JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — President Joe Biden wrapped up his first presidential trip to the Middle East on Saturday with few clear domestic advantages from a trip that introduced widespread criticism again house.
Biden acquired no concrete commitments from Saudi Arabia to improve oil manufacturing, the primary deliverable that might have helped tackle his greatest domestic problem of inflation, and made no vital progress towards a decision between the Israelis and Palestinians.
While the conversations and face-to-face conferences Biden held within the area might show to pay dividends over time, he’ll return to Washington with little to present a domestic viewers for whom the primary concern is the economic system, with competing issues over social points like abortion rights and gun violence. Biden’s approval ranking has hit the bottom degree of his presidency in a number of surveys lower than 4 months earlier than the midterm elections.
Even earlier than Biden set off for the trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, Democrats had accused him of backing down on his marketing campaign vow to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Human rights teams which have pushed for reforms in Saudi Arabia mentioned they felt betrayed by the trip.
“There are a lot of downsides to President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia and meeting Mohammed bin Salman,” mentioned former CIA director John Brennan in an interview on MSNBC Wednesday. He mentioned Biden “has to extract from Saudi Arabia and from MBS some tangible means that’s going to advance the interests of the United States in the region, as well as just regional stability.”
After days of hypothesis over how Biden would greet Saudi Arabia’s de facto chief, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an engagement that grew to become its personal storyline, Biden opted for a chummy-looking fist bump over a extra formal handshake.
The White House had instructed forward of the assembly that Biden can be “minimizing contact” as a Covid precaution when requested if he would shake the crown prince’s hand. But Biden participated in various different handshakes and heat embraces all through his go to, together with with the crown prince’s father, King Salman.
Fred Ryan, writer of The Washington Post the place Khashoggi was working on the time of this dying, referred to as the fist bump “shameful.” The former fiancee of Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz, tweeted a photo of the fist bump, saying of Biden the “blood of MBS’ next victim is on your hands.”
Biden said he raised Khashoggi’s death in his meeting with the crown prince in which he indicated that he believed the crown prince was responsible for the killing. But Saudi diplomat Adel al-Jubeir downplayed the exchange in an interview with CNN, saying the topic was brought up by Biden briefly and that he believed the president had accepted the explanation by the crown prince that those responsible had been held accountable.
Following the meeting with the crown prince, Biden said Saudi Arabia made some broad commitments to addressing the high price of oil, but gave no details on what those would be and when they would occur.
“We had a good discussion on ensuring global energy security and adequate oil supplies to support global economic growth that will begin shortly,” Biden said during a press conference following the meeting. “And I’m doing all I can to increase the supply for the United States of America which I expect to happen. The Saudis share that urgency, and based on our discussions today, I expect we’ll see further steps in the coming weeks.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House was hopeful there would be additional actions by the OPEC+ oil producers alliance in the “coming weeks.”
In Israel, Biden took hits from both sides of the aisle, with Democrats disappointed he didn’t go further in pressing leaders there over the country’s treatment of the Palestinians, and Republicans criticizing his visit to a Palestinian hospital in a disputed section of Jerusalem.
Human rights and international media groups, meanwhile, had wanted to see Biden do more around the investigation into the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. As Biden spoke in the West Bank, he faced a large photo of Abu Akleh placed on a chair in the front row where journalists were seated.
Biden said the U.S. would “continue to assist on a full and transparent accounting of her death,” but he didn’t announce any additional steps that would be taken to ensure that would occur.
The president also acknowledged in Israel that there wouldn’t be any resolution to the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the “close to time period” and said the U.S. was being realistic about what it could achieve.
The White House sought to emphasize a number of steps the U.S. helped facilitate during the trip, including the opening of Saudi airspace to commercial flights to and from Israel, infrastructure projects to improve digital connectivity in the region, assistance to the Palestinians and a deal over islands in the Red Sea.
During a summit with Gulf leaders, Biden emphasized that the U.S. would continue to play a role in the region and counter efforts by China, Russia and Iran to take a greater foothold.
It was among the efforts that could provide important value for the U.S. but would take years to play out.
