When someone is trying to impress others maybe because the person is trying to protect his or her dignity that is to say the person is trying to evade embarrassment then we say that the person is saving his own face.
The politician statement in the question is saving his or her face because he or she does not want to look bad or embarrassed in front of the people of his or district. The politician is trying to uphold his or dignity.
Jerusalem and Mecca are really holy in the Middle East because Jerusalem is the main city for the Jews and Mecca is the temple that the worshippers go to worship their gods in and they travel there once a month so those two are the best answers
