|
Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2022 12:36:26 GMT
President Biden Tours the Iron Beam Air Defense System 1 waiting Scheduled for Jul 13, 2022 Tel Aviv, Israel
U.S. President Joe Biden will seek to salvage relations with Saudi Arabia and boost Israel’s beleaguered government in a Middle East trip that risks political embarrassment unless near-record U.S. gasoline prices swiftly come back to earth.
In Saudi Arabia, Biden will restore relations with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, a leader he decried as a “pariah” after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, in hopes of securing a boost in oil production that might help ease pump prices battering his approval ratings at home.
But a deal isn’t a given, particularly because Biden must avoid an embarrassing retrenchment on human rights that would further anger the liberal Democrats whose desperately needed support is already eroded.
The trip’s secondary objective is hardly easier: aligning Israel, a country consumed by yearslong domestic political turmoil, with the Arab world as a buttress against Iran. Biden himself arrives hamstrung with the lowest approval rating of his presidency, and facing a bitter reckoning in November’s midterm elections without a dramatic turn in his favor.
“We are clear eyed that the region remains full of challenges and threats,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2022 16:23:41 GMT
President Biden Delivers Remarks at the Arrival Ceremony 411 views Jul 14, 2022 Tel Aviv, Israel
For Biden, the biggest goal of the trip is convincing Persian Gulf countries — led by the Saudis — to increase oil production in a bid to combat prices at the pump.
White House officials have insisted that the trip’s scope is far broader than a simple mission to boost oil output. They say the U.S. will only convey a general view to the Saudis and Gulf allies that there should be greater supply in global markets, rather than detailing a specific number of barrels.
But that insistence is intended to paper over two realities — that the White House doesn’t want to acknowledge how the energy situation has forced Biden’s hand, and that Saudi Arabia does not want to appear to be acting unilaterally on production, upsetting the delicate diplomacy that has held the OPEC+ cartel together through the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2022 17:08:35 GMT
US President Joe Biden begins tour of Middle East - BBC News 5,287 views Jul 14, 2022 Joe Biden has begun his first presidential tour of the Middle East.
He travels to Israel and the occupied West Bank before heading to Saudi Arabia on Friday.
President Biden will again call for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel - the so-called two state solution.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2022 18:15:42 GMT
President Biden heads to the Middle East this week | FOX 7 Austin 16,678 views Jul 13, 2022 President Biden will have a full plate as he heads to the Middle East this week. Concerns over Iran's march toward a nuclear bomb, tensions in Israel's West Bank and high oil prices are among the issues he's expected to tackle. President Joe Biden confirmed on Tuesday that he will visit Saudi Arabia next month for talks with leaders of the kingdom, a dramatic reordering of his stance on the kingdom that he pledged to make a "pariah" as a Democratic candidate for the White House. With the visit at the tail end of a July 13-16 Middle East trip that includes stops in Israel and the West Bank, Biden is edging off his adversarial stance against on the Saudis' human rights record. He's looking to reset the relationship at a time when the U.S. could use help from the oil-rich kingdom to alleviate soaring prices at the pump for motorists at home and around the globe. The stop in Saudi Arabia will include talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the defacto leader of the kingdom. U.S. intelligence officials have determined Prince Mohammed likely ordered the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In a brief exchange with reporters ahead of departing to Philadelphia on Tuesday for a labor convention, Biden bristled when asked about his upcoming visit to Jeddah and noted that his team had laid out in a statement "everything I’m doing in the Middle East." Human rights advocates and some Democratic allies cautioned Biden about visiting the kingdom, saying such a visit without first getting human rights commitments would send a message to Saudi leaders that there are no consequences for egregious rights violations. The Saudis have been accused of using mass arrests, executions and violence to squelch dissent. But at a time of skyrocketing prices at the gas pump, growing worries about Iran's nuclear program and perpetual concern that China is expanding its global footprint, Biden and his national security team have determined that freezing out the Saudis, particularly the crown prince, is simply not in the U.S. interest.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Jul 13, 2022 18:59:48 GMT
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Joe Biden opened his first visit to the Mideast as president on Wednesday by declaring a “bone deep” bond between the United States and Israel and pledging to strengthen economic connections between the two countries going forward. He did not mention one of the larger goals of his visit: assuring uneasy Israeli and Saudi Arabian officials that he is committed to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. “We have a full agenda over the next few days, because the relationship between Israel and the United States covers every issue that matters to our mutual future,” said Biden, who noted he was making his 10th visit to Israel. “But we are united in our shared values and our shared vision.” Israeli officials said Iran’s quickly evolving nuclear program is at the top of their agenda for talks with the U.S. president. Biden made reviving the Iran nuclear deal, brokered by Barack Obama in 2015 and abandoned by Donald Trump in 2018, a key priority as he entered office. But indirect talks for the U.S. to reenter the deal have stalled as Iran has made rapid gains in developing its nuclear program. That’s left the Biden administration increasingly pessimistic about resurrecting the deal, which placed significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog made clear that Iran’s nuclear program will be a central focus for the Israeli side in their discussions with Biden. And Herzog noted the “security challenges emanating directly from Iran and its proxies, threatening Israel and its neighbors and endangering our region.” “We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear program,” Lapid said Because of concerns about a rise in COVID-19 cases, top White House officials said Biden would try to limit physical contact during the trip. At the arrival ceremony, Biden mostly skipped handshakes and offered Israeli officials fist bumps. But he made an exception by offering a hearty handshake to opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. The president also put his hand on the shoulders of several Israeli dignitaries. Biden was hit with tough U.S. economic news as he arrived in Israel. Surging prices for gas, food and rent pushed U.S. inflation to a new four-decade high in June of 9.1%, the government reported. Rising consumer prices are among factors contributing to Biden’s low public approval at home. Biden received a briefing on the country’s “Iron Dome” and new “Iron Beam” missile defense system and is to visiting the Yad Vashem memorial to Holocaust victims later Wednesday. Besides meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, he’s slated to receive Israel’s Presidential Medal of Honor and visit with U.S. athletes taking part in the Maccabiah Games, which involve thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe.
|
|