OPINION:
When President Biden departed for his trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, there was some hope for progress in two key areas. The most critical was to help forge a regional security alliance in the face of the growing Iranian nuclear threat. A second was begging the Saudis to increase oil production to solve part of the energy problem Mr. Biden had created at home. By most all accounts he failed miserably at both.
Arriving in Israel he stumbled, bumbled and fist-bumped a trove of Israeli politicians who are in the midst of yet another national election.
When his handlers allowed him to approach a microphone he decided to “honor the holocaust” and otherwise read a few lame and banal remarks from a teleprompter. Giving Mr. Biden a pass on the expected gaffes, the disturbing fact is that he had nothing to say on any of the real issues which brought him to the region.
Before departing for Israel, it was widely expected that Mr. Biden and his team would speak with Prime Minister Yair Lapid and others about formulating a Plan B for dealing with the Iranians in the absence of a new nuclear agreement. Here there was a widespread belief that this would be a regional security alliance with the U.S. including Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Certainly this is a major problem as Iran continues enriching uranium and now openly admits that they can become a nuclear power in a short time.
While the Iranian issue was most certainly discussed, not a word was spoken by Mr. Biden or those with him about anything concrete, or the anticipated regional security alliance. Apart from Mr. Biden himself being largely “out-to-lunch” it raises the question about how badly this was staffed, and exactly who is in charge.
During the Israel visit, Mr. Biden did manage to make a courtesy call on the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the West Bank, after visiting a hospital in East Jerusalem that treats a large number of Palestinians and pledging millions of dollars in U.S. funding.
At age 86, Mr. Abbas has been reported as ill, and erroneously dead in the local media. In any case, Mr. Abbas and his PLA do not represent or speak for the Palestinians in Gaza, represented by Hamas, and tied closely to Iran.
While well-intentioned, these new White House initiatives to improve health care and expand digital access for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank will most likely result in U.S. taxpayer dollars being stolen or misused to support anti-Israel terrorist activities — like the tunnels constructed to smuggle terrorists and weapons into Israel from Gaza paid for with prior “assistance.”
Appearing with Mr. Abbas, Mr. Biden made a few brief remarks about the “two-state solution,” which is no longer taken seriously, and failed to even suggest when further negotiations might be in order, shelving any efforts at actively pursuing this end for the duration of his presidency.
For good reason, Gaza was not on Mr. Biden’s itinerary, and the Palestinians there protested their exclusion from the festivities in their own way. Hamas and Islamic Jihad launched yet more rocket attacks on Israel, to which Israel responded by bombing Hamas rocket-production sites in Gaza.
Moving on to Saudi Arabia, Mr. Biden’s hasty fist bump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman drew a flood of criticism from all sides. Many saw this as the “normalization” of relations with the man who U.S. intelligence reported as ordering the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — what the media called “a disgrace,” “humiliating” and “an insult to human rights.”
Mr. Biden said that he raised the murder of Khashoggi “at the top of the meeting” with Prince Mohammed, “making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now.” When Mr. Biden was asked by a reporter “could you guarantee that such a murder won’t happen again?” his reply was an inane “what a silly question… how can I possibly be sure of any of that?”
Certainly, Mr. Biden can’t guarantee the safety of any future target from the psychopathic Prince Mohammed, nor halt the executions or repression of human rights taking place in Saudi Arabia.
The major items which were supposedly on the agenda with the Saudis appear to have gotten nowhere, or close to it. Bringing Saudi Arabia into the proposed security alliance with Israel and other moderate Arab states to oppose Iran received virtually no mention or attention, although Prince Mohammed indicated he would not formally improve relations with Israel until a two-state solution with the Palestinians was recognized — effectively killing that concept for the time being.
Despite earlier indications, there was strong support for such an alliance among the parties, countering Iranian ballistic missiles and drones as well as support for terrorist proxies, there was scant evidence of any such agreement on the trip.
The other major item on the agenda was Mr. Biden begging the Saudis to increase oil production in the wake of his failed energy policy at home. He was seen as coming hat-in-hand to the Saudis, despite being told two weeks prior by President Emmanuel Macron of France that the Saudis did not have the capacity to ramp up production much. Not surprisingly, Prince Mohammed told him the same thing, and Mr. Biden departed without Saudi oil fields gushing to cover his mistakes at home.
Trying to put some positive spin on four days of nothing, the White House claimed Mr. Biden accomplished “significant business,” with the Saudis opening civilian airspace to Israel and efforts to extend the ceasefire between Yemen’s government and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group. Small change indeed.
Returning to Washington, Mr. Biden received faint praise at best for this Middle East trip from even his most vocal supporters in the media. He looked infirm and displayed an increasing level of dementia — being discussed more openly these days. Apart from Mr. Biden’s own failings, the trip and lack of any serious substantive results show just how poorly this administration is staffed, and how badly the advance work for this journey was prepared.
If this administration truly wants to reengage in the Middle East it will need to do a great deal better.
• Abraham Wagner has served in several national security positions, including the NSC Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He is the author of the recent book “Henry Kissinger: Pragmatic Statesman in Hostile Times.”
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