US President, Joe Biden, has arrived in Israel at the start of a landmark regional tour, which will include a controversial visit to Saudi Arabia.

This is Mr. Biden’s first trip to the Middle East since taking office. He will also meet the Palestinian President as well as Israeli and Saudi leaders. Palestinians expressed frustration that the US has not done more for them since his Presidency began in 2021. But the main focus will be on his Saudi trip due to tensions over human rights.

Mr. Biden faced criticism over his planned meeting on Saturday, July 9, 2022, with the kingdom’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is being accused by the US intelligence agencies for approving the murder of Saudi dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in Turkey in 2018. The Prince denied the allegations, and Saudi prosecutors blamed “rogue” Saudi agents.

An Earlier vow by Mr. Biden

While campaigning for the Presidency in 2019, Mr Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia “the pariah that they are” for killing Khashoggi, who lived in the US and wrote a column for the Washington Post.

Mr Biden defended his visit in an op-ed in the Washington Post on Saturday, July 9, 2022, saying his “aim was to reorient, but not rupture relations” with Riyadh. The visit also came at a time of rising oil prices, and energy production is expected to be on the agenda of the discussions between Mr. Biden and Prince Mohammed, whose country is the world’s biggest oil producer.

Mr. Biden and his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, will attend a regional summit in Saudi Arabia, amid reports that the US is seeking agreement on closer defence co-operation between Israel and several Arab states, some of them old foes, to counter the threat from Iran.

A Historic Move

Mr. Biden will become the first US President to fly directly to Saudi Arabia from Israel, which is seen as a small but significant sign of Riyadh’s growing acceptance of Israel after decades of boycott in solidarity with the Palestinians.

Israel’s Prime Minister, Yair Lapid said Mr. Biden’s plane will “carry with it a message of peace and hope from us” to the Saudis.

After landing at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday, July 13, 2022, afternoon, the Mr. Biden headed down the steps of Air Force One to be greeted by Israel’s leadership, including Mr. Lapid.

As handshakes were offered, Mr Biden instead fist-bumped Mr. Lapid and Israel’s President, Isaac Herzog. He later shook hands with Israeli opposition leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister, Benny Gantz. On the red carpet, Mr. Biden spoke of the “bone-deep” connection between Americans and Israelis, as he said “You don’t need to be a Jew to be a Zionist”, a reference to the political movement underpinning Israel’s existence.

Mr. Biden also spoke of his continued support for the so-called two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which envisages an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, though he intimated that “I know it’s not in the near term”.

Other Discussions

The US President will meet Mr. Lapid again on Thursday, July 14, 2022, for talks, during which the two leaders are expected to discuss security co-operation and the nuclear crisis with Iran.

Mr. Biden favours a US return to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which was abandoned by his predecessor, Donald Trump, four years ago. Israel, which considers Iran its biggest threat, wants the Iranian nuclear programme stopped. Iran said, its nuclear activities have always been entirely peaceful, but Western powers and the global nuclear watchdog say they are not convinced.