicians that visit it are there to show their respect and to cement the United States's relationship with Israel as a close ally, even when that alliance is considerd controversial by many.