Story highlights McMaster is Trump's national security adviser

He twice declined to say whether the Western Wall is in Israel

Washington (CNN) H.R. McMaster, national security adviser to President Donald Trump, declined to say Tuesday whether the Western Wall is in Israel, furthering a controversy over the site ahead of Trump's visit to the country next week.

McMaster, speaking to reporters to preview Trump's first foreign swing, said questions about the location of the Western Wall -- one of the holiest sites in Judaism -- "sounds like a policy decision."

His remarks came a day after a diplomatic spat opened between US and Israeli officials over Trump's planned stop at the site next week. The White House was forced to disavow comments by a US official planning Trump's stop who claimed the Western Wall was in the West Bank, and not a part of Israeli territory.

The White House said those comments weren't reflective of Trump's views. But speaking to reporters Tuesday, McMaster twice declined to say definitively whether the Western Wall is in Israel.

The Western Wall sits in Old Jerusalem, which the Israelis captured in 1967. However, Palestinians are seeking East Jerusalem as the capital of an eventual state.

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