The first trip of the American president, Joe Biden, to the Middle East, confirmed the US commitment to the region in which Washington is determined to maintain its influence.

Biden got the result he was aiming for most: Saudi Arabia's promise to increase oil production by 50% in July and August to "stabilize the markets."

But today the tensions linked to the Khashoggi case are holding the spotlight, also fueled by the stance taken by a longtime friend of Biden, the socialist senator Bernie Sanders who in an interview with Abc News on the visit of the US president freezes Biden: "Not I think we should maintain a cordial relationship with a dictatorship like that ”.

Biden's words to bin Salman

Biden claimed he told Prince Mohammed bin Salman that he held him responsible for the death of dissident journalist and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed and torn to pieces in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Murder for which the US intelligence services hold MbS responsible.

"I have clearly stated what I thought then and what I think today", "I will not remain silent on human rights".

And when asked what bin Salman had replied, Biden retorted: "He said he was not responsible and that he had taken action against those who were responsible." 

Joe Biden denied Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir's version, who told Fox News he hadn't heard him accuse Prince Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi's murder.

Asked if the head of diplomacy in Riyadh was telling the truth, the president, returning from his trip to Saudi Arabia, replied with a peremptory "No".  

Khashoggi's former lawyer in the United Arab Emirates sentenced

Another possible embarrassing tail on the Khashoggi case for Joe Biden.

American citizen Asim Ghafoor, a former lawyer for the journalist murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, was arrested and sentenced by a UAE court to three years in prison for tax evasion and money laundering.

The CNN reports, citing the Arab state agency Wam, according to which the case emerged when the US authorities asked the Emirates for legal assistance in their investigations into Ghafoor for tax evasion and suspicious transfers in that country.  

The US State Department reported that it raised the issue of his detention with the Emirati authorities and expressed the hope that all rights and guarantees of the detainee are respected.

Some American executives admitted that they are aware of the situation but that "there is no indication that it has anything to do with Khashoggi".

Yesterday in Jeddah Biden invited his Emirati counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, to visit the White House later this year, after glacial reports in recent months.

Controversy over the greeting with the fist between the president and the prince

The Washington Post spoke of "moral erosion".

"Why don't you talk about something that matters? I'm happy to answer a question that matters," Joe Biden replied, angrily, to reporters who asked him if he regrets the greeting with his fist to Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which US intelligence considers. the instigator of the Khashoggi murder. 

On the MbS issue, he stressed that "similar things are happening all over the world and that, in the same year in which they occurred, other journalists have been killed in other parts of the world".

According to a Saudi source, MbS stressed that "the US has also made a number of mistakes, such as the case of Abu Ghraib in Iraq and others, but what is needed is that countries face the mistakes and take steps to prevent them from happening. repeat ".

The prince "also referred to the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and questioned the measures taken by the United States and countries around the world in this regard".

The agreements of Abraham

The attempts by the leader of the White House to persuade Arab countries, in particular Saudi Arabia, to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, in the wake of the Abrahamic agreements, with which the Jewish state has already normalized relations, also characterized the summit. with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

Biden made the historic direct trip between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a country that does not yet recognize the Jewish state.

Riyadh announced the opening of its airspace to Israel, but in a press conference after the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan stressed that "there are no plans for future steps".

Despite US mediation, relations between Riyadh and Israel remain complicated, as the Emir of Qatar clarified,

The challenge in the West Bank

Taking office only a few weeks ago, the Israeli centrist prime minister, Yair Lapid, will have to face a challenge posed to him by the settler movement in the coming days.

For Lapid, this is a delicate test, just days after he learned from President Joe Biden that the United States expects Israel to "not be surprised" with new settlements. 

An activist fringe of the movement, Nahalà, announced that it had collected contributions of 5 million shekels (about 1.4 million euros) from its supporters and thus completed preparations for the establishment of three new outposts in the West Bank, "which will take place on July 20 ".

The initiative was conceived independently by the settler movement to spur the government to extend the Jewish presence in the West Bank.

So far, however, neither Lapid nor Defense Minister Benny Gantz have ordered the army to block far-right activists, who risk souring Palestinians among other things.

Meanwhile, the Peace Now movement is mobilizing its activists to "physically prevent" the construction of the new illegal outposts on the ground.

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US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid