U.S. President Donald Trump is supposed to go on a four-country, nine-day trip beginning on Friday, May 19, amid calls for his impeachment because of his Russian ties. However, he canceled a stop in Israel because the billionaire was not allowed to use a helicopter to reach Masada.
Masada is an ancient mountaintop fortress declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. Choppers are not allowed to land on Masada because of the risk of damage. Instead, visitors are taken to the mountaintop by a cable car. But the former “The Apprentice” host refuses to ride a cable car to reach the site and instead canceled the stop to the ancient site, Mashable reported.
Past American presidents rode cable car
Two former U.S. presidents have been to Masada before. Both George W. Bush in 2008 and Bill Clinton in 1998 took the cable car. The ban on helicopter landing on Masada is covered by an Israeli Air Force (IAF) regulation. The rule requires visitors aboard a chopper to land at the base of the UNESCO World Heritage site and take the cable car to the top. In lieu of visiting Masada, Trump would instead deliver a speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, according to Newsweek.
Masada overlooks the Dead Sea shore in the southern part of the Judean desert of Israel. It is located 50 miles southeast of Jerusalem. The ban is because choppers create dust which would make a landing on the mountaintop 1,300 above sea level precarious.
In 1997, an IAF helicopter landed in the middle of Masada and damaged the ruins where Jewish rebel defenders killed themselves instead of being captured alive by invading Roman forces between 73 and 74 AD.
Yad Vashem visit
Trump’s cancellation of the Masada visit created a Twitter storm. It has soured Israel’s mood, according to the tweet of Martin Indyk, the former American ambassador to Israel.
Eitan Weiss, the Israeli Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman, in an apparent mock of the reason for the cancellation, tweeted that Masada was too hot, so the host country found a great spot for POTUS instead.
The U.S. president will also visit Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It is the Holocaust Remembrance Museum. However, the time allotted for the visit is only 15 minutes which Israel media pointed out is only sufficient for the real estate mogul to sign the guest book and a quick talk.
Trump’s itinerary includes Saudi Arabia where he will deliver a speech about radical Islam. Stephen Miller, the president’s policy adviser and one of the main architects of the president’s failed travel ban on Muslim-majority countries, wrote the speech.
