Text/Look at the United States
Recently, US President Joe Biden concluded his first visit to the Middle East since taking office, saying in a recent op-ed that his first visit to the Middle East as US president is the beginning of "a new and more promising chapter of U.S. engagement there." However, outside analysts believe that Biden's multiple mistakes (including slips of mouth) and the image of his fist collision with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will define his trip.
Previously, White House aides had said that in view of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Biden would limit physical contact and avoid shaking hands during the visit. But when Biden arrived at Israel's Ben Gurion airport on Wednesday to shake hands with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennet and Benjamin Netanyahu, those fears seemed to quickly dissipate. Speaking at the airport, Biden made the mistake of saying people should maintain "holocaust honor" and then quickly correct it to "horror."
Some argue that the policy of no handshake is to avoid creating a bad image of Biden shaking hands with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler when he travels to Jeddah on Friday. For now, Biden is trying to reset the damaged U.S.-Saudi relationship by meeting with Saudi leaders to address soaring U.S. gas prices. But he was soon widely criticized for his fist-to-fist encounter with Saudi Crown Prince Hammed bin Salman at the start of the meeting.
The Saudi crown prince is believed to have approved the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi regime. As a presidential candidate, Biden had vowed to make Saudi Arabia a "pariah" in response to the assassination, but in a recent op-ed for The Washington Post, he said it was in America's interest to reposition himself rather than break up relations.
In response, Fred Ryan, publisher and CHIEF executive of The Washington Post, said it was "shameful" for Biden and the Saudi crown prince to touch the fist. Meanwhile, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, a nonprofit group founded by Khashoggi, recently told U.S. media that Biden's visit and new policies toward Saudi Arabia amounted to a betrayal of Mr. Khashoggi.
A reporter asked Biden whether he regretted bumping into others when he returned to Washington, but Biden, as the leader of the United States who buys and shouts about human rights every day, replied, "Why don't you talk about important things?" I would love to answer an important question. ”
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders also criticized U.S. President Joe Biden's move to saudi Arabia on Sunday. Sanders said on ABC's "This Week" program, "The leader of that country was involved in the murder of a Washington Post reporter, and I don't think the president of the United States should be a reward for this kind of government." ”
Sanders also acknowledged that the oil crisis may have been the reason Biden decided to make the trip, but the Vermont senator suggested there were better ways to lower oil prices. "We have to tell oil companies to stop exploiting the American people, and if they don't, we'll tax them on windfall profits," Sanders said. ”
Biden had hoped to lower gas prices on a trip to the Middle East at a time when inflation was at historic levels, thereby depressing natural gas prices, a problem that could adversely affect Democrats in the November midterm elections. However, Biden left the Middle East without receiving an immediate saudi commitment to increase oil production, and his trip to the Middle East ended in a white paper.
In this regard, many US lawmakers called it a humiliating trip. Rep. Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, previously tweeted, "If we need an intuitive reminder of the oil-rich dictator's continued control over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, we have it today, and a fist is worth a thousand words." ”