The trip was always going to be the riskiest period of Biden’s presidency.
On board Air Force One, undefined:
Joe Biden’s diplomatic effort in the Middle East faltered before getting off the ground on Tuesday after his trip to Jordan was canceled following an attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of people.
The 80-year-old US president will now only go to ally Israel to show support after the October 7 Hamas attack, upending the intention of a regional balancing act.
The trip was always going to be the riskiest period of Biden’s presidency, as he tried to thread the needle between supporting Israel and trying to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, and preventing a regional conflagration.
News of the hospital explosion – for which Hamas blamed Israeli attacks, while Israel said it was caused by a rocket fired by militants in Gaza – then led to frenzied speculation about whether he would actually travel.
And around the time Biden climbed the steps of Air Force One, Jordan announced that its planned quadruple summit with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Egypt’s president was canceled.
It would take place “when the decision has been made to stop the war and put an end to these massacres,” Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.
Shortly afterwards, the White House confirmed that Biden will “postpone his trip to Jordan,” saying he made the decision “after consultation with King Abdullah II of Jordan and in light of the days of mourning announced by President Abbas.”
Biden also expressed his “deepest condolences” to the victims of the “hospital explosion,” the report said.
By then, the attack on the Ahli Arab hospital, which Gaza officials say killed at least 200 people, had already become a lightning rod for anger across the region.
Angry protesters tried to storm the Israeli embassy in Amman, where Biden was due to meet the other leaders.
And Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah called for a “day of rage” over the strike, which would coincide with Biden’s arrival, fueling fears of the escalation by Tehran and its allies that Biden’s visit should warn against .
– ‘Critical moment’ –
The timing could hardly have been worse for the 80-year-old Biden as he makes one of the biggest gambles of his long political career.
“He comes here at a crucial time for Israel, for the region and for the world,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said early on Tuesday as he announced Biden’s visit during his own diplomatic marathon.
Even before the hospital attack, the DailyExpertNews called it a “journey full of risks.”
Blinken said the president wanted to show “ironclad” support for Israel after Hamas stormed through the heavily fortified border with Gaza on Oct. 7 and shot, stabbed and burned more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians.
Biden has said Israel has a “duty” to eliminate Hamas.
But the Democratic president carefully deliberated before accepting the invitation to visit from right-wing Netanyahu, who has ordered preparations for what is expected to be a bloody ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
The two leaders spoke on Tuesday after the hospital strike, the White House said, without revealing further details.
There was always the risk that Biden, by coming to Tel Aviv, would become too closely involved in the days-long Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has razed parts of the enclave and killed more than 3,000 people.
Biden has increased pressure on Israel in recent days to protect civilian lives from the airstrikes and a siege that is putting Gaza at risk of a humanitarian disaster.
Anger over the hospital strike, meanwhile, could undermine the broader purpose of Biden’s visit as he tries to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from engulfing the broader Middle East.
Biden has warned Iran and Hezbollah not to get involved and has sent two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean to deter them.
Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, on Wednesday called on fellow Muslims and Arabs to “immediately take to streets and squares to express their intense anger” over the hospital strike.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
