Biden's been and gone — here's what he achieved
Biden sought valuable public relations points, delivering lines such as “I am a Zionist” and showing deference when speaking with Holocaust survivors at Yad Vashem.
“Symbolism is important. The Israeli nation needs to feel secure about its connection with the United States in general, and with any particular president,” said Helit Barel, former head of the US-Israeli bilateral desk at Israel’s National Security Council. Barel addressed the foreign press corps on a Zoom call in Jerusalem on day two of Biden’s visit.
Some Israelis were more impressed with Biden’s Ray Ban sunglasses. One Israel Hayom writer researched its cost in Israel, and thankfully, stopped short of comparing that to the price in America’s much larger and more competitive retail market.
When it comes to substance over style, “the deliverables [of Biden’s visit] have been relatively modest,” at least for Israel, says David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute and former assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, who participated with Barel in the Zoom call.
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