Joe Biden
Analysts say Israel stopover of secondary importance to U.S. president’s desire for Saudi Arabia to help reduce global oil prices.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s upcoming Middle East visit should focus on three issues, says Maj. Gen. (ret.) Uzi Dayan: “Iran, Iran and Iran.”
The U.S. president will be hosted by caretaker prime minister Yair Lapid before heading on to Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. president will also travel to the Palestinian Authority and Saudia Arabia, where he will attend a summit alongside nine regional leaders.
The U.S. president’s visit is unlikely to produce much in the way of progress on either the Palestinian or Iranian fronts, experts say.
It remains unclear as to what caused the change; the president was planning to visit after stops in Germany and Spain later this month.
Blinken speaks with Abbas ahead of Biden visit to Israel
The U.S. secretary of state talked about the importance of Israelis and Palestinians working to maintain calm and de-escalate tensions.
Iran and its terrorist proxies were discussed with both of the diplomats agreeing to cooperate and act to reduce tensions in the region.
“Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is saying, ‘If you push me too hard, you will get Netanyahu.’ Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas is saying, ‘If you push me too hard, you will get Hamas.’ It is full of contradictions,” said Professor Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israel relations.
“This is the right, moral and correct decision. For this, I thank him,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
“The two leaders discussed in detail recent efforts to stem violence in Israel and the West Bank,” said a White House statement.
The heads of state also “discussed the Iranian issue, in particular the Iranian demand to remove the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps) from the US Foreign Terror Organization (FTO) list.”
