President Biden Muddles His Way Through the Middle East

By 

Wesley Smith

|
July 25, 2022

6 min read

Middle East

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President Biden returned from his four-day trip to the Middle East, visiting Israel and Saudi Arabia.  Controversy was part of the trip, including whether he would beg the Saudis to produce more oil and the famous fist-bump with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.  However, the real controversy—largely ignored by most of the media—is Biden’s inconsistent, inarticulate, confusing policy for the Middle East.  As he traveled through the region, we were starkly reminded that as far as policy and messaging goes, he continues to muddle his way through foreign policy.

For most of his 19-month tenure as President to date, the perception of many has been that the United States was retreating from the Middle East.  This was initially evidenced by his backing away from our second most important ally in the area, Saudi Arabia.  Right after entering office, he suspended arms sales to Saudi Arabia.  Thankfully, he eventually restored the sales, but one wonders why he suspended them in the first place.  The murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was horrible.  But you cannot stop arms sales to a strategic ally that is the major Arab nation countering the influence and activities of Iran over the death of one individual.  Doing so might make you feel morally justified, but it put at risk thousands of people in the area.  There were other ways to send a message rather than disarming an ally or pushing them into the arms of Russia or China for support.

Iran supports the Houthi rebels in Yemen and gave them the means to overthrow the government in that country, where a civil war still rages.  While Biden dithered about giving the Saudis the means to defend themselves and fight terrorists in Yemen, the Houthi rebels were not only killing people in Yemen, but they were also attacking civilians in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.  The Houthis are literally proxies of Iran.  In addition to pausing weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, President Biden took the Houthi rebels off the list of designated terror groups—even though that is what they are.

As our President continued to ramble (as to policy) in the region, he coddled the Palestinian Authority (PA).  It was good that he finally acknowledged the Abraham Accords, probably the most significant agreement for Middle East peace since Israel became a nation.  Because President Trump brought about the Accords which established diplomatic relations between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Biden had never acknowledged the agreement publicly until now.  The agreement with the UAE and Bahrain led Morocco and Sudan to sign a treaty with Israel.  Egypt and Jordan have had diplomatic relations with Israel for decades.  All of this warmed the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel.  During the previous Administration, Saudi Arabia and Israel had already begun sharing intelligence and cooperating in their opposition to Iran and its proxies.

But partly what led to peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors was the realization that the main obstacle to peace in the area was the intransigence and corruption of the Palestinian leaders.  Israel has supported a two-state solution for years; but every time they agreed to Palestinian demands, the Palestinians moved the goal post and rejected the agreement.  The Arabs realized this and proceeded with their own agreements and cooperation with the Jewish state, essentially bypassing the Palestinian piece of the peace process.

What did President Biden do?  He visited the Palestinian Authority in East Jerusalem without an Israeli representative, a quiet but significant symbol that this U.S. Administration questions Jerusalem as the one and undivided capital of Israel. While in Bethlehem earlier that day, Biden’s limousine carried both the U.S. and Palestinian flags.  That is a traditional practice when a President visits another nation or territory.  However, when his car went to Jerusalem, instead of having a U.S. and Israeli flag on the fenders (as is normal protocol), the presidential car had only two American flags on either side of the car. People noticed.

More troubling, Biden chose to flaunt U.S. law:  The Taylor Force Act, named after an American West Point graduate who was visiting Israel when he was killed by a Palestinian, forbids the U.S. from giving money to the PA until they stop the official policy of giving money to Palestinians who kill or attempt to kill Jews or Americans.  The PA also gives families of Palestinians who die in their attack on Jews or Americans a life-long stipend as a reward for their family member’s terrorist attack.  It is referred to as a “Pay for Slay” program.  It puts a bounty on Israelis and Americans.  The Palestinian Authority refuses to stop the program and, under our previous Administration, told the U.S. to keep their dollars.  Ignoring all this, Biden announced he would revive aid to the PA and give them $350 million – a big win for Palestinian terrorists.  No doubt, the attacks on Israelis and U.S. citizens will increase.

Biden’s policies in the region are muddled.  Thankfully, the President did realize the mistake of backing away from our Arab allies in the region. He reassured Saudi Arabia and other nations that we are committed to their safety and security.  He reaffirmed the commitment to never allowing Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. But his going backward on the issue of Palestinians and his continued insistence that mere negotiations with Iran will stop their development of a nuclear bomb are not consistent with realities in the region.  Further, his commitment to lifting sanctions on Iran if they will only re-sign an outdated and flawed nuclear agreement (JCPOA) are even more troubling.

Biden’s policies, his mixed messaging and missteps over the last year and a half, inadvertently reassured Russia, Turkey, and Iran, who followed Biden’s meetings with a meeting of their own in Tehran—where two adversaries and a questionable NATO ally plotted how to bolster their own interests while ignoring the vital interests of the United States and our friends in the region.  Iran agreed to sell armed drones to Russia.  Russia and Iran signed a $40 billion energy agreement.  Turkey affirmed the legitimacy of the tyrannical regime in Iran, and Turkey still refuses to join the other NATO allies and condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

As our colleague Mike Pompeo reminded us on this site, President Biden should be doing all he can to cripple Iran and strengthen the partnerships the U.S. built to deter the regime. Instead, he is weakening the partnerships with our friends and empowering our adversaries.  We need clear, consistent leadership, and we need it now more than ever.

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