US President Joe Biden’s visit was a complete failure and shows that Washington no longer possesses the power that it claims over the region — neither diplomatically, nor militarily. The Biden administration failed to achieve any of its primary objectives in the region with his visit and instead of sending a strong message to its rivals in Tehran, affirmed that there is no military solution available against the Islamic Republic.
When the Biden administration announced that the President would make his first trip to the Middle East, by visiting both Tel Aviv and Riyadh, talk began to emerge of many major developments that may follow. Saudi Arabia and Israel were expected to grow significantly closer towards a normalization deal, with some progress seemingly made on that front, the only thing that seemed to change was Riyadh opening its skies to Israeli aircraft, and other than this, there really isn’t anything to show for Joe Biden’s visit.
An “Arab-Israel Axis” made headlines in the Western media prior to President Biden’s visit to the region, with many expecting — following statements made about the potential for an “Arab NATO”, by the King of Jordan, Abdullah II — a major unity deal to be discussed at the Arab Summit. At the very least, it was expected that the Israeli proposal for a joint air defense alliance against Iran — to be formed between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members and Israel — would be discussed, yet there was no discussion about this at the Arab Summit meeting that Biden took part in.
On the Arab NATO front, not only did no other Arab regime bring such a concept up at the meeting on Saturday, but Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal Bin Farhan, stated that Riyadh had never heard of such a proposal and there is no such thing that exists. The Saudi official stated that the Kingdom’s hands are extended to Iran and that they view the only solution to the Iran nuclear question as being rooted in dialogue, rejecting the prospect of military escalation. Even worse for the United States, on the same day as Biden’s arrived in Tel Aviv, Abu Dhabi made it clear that they would not be part of any alliance against Iran and instead announced that they would send diplomats to Tehran in order to advance ties. Demonstrating America’s loss of influence in the Gulf, it also became clear that the US government was not even going to get the UAE and Saudi Arabia to act on its behalf to bring down oil prices.
Despite Joe Biden having stated that the US “will not walk away” from the region, at the Arab Summit meeting, it was evident that his sentiment did not match the results achieved. Whilst Saudi Arabia opened up its airspace for Israeli jets, there was no more process on Israel-Saudi normalization announced, especially not on the anti-Iran front. Not only did it seem that the GCC nations (Egypt and Jordan) were not on board with an anti-Iran axis, but the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, slammed Israel’s policies of aggression and violations of Palestinian human rights. The confidence of the GCC leaders in saying no to the US clearly says that Washington is no longer the only consideration in the region. The Arab regimes understand that there is no benefit to being part of any aggression against Iran and that siding against the camp of resistance which is aligned with the Islamic Republic is a suicide mission, and this is especially the case as the US and Israel have proven incapable of protecting the likes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE from attacks. Now, the Arab countries know that there are two other players on the world stage that also must be considered, Russia and China — most importantly, China.
Joe Biden’s visit to Tel Aviv brought with it signs that Washington has not made up its mind on how to deal with the Palestine-Israel conflict. Whilst Biden states that he is a Zionist and seeks further Arab normalization, he also contradicts himself by talking about attempting to revive the so-called “Two-State solution”. Instead of pursuing diplomacy with the Palestinian resistance, Biden seeks to provide more support for the repressive forces of the Palestinian Authority so that it can help in Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. Present on Joe Biden’s trip was also Amos Hochstein, the US’ lead negotiator on the Lebanon-Israel maritime border dispute, who has so far shown himself to be arrogantly pro-Israel, and his refusal to act as a neutral figure in negotiations is bringing Beirut and Tel Aviv closer to war by the day. The so-called “Jerusalem Declaration” signed by the US and Israel proved that the two governments are pursuing not only an aggressive military solution against Iran, but also against all Israel’s enemies, a policy which is doomed to failure.
One day after Biden left Tel Aviv, on a direct flight to Riyadh, the Palestinian resistance reportedly fired two rockets in occupied Askalan. Israel then bombarded an open site, southwest of Gaza City, to which Palestinian armed factions responded with anti-air missiles and the firing of two more rockets, the Israeli Air Force again bombarded the besieged coastal enclave and struck open sites in the East of Gaza. The Palestinian action was a statement to the newly crowned Israeli Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, which he, like his predecessor, failed to successfully respond to. What the rocket fire showed is that Israel’s air defenses can be overcome and that it had no intelligence for hitting meaningful sites in the Gaza Strip. Despite the Israeli military claiming it hit an important weapons manufacturing site, to anyone who knows the area it is a laughable claim. The Palestinian armed factions in Gaza strategically fired to show that Joe Biden’s visit was not successful, to send a message to the Arab regimes and to test the Israeli PM. Overall, the Biden visit was a clear sign of the fading power of the United States in the Middle East.
