No one can accuse President Joe Biden of failing to do his utmost to prevent a full-scale war from breaking out in the Middle East. He and his indefatigable envoys must have spent more time this year working on the Middle East than any other issue.
The intensive diplomatic efforts by Antony Blinken, secretary of state, Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, Bill Burns, CIA director, and Amos Hochstein, Biden’s man covering Lebanon, among others, were supposed not only to find a workable solution to the myriad of crises but also enhance the President’s foreign policy legacy after what has turned out to be only one term in office.
Biden began his administration with high hopes of a new, broad Arab-Israeli alliance
The Middle East has been a political and diplomatic graveyard for successive American presidents, but Biden’s hopes of forging an historic alliance between Israel and Saudi Arabia as part of a grand vision of fending off Iran (Israel’s Enemy Number One and the arch manipulator behind every conflict in the region) fell brutally by the wayside on 7 October.
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