Israel, US need to ‘renew strong global coalition’ against Iran: Lapid

Tel Aviv, Israel – (AFP):

The US and Israel will hold talks on renewing a “global coalition” against Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Wednesday as he welcomed President Joe Biden to the country.

“We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear programme,” Lapid said, moments after the Air Force One plane touched down in Israel, kicking off Biden’s first tour of the Middle East as president.

Biden is also scheduled to have a short meeting Thursday with Israel’s former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will try to reclaim power in the upcoming polls.

Israel for now is again mired in political gridlock ahead of a November 1 parliamentary election, the fifth in less than four years.

Biden will also meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday for a short tail-end meeting. However, there is no expectation of any announcement towards a fresh peace process. In fact, given how Biden has described the US-Israel relationship as ‘bone deep’ as well as ‘deeper and stronger than ever before’, the visit will only serve to exacerbate Palestinians’ woes and intensify Israel’s impunity.

Palestinians have been deeply disappointed by the results of the US investigations into the killing of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh while she was covering an Israeli army raid in the West Bank. The findings reaffirmed the Israeli position on the matter, ignoring mounting evidence that the bullet killing her had been fired by an Israeli sniper.

The United Nations had concluded the Palestinian-American journalist was killed by Israeli fire. However, Washington- Israel’s strongest ally- insisted that there was no evidence the killing was intentional.

Abu Akleh’s family has voiced outrage over the Biden administration’s “abject response” to her death.