US President Joe Biden Concluded a Forty Hour Visit to Israel Which Focused on Iranian Nuclear Plans and Strengthening the Security Ties Between Israel and the US: In his first visit to Israel as the President of the US, President Biden and PM Lapid signed the Jerusalem Declaration. In the four page document the US promises to secure the safety of Israel and do all it can to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. The US also declared it will enable Israel to protect itself with all means necessary, including the military option in order to prevent the Iranian nuclear plan.
Biden opened his visit at an exhibition of advanced high-tech defense devices like Iron Dome and the new laser based Iron Beam.
Biden then went to the Holocaust National Memorial Museum Yad Vashem, where he lit a candle and met two holocaust survivors.
During his stay in Israel President Biden received a medal of honor from Israeli President Herzog.
Biden’s next stop in this trip to the Middle East is Saudi-Arabia, which already announced it will open its’ skies to all airlines, including Israeli. This will significantly shorten the trip to the far east from Israel.
President Biden Visits East Jerusalem and Meets with Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem: following a 40-hour visit to Israel, and before he departs to Saudi Arabia, President Biden visited the Augusta Victoria hospital in East Jerusalem, and then met with Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. Having failed to reach an agreed upon joint statement, presidents Biden and Abbas made separate ones. President Abbas said that the key to peace in the middle east is recognition of a Palestinian state and an end to the occupation. President Biden said that the two-state solution based on the 67’ lines is the best way to achieve peace and prosperity in the region. Biden also announced an additional US aid package of 316 million US$, 200 million US$ to UNRWA, 100 million will go to support health services, pending congressional approval. President Biden also announced additional steps by Israel, including eased access for Palestinians at the Allenby crossing, increased number of work permits, and advanced G4 cellular infrastructure, all designed to boost the PA economy. According to the media, the Palestinians did not have high expectations from the visit, and some factions in the PA leadership urged Abbas to cancel the visit. Palestinians expressed disappointment with the US administration for not making a clear statement regarding the circumstances of the death of American-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. An empty seat was reserved in her memory at the Biden-Abbas press conference. An Israeli human rights group also posted billboards in Bethlehem and Ramallah that say: “Mr. President, this is apartheid”.
The forthcoming General Elections are Receiving a Lot of Media Focus and Public Opinion Polls Indicate that Not Even this round Will Result in a Clear Party Victory: Public opinion polls that were conducted by all major media outlets, show a balance between the two camps: the right-wing led by Netanyahu, and the center-left camp, now led by current PM Lapid.
Likud, former PM Netanyahu’s party will probably be the biggest party with 31-35 seats (out of 120), and Lapid’s party, Yesh Atid, with 21-22 seats will be the second in size.
General elections, the fourth in three and a half years, will be held on November 1st later this year.
Two Parties Announce a Merger Towards Upcoming Elections: the chairs of the two parties, Benny Gantz of the centrist Kahol-Lavan (Blue and White), and Gidon Sa’ar of the right wing Tikvah Hadasha (New Hope) announced that both parties will run together in the upcoming elections in November 2022. Both parties are members of the current government coalition, where Gantz serves as minister of defense and Sa’ar as minister of Justice. According to polls conducted shorty after the announcement, the Gantz-Sa’ar party is the third largest, after Likud, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu and Yesh Atid, headed by Ya’ir Lapid. However, according to the polls, the new alliance currently does not draw new voters, from the soft left, center or the soft right. Nor does the new alliance change the political deadlock, which repeatedly leads to yet another round of elections. Rather, it maintains its current power of 14 seats, 8 seats for Kahol-Lavan and 6 for Tikvah Hadasha.
The Jewish Olympic Games - the Maccabiah - Officially Opened in Jerusalem in the Presence of US President Biden, Israeli President Herzog, and Israel PM Lapid: Prior to the opening of the games, President Biden met with the American athletes and gave them his blessing.
The games will last two weeks. The Maccabiah Games, that take place every four years, have been held in Israel since 1932. This year’s games are expected to be the world’s largest sporting event for 2022.
For Further Reading:
BIden in Israel: Here, here, here, here, here,