President Joe Biden and his top aides are absorbing the explosion of violence in Israel on Saturday and contending with a complicated diplomatic situation unlike any previous conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
- Ties between Biden and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, friends for decades, have been strained by Netanyahu’s far-right governing coalition in Israel.
- A fractured political environment among the Palestinians will make it difficult for American officials to identify a reliable negotiating partner.
- In the US, an already active Republican presidential primary campaign appears destined to pin blame on Biden for helping fuel attacks on Israel through his recent deal with Iran.
- And looming in the background is a historic normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia that Biden had hoped was nearing the finish line.
It all amounts to one of the most volatile geopolitical situations of Biden’s presidency, which is also confronting a war in Ukraine that has become a politically fraught issue at home.
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