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The eyes of the world were on President Biden on Wednesday when he arrived in Israel to show America’s support for its closest Middle Eastern ally and seek to prevent the region from spiraling into more conflict and bloodshed.
The trip offers him a golden opportunity roughly a year from the 2024 election to disprove critics who say he is weak and embarrassing on the world stage.
He risks proving those critics right if he stumbles or looks at all unsteady or not in command.
“This is a defining moment of his presidency,” said Scott Ferson, a Massachusetts-based Democratic strategist.
Indeed, the stakes are high for Mr. Biden. The 80-year-old Democrat has faced persistent questions about his age and mental acuity. Mr. Biden’s foreign policy moves have sustained blowback, most notably over the August 2021 final U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
SEE ALSO: Biden says Israel is not to blame for Gaza hospital attack that left 500 dead
Mr. Biden’s trip to the Middle East was off to a rocky start when plans were canceled for a summit in Amman, Jordan. Mr. Biden had scheduled a four-way meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Mr. Abbas dropped out of the meeting after a massive explosion in a hospital in Gaza City that Hamas said killed at least 500 people. Hamas blamed the explosion on an Israeli airstrike.
Israeli defense officials said they were not targeting hospitals and blamed the strike on a misfired rocket by Islamic militants.
The entire summit was later called off.
The White House issued a statement as Mr. Biden flew toward Israel aboard Air Force One:
“After consulting with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, President Biden will postpone his travel to Jordan and the planned meeting with these two leaders and President Sissi of Egypt. The President sent his deepest condolences for the innocent lives lost in the hospital explosion in Gaza, and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded. He looks forward to consulting in person with these leaders soon, and agreed to remain regularly and directly engaged with each of them over the coming days.”
SEE ALSO: Israel-Hamas war escalates; civilian suffering grows
Mr. Biden is meeting in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the Jewish state’s plan to eliminate the threat from Hamas. The two leaders exchanged hugs on the tarmac.
Mr. Netanyahu thanked Mr. Biden for coming to Israel, telling him the visit was “deeply, deeply moving.”
“I know I speak for all the people of Israel when I say thank you, Mr. President, thank you for standing with Israel today, tomorrow and always,” the Israeli prime minister said.
During the meeting, Mr. Biden told Mr. Netanyahu, “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.” But Mr. Biden said there were “a lot of people out there” who weren’t sure what caused the blast.
In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, Mr. Biden said the U.S. would give Israel “everything they need” but guaranteed that Israel would do “everything in their power to avoid the killing of innocent civilians.”
“Israel is going after a group of people who have engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust,” he said. “Israel has to respond. They have to go after Hamas.”
The surprise Oct. 7 Hamas attack left at least 1,400 dead in Israel, including 30 Americans. The brutality of the deadly home-by-home rampage rattled the tiny Jewish state and people around the globe.
It also exposed deep divisions within the U.S. and the Democratic Party over Washington’s continued full-throated support for Israel.
Former President Donald Trump blamed the conflict on Mr. Biden, saying the nation’s enemies see him as weak and act accordingly.
An ABC News/Ipson poll released this week showed that voters disapprove of the way Mr. Biden is handling issues at home and overseas, including the war in Ukraine and the war between Israel and Hamas.
Mr. Biden is stepping into a conflict with rising tensions.
The prospect of an Israeli ground invasion to wipe out Hamas appears imminent.
Clifford May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Mr. Biden needs to show Iran and Hezbollah that his administration was not playing around when it deployed aircraft carriers to the region.
“He needs to convey that is not really symbolic,” Mr. May said. “He needs to send a clear warning to Iran and Hezbollah that they will pay a terrible price if they expand the war.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that Mr. Biden would make it clear that “Israel has the right, and indeed the duty, to defend its people from Hamas and other terrorists and to prevent future attacks.”
“President Biden will underscore our crystal-clear message to any actor, state or nonstate, trying to take advantage of this crisis to attack Israel — don’t,” he said, echoing the president’s admonishment to Israel’s enemies.
“This is in the United States’ wheelhouse,” Mr. Ferson said. “The president of the most powerful nation in the history of the world going into a combative war zone to put his prestige and power on the line to try to make the situation better is FDR-like.”
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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