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by Peter Baker
JERUSALEM – It didn’t last long.
President Biden shied away from shaking hands when he landed in Israel on Wednesday, as suggested by attendees, mentioning the new subvariant of the fast-spreading coronavirus and local leaders. hands with two former prime ministers.
Too much attention has been paid to what M would do. Biden, as his team gave the impression that he was setting the level that would allow him to avoid a much more politically ill handshake later in his vacation with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Due to Covid, he advised help, you may only run from any handshake for the four days they stay in the area, saving you a photo you’d rather avoid.
First, Biden gave the impression of settling for the concept after disembarking from Air Force One at Ben Gurion Airport. When Prime Minister Yair Lapid and other Israeli dignitaries approached, Biden surprised them by punching them. But he hizo. no to wear a mask and a slightly minimized touch otherwise, thankfully grabbing his elbows and placing his arm over M’s shoulder. Bark as if they were long-time friends.
Then, after the red carpet speeches were over, the memo without a handshake seemed to completely escape M’s mind. Biden as he addressed an organization of Israeli parliamentary leaders waiting to take a photo of the organization. He reached out to shake hands first with former Prime Minister Naftali. Bennett and then with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the latter received a long and vigorous shake-up despite their differences beyond.
So much for the plan, if that’s the plan. Hours earlier, White House officials traveling with Biden in Jerusalem had signaled the rise of the highly contagious subvariant of omicron known as BA. 5 by suggesting that he might not shake hands.
“We are now in a phase of the pandemic where we must reduce contact,” Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, told reporters aboard Air Force One. But Sullivan knew his boss and tried to avoid making misleading predictions. “I can’t communicate about every and every moment and every moment, every and every and every interaction and every and every move. “”It’s just a general precept that we apply. “
Biden and his aides feared the symbol of the presidential assembly, Prince Mohammed, who was convicted of the brutal killing in Istanbul in 2018 of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist living in the United States.
But even though Biden vowed as a candidate to punish Saudi Arabia by making the kingdom a “pariah,” the president valued the political charge of going there this week to counter Chinese influence, push for higher oil production and inspire closer ties with Israel.
He is scheduled to fly to Jeddah on Friday and will meet with King Salman and Prince Mohammed that evening, as well as other ministers. On Saturday he will meet with other Arab leaders accumulated in Jeddah, and collectively. But no assembly is more tense than that of Prince Mohammed.
Biden has shook a lot of hands in recent days, so a no-handshake policy from the company would have been an abrupt replacement in practice. infections, reinfections, and hospitalizations spread across the United States.
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