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JERUSALEM — President Biden arrived in Israel on Wednesday to open a four-day Center East go to that can concentrate on slowing down Iran’s nuclear program, getting oil to American gasoline pumps and enhancing relations with Saudi Arabia.
Almost 50 years after making his first journey to Israel as a newly elected senator, Mr. Biden returned for the primary time as president and wasted no time looking for to reaffirm his steadfast assist for the Jewish state regardless of friction over his efforts to barter a brand new nuclear settlement with Iran.
“Each likelihood to return to this nice nation the place the traditional roots of the Jewish individuals date again to biblical instances is a blessing, as a result of the connection between the Israeli individuals an the American individuals is bone deep,” Mr. Biden mentioned throughout a short arrival ceremony at Ben Gurion Airport. “Technology after technology, that connection grows.”
Mr. Biden, who famous as he typically does that he has identified each Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir, whom he met on his first journey in 1973, was making his tenth go to to Israel and appeared intent on dispelling the notion that he’s any much less supportive of the nation than his predecessor, President Donald J. Trump, who made his backing for Israel a cornerstone of his international coverage.
“Our relationship is deeper for my part than it’s ever been,” Mr. Biden mentioned.
Greeting him as he disembarked from Air Pressure One, Israeli leaders echoed the sentiment, emphasizing that they considered Mr. Biden as a pal and making little word of their variations. President Isaac Herzog referred to as him “our brother Joseph,” declaring, “You’re actually amongst household.” The nation’s interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, referred to as him “an important Zionist and among the finest associates Israel has ever identified.”
“It is rather a private go to,” Mr. Lapid mentioned, “as a result of your relationship with Israel has all the time been very private. You as soon as outlined your self as a Zionist. You mentioned that you just don’t should be a Jew to be able to be a Zionist. And also you had been proper.”
With out dwelling on it, Mr. Lapid confirmed that the 2 leaders would focus on Iran and their joint efforts to boost cooperation amongst Center Jap nations. As soon as remoted within the area, Israel is more and more concerned in regional diplomacy, after landmark diplomatic offers with three Arab nations in 2020 — and officers hope that additional progress will probably be made throughout Mr. Biden’s go to.
Mr. Biden likewise touched on one other space of potential rigidity, restating his assist for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian battle after criticism that his administration has not prioritized the problem.
“We’ll focus on my continued assist, though I do know it’s not in a brand new time period, for a two-state resolution that continues to be for my part one of the simplest ways to make sure the way forward for equal measure of freedom, prosperity and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” Mr. Biden mentioned.
Earlier than his arrival, the Israeli authorities had made a number of small gestures to the Palestinians, together with granting some new work permits for Gazans. However whereas Mr. Biden will go to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority in Bethlehem, restoring communications that had been reduce off through the Trump presidency, there are few expectations that the go to will deliver progress in resolving the dispute.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, reduce a peripheral determine on the welcoming ceremony. Now out of workplace, he’s the chief of the opposition and could have solely a short assembly with the president on Thursday.
However he and Mr. Biden have a heat if typically fraught relationship that goes again 4 a long time, and the American chief made a degree of looking for out Mr. Netanyahu throughout a bunch photograph for Israeli and U.S. officers. Mr. Biden gave Mr. Netanyahu a protracted, heat handclasp, and each males seemed like being completely satisfied to see one another.
The president’s journey comes at a fragile second in Israeli politics. A fragile governing coalition just lately collapsed, leaving Mr. Lapid serving as a caretaker prime minister till November elections by which Mr. Netanyahu hopes to make a comeback.
On the finish of the reception ceremony, Mr. Lapid joked about his and Mr. Biden’s respective trajectories since an earlier assembly between the 2 in Washington.
He informed Mr. Biden: “I don’t know in the event you keep in mind, however eight years in the past we met on the White Home once you had been vp. You mentioned to me, ‘If solely I had hair like yours, I might be president,’ to which I answered, ‘And if solely I had your top, I might be prime minister.’”
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