Bolton, Israeli Officials Break Bread in Jerusalem’s Ancient City of David

TEL AVIV – A delegation of senior U.S. officials, including National Security Adviser John Bolton, shared a historic dinner with their Israeli counterparts at the City of David site in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening.

In addition to Bolton, the dinner was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat and Israel’s Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, along with other senior U.S. and Israeli officials.

“We are delighted to announce that yesterday evening, August 21, 2018, a historic working dinner for senior United States and Israeli officials was hosted in the City of David archaeological site of ancient Jerusalem,” an official statement about the meeting said.

Doron Spielman, Vice President of the City of David Foundation, said, “The City of David was honored to host this distinguished delegation, in a place that holds so much significance to the Jewish people and the entire world. The City of David, site of ancient Jerusalem, is the location where the King David established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel 3,000 years ago.”

The City of David is adjacent to the flashpoint areas of the Old City. Before their working dinner, the officials toured the antiquities of the 4,000-year-old archeological site.

The dinner took place just hours before President Donald Trump made his remarks at a campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia, saying that Israel would “have to pay a higher price” in negotiations with the Palestinians in return for his formal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.