US President Joe Biden travels to the Middle East and lands in Israel. Slowing down Iran’s nuclear program, getting oil to American petrol pumps, and enhancing ties with Saudi Arabia will be the main goals of a four-day visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Biden will spend two days in Jerusalem before traveling to the occupied West Bank to meet with Mahmoud Abbas on Friday. After arriving in Israel, he will fly directly to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Saudi officials and attend a Gulf allies conference. As two of America’s closest allies in the unrest-plagued area, Saudi Arabia and Israel, who have historically been enemies, may take more steps toward normalization as a result of the trip, according to U.S. officials. According to a US program named the Abraham Accord after the biblical patriarch who is beloved by both Jews and Muslims, these visits will probably stabilize and improve Israel’s relations with the Arab countries.
After finally arriving at Ben Gurion Airport, whose runway he had previously walked on as a senator in 1973, Biden shook hands with President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Yair Lapid of Israel and said in a speech that the relationship between the two countries is “bone-deep.” Biden continued, “You don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist.”
Many Palestinians are bitterly opposed to Israel’s establishment on the territory with ancient Jewish roots. Mr. Biden was on his tenth visit to Israel, and he seemed determined to dispel the notion that he is less supportive of the country than his predecessor, President Donald J. Trump, who made Israel a cornerstone of his foreign policy. He noted, as he frequently does, that he has known every Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir, whom he met on his first trip in 1973.
Since your relationship with Israel has always been so personal, Mr. Lapid continued, “This is a very personal visit.” You used to identify as a Zionist. You stated that one need not be a Jew to support Zionism. You were accurate, too.
On his visit, Biden expressed his views on recapitulating the two-state solution for Palestine and Israel, calling these solutions the best hope for both peoples.
Looking forward to his visit
We’ll talk about my ongoing support for a two-state solution, which, in Mr. Biden’s opinion, remains the best approach to guarantee that Israelis and Palestinians will have equal future freedom, wealth, and democracy.
The president’s visit takes place at a precarious time for Israeli politics. Recently, a precarious government coalition disintegrated, leaving Mr. Lapid in charge as interim prime minister until the elections in November, when Mr. Netanyahu intends to make a comeback.
Biden visited the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, which was not his first visit in 50 years.
Israel demonstrated its military technology, including laser weapons, to Biden. With major and ongoing American assistance, Israel has been a leader in air defense for a very long time. The multi-tiered air defense arsenal demonstration for Mr. Biden offered a chance to exhibit the outcomes of that collaboration and Israeli military innovations to the international community.
Israel had intended that President Biden would visit Palmachim, an Israeli military aviation base on the Mediterranean coast, soon after his arrival so that he could participate in a Wednesday 40-minute show-and-tell on the newest Israeli air defense technology.
The Palmachim air station, a key location for Israeli drone launches, may have served as a symbolic backdrop for efforts by Israel and the United States to forge a regional coalition against Iranian drones.
The president concluded that going to Saudi Arabia this week to oppose Chinese influence, push for more oil output, and promote stronger ties with Israel was worth the political cost, despite Mr. Biden’s campaign promise to punish Saudi Arabia by designating the country a “pariah.”
He will travel to Jeddah on Friday and meet with the king, Prince Mohammed, and other ministers that evening. He will interact both privately and publicly with the other Arab leaders gathered in Jeddah on Saturday. But none is riskier than the interaction with Prince Mohammed.
When he took office, Mr. Biden made it clear that he wanted to shift American emphasis away from the Middle East and toward China. He did this because he felt that Washington had wasted 20 years when it should have been concentrating on a real peer rival. But stopping China’s expansion into the area is also a goal of the trip. Riyadh and Washington discreetly agreed last week to work together to develop a fifth-generation (5G) cellular network in Saudi Arabia. That is intended to put Huawei, China’s 5G champion, in her place.
Additionally, the politics of the conflict in Ukraine will be discussed. In the spring, Mr. Biden’s advisers made it apparent that they were displeased with the Israeli government’s insistence on adopting a fairly neutral approach.
The United States has the opportunity to resolve its concerns with the government of Israel regarding how to restrict Iran’s nuclear program thanks to President Biden’s visit. Israel formally opposes renewal of the pact, though it seems irrelevant at this point.
