Biden captures Israeli hearts
On the strategic level, the visit of US President Joe Biden to Israel generated mixed results, but on the level of image and intimacy, Biden captured the hearts of Israeli citizens.
US President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel could not have come at a better time for Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid. Just two weeks after taking office, Biden’s visit was tailormade to present Lapid as the stuff of which prime ministers are made, embraced by the leader of the world's largest superpower, less than four months before he faces opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu at the polls. What's more, Lapid did not have to ask. The visit landed in his lap, a combination of geopolitical and political circumstances.
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In all other aspects, Biden’s two-day visit was a mixed bag. "We have restored confidence in America and the Democratic Party," a top Israeli political official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity minutes after Biden's departure for Saudi Arabia July 15. "We have also restored intimacy. We have broadcast to the Middle East and to the entire world images that reflect extraordinary power, we have signed a strategic declaration with the United States, we have deepened our strategic dialogue. These are not trivial things."
However, the senior official avoided addressing the key matters on which the visit failed to yield progress. The Americans are unwilling, despite the pleas of both Lapid and President Isaac Herzog, to set a deadline for the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program, nor to draw a "red line" that if crossed by Iran would turn talk into action.
