He quoted a verse from the Holy Hebrew Bible saying, “So said Cyrus, the king of Persia, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea.’” He also read Psalms, guided by a local rabbi, while praying for peace between the two nations. Pahlavi’s visit with his wife to the Western Wall on Tuesday morning had been arranged by Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel. While hundreds of others prayed at the Western Wall during the Holocaust Memorial Day siren, Pahlavi stood in reflection with the rest of the congregation for two minutes. As part of his historic visit to the Jewish state, Pahlavi also met with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and attended a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem. Although he stood alongside Netanyahu and Israel's President Isaac Herzog, he did not make a speech.
