Mike Pompeo, David Friedman visit Netanyahu's Sukkah

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu hosted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem Friday morning and gave Pompeo a brief tour of the residence’s sukkah.

Pompeo, who recently visited Ankara, Turkey for talks which culminated in a ceasefire agreement in northern Syria, landed in Israel Thursday night, during the Sukkot festival.

On Friday, Pompeo joined Ambassador Friedman at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem to discuss with Netanyahu the ceasefire deal, and other major issues facing the region, key among them ongoing efforts against Iranian aggression.

At the end of the meeting, Netanyahu showed Pompeo the residence’s sukkah, or temporary booth, built for the Sukkot holiday.

“Since you’re visiting here on the holiday of Sukkot, we sit in the sukkah during the Feast of Tabernacles. We remember what it was like when we didn’t have a permanent home,” said Netanyahu.

“We sit here to have our family meals and visitors sit here in the Sukkah.”

“When you put the [schach] on the top, it is supposed to be porous enough so that you can see the stars. One problem is what do you do when it rains? The answer is you go in.”