(VIDEO & PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

United States Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday, 7 Shevat, paid an emotional visit to Yad Vashem hours before departing Israel after his first official visit since taking office.

Among those accompanying VP Pence were former Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau Shlita and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

Pence and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walked amid the displays with their spouses, listening as officials with the memorial described the site remembering 6 million Jews killed during the Holocaust.

Pence solemnly observed the memorial’s Hall of Names, wrote an inscription in a guest book and participated in a ceremony at the Hall of Remembrance.

Karen & I joined Prime Minister @Netanyahu to commemorate the innocent lives lost & lay a wreath at Yad Vashem earlier today. We mourn the 6 million Jewish victims of the Holocaust & we draw inspiration from the faith & resilience of the Jewish people. Never again. #VPinIsrael pic.twitter.com/cqdnaBjapu

— Vice President Mike Pence (@VP) January 23, 2018

. @VP Pence's inscription in the Yad Vashem Visitors' Book (1/2)
"Here at Yad Vashem we mourn for the six million Jewish martyrs of the Holocaust, and we draw inspiration from the faith and resilience that rose from such times." #PenceInIsrael #VPinIsrael pic.twitter.com/Kt6FarY1R0

— Yad Vashem (@yadvashem) January 23, 2018

Joined @VP in watching a solemn wreath laying at @YadVashem in the Hall of Remembrance. It was a powerful moment watching the Vice President of the United States visit such an important place to honor the memory of the 6 million Jews who were slaughtered in the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/nOzeGT7IGD

— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) January 23, 2018

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)