2023-10-17 01:01:42
US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced this on Tuesday. Biden will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and make clear that Israel has the right to defend itself. The White House announced that Biden would travel on to Jordan on the same day to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordanian King Abdullah II.
The media had already speculated about the 80-year-old’s trip. Netanyahu is said to have invited Biden to Israel during a phone call at the weekend. After the devastating terrorist attack by the Islamist Hamas on Israel, Biden spoke to Netanyahu several times, sometimes more than once a day. He also sent his Secretary of State Blinken to Israel and other countries in the region. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was also in Israel for talks.
Biden will reaffirm his solidarity with Israel after the major attack by the Hamas terrorist organization as it prepares for a ground offensive against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, Blinken said after long talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday in Tel Aviv.
Biden had repeatedly emphasized that the USA unconditionally stands by Israel. At the same time, he pointed out that the number of civilian casualties must be kept as low as possible. As Israel’s most important ally, the USA supports the country with billions of dollars. Biden had announced that he would request further funding for the country from the US Congress.
The USA absolutely wants to avoid a further escalation of the conflict in the region. Therefore, the USA has deployed several warships to the eastern Mediterranean as a deterrent. These include, among others, the aircraft carriers “USS Dwight D. Eisenhower” and “USS Gerald R. Ford”. Air Force squadrons with their fighter jets were also sent to the region. The White House recently emphasized that it had no plans to send ground troops to Israel.
Meanwhile, Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone before his trip to Egypt and Israel. Scholz is traveling to the region on Tuesday. Biden also spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the US presidential office said.
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