On Sunday July 10, 2022, former US President Donald Trump mocked US President Joe Biden. Because of his decision to travel to Saudi Arabia, despite his previous pledge that the country is hated for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Trump, who made his first foreign trip of his presidency from Riyadh, said Biden’s visit next Friday, July 15, will show that the United States has become an “energy beggar,” the Times reported.
Biden, 79, is facing the ire of some Democrats for choosing to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman after an intelligence assessment last year suggested the prince had agreed to capture or kill Khashoggi. Biden will also meet with 86-year-old King Salman, who he initially tried to reach out to in the country. Some White House staff decided to resign due to the change in direction.
Biden used an op-ed in the Washington Post on Saturday, July 9, in the same column as Jamal Khashoggi, to argue that the visit is an opportunity to “change relations with a country that has been a strategic partner for 80 years.”
Another Saudi dissident, Mania Elimi, was killed on Saturday evening, July 10, which may complicate the meeting. Saudi Arabia’s exiled Hashd al-Shaabi party, of which Yami was a founding member, said he was assassinated, although Lebanese officials said his two brothers stabbed him to death.
Biden’s visit will be part of his first trip to the Middle East, which runs from Wednesday July 13 to Saturday July 16 to promote peace and seek help from Saudi Arabia to lower energy prices for American consumers.
Biden said the Saudis are working with my experts to help stabilize the oil market with other OPEC producers. “I know many people disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia. My views on human rights are clear and long-standing, and fundamental freedoms have always been on the agenda when traveling abroad, as in This journey will be the same. As they will be in Israel and the West Bank.”
The New York Times reported that Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia was supposed to take place right after the NATO summit in Madrid two weeks ago, but was delayed because officials worried that more travel would be “crazy” for a man of his age. This meant being abroad for ten days, which was considered very difficult. The official justification for the postponement was diplomatic reasons.
In Israel, Biden will receive the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Honor. Israeli President Isaac Herzog said the goal was to “thank Joe Biden for being a true friend of Israel” and “decades of support for Israel’s security, deepening our alliance and fighting anti-Semitism.”
Biden is trying to change US policy in the Middle East. He did not back down from Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and open an embassy there, nor was he able to revive the Iran nuclear deal.
Source: Lebanon Debate
