On Friday afternoon, President Joe Biden left Israel on a historic journey from Tel Aviv to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Prior to his Air Force One flight, the president applauded Saudi Arabia’s decision to allow Israeli aircraft access to its airspace.
Biden said in a statement Friday morning from Jerusalem that Saudi Arabia’s historic decision to open its airspace to all commercial aircraft, including those traveling to and from Israel, is a crucial step towards creating a more integrated and stable Middle East.
The action signaled the end of an ongoing prohibition on Israeli aircraft overflying Saudi Arabia.
The thaw was credited to the American president.
While this openness has long been discussed, it is now finally a reality thanks to months of consistent diplomacy between my Administration and Saudi Arabia, Biden added.
The president of the United States will fly from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the first time today, he continued.
George W. Bush, a former president, had previously taken a flight from Israel to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
On his first international journey as president, former President Donald Trump took a flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel.
As we commemorate this significant occasion, Biden added, “Saudi Arabia’s choice can assist create momentum toward Israel’s broader integration into the region, particularly with Saudi Arabia.”
“I will do everything I can to keep this ground-breaking process moving forward, through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader contact.”
Biden left for Jeddah, where he will meet with Saudi Arabia’s controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after spending Friday in East Jerusalem and having a meeting with Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, in Bethlehem.
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and President Isaac Herzog gave Biden a send-off on the tarmac of Ben Gurion International Airport.
After the White House announced before of the trip that the president would be limiting interaction owing to an increase in COVID-19 cases, Biden shook hands with the Israeli leaders.
A photo opportunity of Biden shaking hands with MBS, as the Saudi crown prince is known, was quickly questioned by reporters.
The White House said on Friday that Biden’s COVID-19 test on Thursday was negative.
When asked on Thursday if he would bring up Jamal Khashoggi’s murder at his meeting with MBS, Biden declined, but the widow of the murdered journalist claims she has guarantees the president will do so.
Hanan Elatr Khashogi told Fox News that she met with three administration officials who assured her that when Biden sees the crown prince on Friday in Jeddah, “the human rights issue, and on top of it, my husband’s tragedy, it will come up.”
However, when confronted with the query during a news conference in Israel, Biden sidestepped it by asserting that his stance on human rights has been “positively clear.”
My opinions have made it quite evident. When questioned about the meeting, he replied, “I have never been silent about talking about human rights.
When questioned further, the president responded that his position is “obvious.”
“I usually bring up human rights, but I’ve been very clear about my stance on Khashoggi.”
If somebody in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else doesn’t grasp it, they haven’t been around for a while,’ he said.
The president needs to find out what happened to the journalist’s body, which has never been found, according to Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz.
He must inquire as to what become of his body. Where has his body gone?
She told the Associated Press, “Still, we have no response. And in this instance, people need to learn the truth. We must not forget.
We must never overlook what happened to Jamal.
During the 2020 campaign, 79-year-old Biden referred to Saudi Arabia as a “pariah state” after U.S. intelligence agencies determined that MBS ordered Khashoggi’s murder in Turkey in 2018.
The journalist has written negatively of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince’s reforms.
The White House has stated that Biden stands by that claim, but it has also gone to great lengths to emphasize that the president will be meeting with the ailing King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his administration, which would include MBS, who is Salman’s heir apparent and defense minister at the age of 36.
The meetings between Biden and the royals will happen on Friday night.
He will attend the GCC+3 conference on Saturday to discuss oil prices and energy-related problems.
I’ll be bringing a clear message when I meet with the Saudi leadership tomorrow,’ Biden added.
A message of peace and the enormous opportunities that may be brought to the region and, quite honestly, to the rest of the globe by a more stable, interconnected region.
However, the president claimed that in order to counter the rising influence of Russia and China on the energy market, he will likewise reclaim American dominance in the area.
At a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, he said, “The reason I’m going to Saudi Arabia, though, is much broader than as to promote U.S. interests.”
“I believe we have the chance to assert our dominance in the Middle East, which I believe we abandoned in error.
There will be nine other leaders of state and I will meet. Numerous problems are at stake.
I want to be clear that we can maintain our position of leadership in an area without leaving a void,’ he said.
He also made it plain that he intends to oppose rising Chinese and Russian influence.
China is a significant energy consumer and buyer, while Russia is the world’s second-largest energy producer after Saudi Arabia.
Russia or China fill the void, which is against the wishes of Israel and the United States.
He stated that the visit’s goal was to cooperate with the nine heads of state.
Biden has been urged by human rights activists not to travel without bringing up Khashoggi’s murder.
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi, the widow of Khashoggi, claimed that a national security official informed her that Biden would bring up her late husband’s name during their meeting with MBS.
She told Spectrum News, “They guaranteed me they will bring this worry up specifically, concerning the case of my husband, Jamal Khashoggi.”
When Biden is in the same room as the crown prince, he will be thoroughly scrutinized for his words, behavior, and body language.
The White House has not confirmed whether Biden will shake hands with MBS, which would make for a great photo opportunity for the prince but would give the president headaches among Democrats incensed by Saudi Arabia’s subpar record on human rights.
Officials first said that Biden would not shake any hands during his four-day trip to the Middle East, blaming the decision on an increase in COVID cases rather than any planned meetings with the contentious Saudi crown prince.
However, after arriving outside of Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Biden began shaking hands with Israeli officials almost immediately.