US President Barack Obama, President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this morning (Friday, 22 March 2013), visited Mt. Herzl . President Obama laid wreaths on the grave of Theodor (Binyamin Zeev) Herzl and on the grave of Yitzhak Rabin , accompanied by members of the Rabin family. On Rabin's grave, President Obama laid a stone that he brought with him from the grave of the Rev. Martin Luther King.

Prime Minister Netanyahu told President Obama that Herzl's grave is the site of the traditional annual ceremony marking the transition from Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars to Independence Day.

President Obama wrote in the Mt. Herzl guestbook: "It is humbling and inspiring to visit and remember the visionary who began the remarkable establishment of the State of Israel. May our two countries possess the same vision and will to secure peace and prosperity for future generations."