Jerusalem (CNN) — President Barack Obama paid tribute to the father of modern Zionism on Friday in a symbolic visit to Theodor Herzl’s grave before ending his trip to Israel by departing for neighboring Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II.

Joined by Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Obama also visited the grave of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.

Both stops were intended to bolster Obama’s standing with Israelis by demonstrating his understanding of the history of the Jewish state.

Obama placed a stone at each grave from the grounds of the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in Washington in a gesture to link the African-American struggle for freedom with the struggle by the Israeli people for a homeland.

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