1. Meeting the Saudi Crown Prince
Joe Biden’s team has long puzzled over its meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday night. For years, Biden insisted that he did not want to talk to the man because of the human rights violations in his country and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. But then war broke out in Ukraine and oil prices rose.
The latter poses a serious political threat to Biden, fearful of losing seats to Republicans in the November election. More exports by the Saudis can dampen the price, the hope is. For that, Biden has to look sweetly at the crown prince. But not too sweet, because then he would appear hypocritical.
The solution: Biden wouldn’t shake Bin Salman’s hand — too amicably — but he would give him a box, using the coronavirus as an excuse. However, that could only be sold if he would also greet previous interlocutors in the Middle East with a box. It was too late for that on Friday: the notorious hugger Biden had already grabbed all kinds of people. In the end it was the box.
Of course, Biden was asked afterwards whether he had confronted the Crown Prince with the murder of Khashoggi, most likely at the behest of Bin Salman himself. “He said he wasn’t personally responsible for it,” Biden said Friday night. “I made it clear that I thought I did.”
The Saudis contradicted Biden. They say the president talked about human rights violations behind closed doors, but not directly about the journalist’s murder. And they remained unclear about an increase in oil production. They have not made any concrete promises to that effect.
2. The Declaration of Loyalty to Israel
If only he had so much love in his own country, Joe Biden must have sometimes thought during his visit to Israel. The Israelis, so fond of Donald Trump, used many big words to express their love for his Democratic successor as well. “Our brother Joseph,” President Isaac Herzog said of Biden on Thursday. Yair Lapid, outgoing prime minister, called him “one of Israel’s best friends ever.”
Israelis hope the president will help them normalize their ties with Saudi Arabia. That has already worked out a bit. On Thursday evening it was announced that Saudi Arabia will open its airspace to all aircraft, including those from Israel.
Biden reciprocated the declaration of love. “Like returning home,” Biden said in Tel Aviv on Thursday, “our relationship is deeper than ever before.” In doing so, he resisted pressure from his party’s left wing to become more critical of Israel. Some Democratic politicians call the country an apartheid state, because of the position of the Palestinians. Biden didn’t want to hear about it. “Israel is our ally,” the president said.
3. Negotiations with Iran
One of Biden’s main tasks during his journey through the Middle East was to rally support for the reopening of negotiations with Iran. Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal with that country in 2018. Biden wants a new deal, but the Israelis don’t like it. So for Biden a balancing act.
“I think it was a huge mistake by the last president to step out of the deal,” Biden said. ‘[Iran staat] now closer to a nuclear weapon than before.’ On Thursday, Israel and the US signed a statement that Washington is ready to do everything to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. That was mostly a symbolic gesture, but when asked if he was willing to use force to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Biden replied in the affirmative. “If that’s the last resort, yes.”
4. Meeting with Palestinian President Abbas
Biden had little to offer the Palestinians this week. They hoped that the progressive Biden would reverse some of the course changes made by Trump, but this does not seem to be a priority. For example, the embassy moved by Trump will remain in Jerusalem. Biden did, however, promise more aid for Palestinian refugees and hospitals.
At a press conference together with Palestinian President Abbas, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh spoke. Israeli soldiers shot her dead in May. “The United States continues to press for transparent fact-finding,” Biden said, without stating that the bullet came from Israeli soldiers. About fifteen journalists present had put on a shirt with the face of the American-Palestinian journalist as an expression of support for their colleague.