Biden defends exhausting diplomatic channels with Iran in the face of Israeli pressure to use force

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, and the Acting Prime Minister of Israel, Yair Lapid, have signed a joint declaration this Thursday in Jerusalem that reaffirms Washington's "sacrosanct" commitment to the security of the Jewish State, as well as its resolution to use "every element" at its disposal to ensure that Iran does not get hold of the atomic bomb.

However, in a press conference after the signing of the document, Biden and Lapid have exhibited their differences on the best way to achieve this objective, fundamentally focused on the nuclear pact that Washington is trying to resume with the Islamic Republic and that the Israeli government denies.

The meeting with the media has been the act with the greatest political significance to date within Biden's tour of the Middle East, which began on Wednesday and will take him to Palestine tomorrow and to Saudi Arabia over the weekend, the leg of the trip that has generated more controversy.

In his 2020 election campaign, he promised to relegate the Desert Kingdom to the club of pariah states in the international community, over Riyadh's involvement in the 2018 assassination of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi at the Istanbul consulate.

The war in Ukraine and the shift in global energy balances appear to have changed Biden's mind.

The American leader has assured this Thursday that he continues to believe that diplomacy is "the best way" to contain Iran, and has anticipated that he will continue working with Israel to "counteract other threats from Iran in the region."

He has also warned that he will not wait "forever" for the nuclear pact with Tehran reached in 2015 to be reactivated together with China, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia and from which his predecessor, Donald Trump, broke off three years later. .

The Israeli leader has maintained, for his part, that words will not stop the Ayatollahs' regime, and that "the only way" for them to desist from a nuclear weapons program would be to "put a credible military threat on the table."

"If they continue to develop their nuclear program, the free world will use force," Lapid has said.

In an interview with Israel's Channel 12 broadcast on Wednesday, Biden already stated that he would only resort to that extreme against Iran as a "last resort."

Israel opposed the nuclear deal and has always advocated taking a tougher line with Tehran.

The negotiations to return to the path of the pact are again at an impasse and with little sign of coming back to life.

Despite the divergences, the president of the United States has reiterated in the declaration signed with Lapid his commitment to preserving Israel's military advantage in the region.

And as part of this pledge, he has certified that he will maintain the $3.8 billion in military assistance that Washington has promised to deliver to Tel Aviv each year through 2028. He has also expressed "enthusiasm" to parallel advance his defense partnership through the cooperation in state-of-the-art technology such as anti-aircraft laser systems.

At the press conference, Biden avoided saying whether he planned to bring up the Khashoggi case when he meets with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom US intelligence services hold responsible for the brutal 2018 murder in Istanbul of

Saudi resident in the United States.

“My views on Khashoggi have been absolutely, positively clear,” Biden said, adding that he is always willing to speak openly with allies and enemies about human rights.

It is not yet clear what that arrangement will look like during his meetings this weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The joint document between Washington and Tel Aviv also praises Israel's growing integration in the Middle East - with the normalization of relations with Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain - and Biden has pledged to continue playing an active role in building a new regional architecture that includes Saudi Arabia.

Surprisingly, among the countries highlighted in the text for having normalized relations with the Jewish State is not Sudan, which signed an agreement with Israel at the end of 2020 and which today finds itself in a situation of profound instability after experiencing a military coup d'état in October that Israel has avoided condemning.

Lapid has also asked Biden to take advantage of his imminent trip to the Desert Kingdom to convey to his leaders, and those of Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq his willingness to strengthen ties.

The future of Palestine, on the other hand, has been relegated to the end of the joint declaration.

Israel and the US only urge each other to continue discussing "the challenges and opportunities of relations between Israelis and Palestinians" and to work to strengthen the economy and the population's quality of life.

Biden alone reaffirmed his support for a two-state solution, although on Wednesday he already anticipated that he does not see it as feasible in the short term.

The text also includes in the same paragraph the commitment of both countries to fight against anti-Semitism and their rejection of both the campaign to boycott Israel and to single out the country "unfairly" in any forum, including the International Criminal Court.

This promise comes after the Palestinian Authority announced in May that it had asked the Hague Tribunal to investigate the murder of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, killed while covering an Israeli army incursion into the city of Jenin. in the occupied West Bank.

Witnesses and independent investigations suggest that Abu Akleh was shot by Israeli forces.

In the afternoon, Biden received Israel's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Honor, from President Isaac Herzog.

And he is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday morning shortly before heading to Saudi Arabia.

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