Free Republic

Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Israel on Monday, stopping in Jerusalem and making a visit to the City of David archaeological park in East Jerusalem. The visit was part of the inauguration of the fully excavated Pilgrimage Road, an ancient pathway used as Jerusalem's main thoroughfare and passage for pilgrims during the Second Temple Period.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Mike Huckabee joined Secretary Rubio. Ambassador Huckabee called the excavation something that "lets the stones speak," according to the Jerusalem Post. Huckabee also reiterated Jerusalem is Israel's "undivided capital," saying, "the Jewish people never forgot that this...

The stones of the ancient site "100% validate that the Jewish people not only belong here now, but they have belonged here for 4,000 years, since the time God said to Abraham: this is yours," said U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. (Sept. 16, 2025 / JNS) Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday reopened the Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem, a first-century route linking the City of David to the Temple Mount. The Pilgrimage Road, a broad stone route used during the Second Temple period, connected the Pool of Siloam, where pilgrims purified themselves...

After six years of extensive archaeological excavations led by the Israel Antiquities Authority, a 350-meter-long section of the Pilgrimage Road was unveiled at a festive ceremony in the City of David. The road served as the main thoroughfare for pilgrims walking from the Pool of Siloam, where they would ritually purify themselves, en route to the Holy Temple during the Second Temple Period.