in a essay in The Washington Post on Saturday, Mr. Biden depicted the trip as a mission to strengthen peace in the region through diplomacy. “A more secure and integrated Middle East benefits Americans in many ways,” he wrote. There are a few factors he didn’t mention: inflation is rising rapidly; gas prices are alarming; its popularity plummets; and midterm elections are coming up. The people he met on this trip know all this, and some of them, especially in Saudi Arabia and Israel, may be hoping for a Trump reinstatement.
Mr Biden’s first stop was Israel, which is in the middle of… another government collapse, so the Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, is janitor until the elections are held on November 1. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the long-serving hardliner, hopes to make a comeback. The visit was substantively brief, but Mr Biden largely delivered what Israel wanted: a public statement, in a taped interview on Israeli television, reiterating the US position that it was willing to use force against Iran,”as a last resort”, to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Given the situation in Israel, Biden can do little to revive the moribund peace process, and the visit took place just a few months after the death of a popular journalist and US citizen, Shireen Abu Akleh. She was killed while reporting an Israeli military operation in the West Bank, and Palestinians believe she was shot deliberately. They don’t buy the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conclusion that while the bullet was likely fired by an Israeli, there was “no reason to believe it was intentional.” The Palestinians are also frustrated that Mr. Biden has not reversed some of his predecessor’s vengeful actions, such as closing the United States consulate in East Jerusalem, even though he pledged $100 million to financing for hospitals over there.
On Friday, mr. Biden met the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose kingdom Mr. Biden, as candidate, suggested should be a “pariah” about the horrific murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. As president, Mr Biden’s administration has released an intelligence report who laid the murder at the feet of the Saudi ruler. Now with this visit, Mr. Biden is trying to restore relations with the kingdom to strengthen the alliance against Russia and, most importantly, to pump more oil.