Biden reaffirms in Israel the “unwavering commitment” to its security

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, landed in Israel this Wednesday afternoon to reaffirm Washington's strong commitment to the security and prosperity of the Jewish State, strengthen its strategic alliance with Iran and consolidate its growing integration in the Middle East.

It is the first stop of a four-day regional tour that leaves the Palestinians in the background and that will conclude on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, the part that focuses the most attention.

In a brief speech during the welcome ceremony at the Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, Biden has avoided mentioning Tehran directly, but has made it clear that, with his visit, he intends to reinforce "the unwavering commitment" of the United States with Israel's security, including its integration

“in the most advanced defense systems in the world”.

The US president has indicated that he will continue working "on the integration of Israel in the region" and - in one of his few references to Palestine - that he will convey to the Israeli authorities his support "for a two-state solution" which, he has admitted, He does not believe that it will happen “in the short term”.

It is his tenth visit to the country since the one he made as a senator in 1973, a few weeks before the start of the Yom Kippur War.

The acting Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, has declared that during the visit they will address "national security issues" and will discuss both "the need to renew a strong global coalition to stop the Iranian nuclear program" and "the construction of a new architecture of security and economy with the nations of the Middle East”.

In 2020, Israel normalized relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, and nominally with Sudan, under the Abraham Accords.

Last March, the foreign ministers of the first three met with their counterparts from Israel, Egypt and the United States.

That unprecedented conclave in Israel, which was permanently established as the Negev Forum, was interpreted as a front against Iran.

Lapid then came as head of Israeli diplomacy.

Now,

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has directly pointed to "security challenges emanating directly from Iran and its allies" as part of the talks' agenda.

And he winked at Saudi Arabia, with which Israel hopes to normalize relations in the near future, assuring that today "the winds of peace are blowing from North Africa through the Mediterranean to the Gulf."

Biden later went to an airport hangar to inspect Israeli anti-aircraft defense systems from Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Chief of Staff Aviv Kojavi.

Among these was the notorious Iron Dome, for which the US recently gave Israel $1 billion to reload its interceptor rockets after last year's Gaza offensive.

Also a laser interception system for whose development the Israelis hope to count on the collaboration of Washington.

nuclear pact

The revision of this technology comes amid attempts, still in their infancy, to create a regional air defense network that includes Israel and its Arab allies against Iran.

The US president hopes to reactivate the nuclear pact with Tehran reached in 2015 by China, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia and the United States, with the intermediation of the EU, and from which his predecessor, Donald Trump, disassociated himself three more years afternoon.

In an interview given to the Israeli Channel 12 news before his arrival in Israel and broadcast after it, Biden stresses that "it still makes sense" to return to the pact and describes Trump's decision as a "huge mistake", because Iran "is closer of a nuclear weapon than before.”

The dialogue, however, is at an impasse.

Shortly before arriving in the country, Biden also announced in a joint statement with Lapid the creation of a new high-level partnership between the two countries on strategic and emerging technologies to address issues such as pandemic preparedness, climate change, artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

After the events at the airport, Biden headed to Jerusalem, where he has visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

This Thursday she is scheduled to spend most of the day meeting with Israel's top political leaders.

Friday morning will be the turn of the Palestinian leadership - including the first meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas by a US president since the Obama Administration - before heading to Saudi Arabia.

Biden will arrive on the first direct flight from Israel to Jeddah, two years after promising, during his election campaign, to make Saudi Arabia a pariah state in the international community, for its involvement in the 2018 assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the Istanbul Consulate.

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