Jordan has cancelled a summit it was to host in Amman on Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden. … Biden was expected to make a whirlwind trip to Israel, where he would later head to Jordan and according to Jordanian officials meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Jordan’s King Abdullah … has blamed Israel for a blast at a Gaza hospital that killed about 500 Palestinians on Tuesday, saying it was a ‘shame on humanity’ and called on Israel to immediately end its military campaign against Gaza.
(Reuters, October 18, 2023)
Snubbing Biden – again
Biden traveled to Saudi Arabia last year to beg Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) to increase oil production to lower fuel prices. MbS decreased production seemingly just to spite Biden. Now comes this much more consequential snub.
Mind you, Biden shared US intelligence showing that a misfired rocket by Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian terrorist group, caused that devastating hospital blast. Yet, these so-called friendly Arab leaders prefer to believe the terrorists over the US.
But these Arab leaders depend on the US for their survival. That’s why it’s unforgivable that they snubbed this US president so publicly.
Arab leaders fear their own people
These leaders are willfully encouraging the protests now raging in “the Arab street.” They’d rather fan flames based on a demonstrable lie than risk their people’s misguided wrath by telling them the truth.
Craven fear is causing them to do so. And that’s even more disgraceful than Republicans pandering to Trump’s MAGA base.
Still, it is remarkable and untenable that Arab leaders are siding with Hamas, Hezbollah, and rogue states against Israel, the US, and other democratic countries. And none of these leaders seem bothered that Palestinian terrorists have a diabolical interest in causing as much death and destruction in Gaza as they can.
Biden must make Arab leaders pay
Biden must make a public show of making these disloyal, cowardly, and ungrateful Arab leaders pay.
He should enlist the EU to suspend all US and EU financial aid to these countries. And he should make this suspension as personal as their snub by announcing a travel ban on all government officials from those countries to the US and EU.
Those measures would force these Arab leaders to either come to their senses or risk the fateful uprising that befell Muammar Gaddafi. In any event, their countries would soon descend into sectarian conflicts, like those now playing out in places like Yemen, Ethiopia, and Syria.
And, despite their flirtation, they all know neither China nor Russia would make a suitable alternative to the US as a regional superpower patron. Not to mention that no Arab leader would like having to bank their ill-gotten gains, take vacations, or buy second homes in China or Russia instead of the US or EU.
Enough is enough, Mr. President. Call their bluff!
With allies like these…
Jordan and Egypt are longstanding US allies. They receive billions in US aid. Even the Palestinian Authority receives hundreds of millions. So I cannot overstate the significance of them siding with Hamas terrorists and even snubbing Biden to reinforce their solidarity.
Again, this impudent snub cannot stand. After all, if Iran triggers a regional war, these Arab countries might have no compunction about fighting with those terrorists against Israel and the US.