Biden continues 'embarrassing' foreign trip in Jeddah
President Biden made the U.S. look weak with Palestinians, in Israel, and in Saudi Arabia, national security and foreign policy expert tells 'The Story'.
President Biden's foreign trip has succeeded in making America look weak, as the president moves on to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after an "embarrassing" visit to Israel and with the Palestinians, a top foreign policy expert told Fox News on Friday.
Heritage Foundation vice president James Jay Carafano said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum" that the trip has wrongly been considered a "nothingburger" — pointing out the lack of tangible deliverables for the U.S. amid several instances of regional leaders making Biden – and by extension the U.S. – look terrible.
All this is transpiring as rival Russia seeks weaponry commerce with Iran, Carafano said.
"We've already seen the Israel piece, which literally was nothing. And the expectations here are zero: But when you put this in the bigger context: Putin is going to visit Iran. Iran's going to sell UAVs to Russia. And the U.S. government publicly acknowledges that Iran is trying to kill former U.S. officials," he said.
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President Biden boards Air Force One for a trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia on July 12, 2022, at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
"Meanwhile, the Palestinians embarrassed the president of the United States by giving him a long list of demands that they want before they'll let the U.S. Dean to come back to talk about a two-state solution [with Israel]. So it's not a nothingburger. Everybody is embarrassing the president — the Saudis, the Palestinians, the Iranians."
Carafano called Biden's praise of the Trump-forged Abraham Accords during his visit to Israel "empty words."
"The Abraham Accords are moving forward with or without the United States because the region recognizes it's an important thing to do, and it's an important way to block Iran," he said.
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This May 30, 2017, file photo shows Saudi Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Moscow's Kremlin. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, Pool, File)
Carafano pointed to Democrats wanting to "throw overboard" U.S. relationships with Israel, Egypt, Turkey and the Saudis, saying Biden "went along with the rhetoric knowing it was absolutely not true."
He said Biden's "hat-in-hand" trip to these allies and partners this week was the "most predictable moment" despite that.
"We want this region to be peaceful and stable. It's good for us. Anybody who can explain to me how the United States can partner in this region without friends in Turkey, Israel and Egypt and Saudi Arabia — you can't," Carafano argued.
In addition to experts like Carafano, some Democrats have begun publicly voicing concern about Biden's behavior on the trip — with a New Jersey Democrat in a tight House race saying he's "not entirely comfortable" with the imagery of the president "fist-bumping" Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Rep. Tom Malinowski of Somerville told another network Biden has been more "honest" than Donald Trump about the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and credited his party leader with curbing weapons sales to the Saudis. However, he also argued that the U.S. is "the superpower, not the supplicant in this relationship" and that Biden must achieve tangible results in favor of human rights.
On "The Story," Carafano added that Trump was respected in the region because he took direct action to kill militia leader Qassem Soleimani and forged key deals with partner nations, versus Biden's lack of deliverables.