US President wants to make bold trip to Israel to show Washington's attitude

A bold trip by the White House chief to Israel, while not yet confirmed, is likely to take place this week.

Tổng thống Joe Biden đã nói với các trợ lý rằng ông muốn đi vì sự hiện diện của ông sẽ thể hiện sự ủng hộ mạnh mẽ của Hoa Kỳ. | Susan Walsh/AP

US President Joe Biden has told aides that he wants to make the trip to Israel because his presence would show strong US support. Illustration photo. (Source: AP)

The Biden administration is viewing the president's visit to Israel as a sign of support for the Jewish state in its conflict with Hamas.

Two unnamed US officials said President Joe Biden could travel to Israel as early as this week. They stressed that the trip may not happen soon, depending on the security situation in Israel. The fighting appears to be rapidly spiraling out of control and Israel is preparing to launch a ground assault on the Gaza Strip.

The information was being considered when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invited President Biden to visit Israel during a phone call on October 14, officials said.

President Biden has indicated that he wants to make the trip because his presence would demonstrate strong US support for Israel, which has suffered more than 1,300 deaths and some 150 hostages, including Americans. However, the possibility of further escalation means any future trip would have to come at a particularly precarious time.

“We have no formal announcement of any new travel,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, but has never denied that a trip is in the works.

White House aides note that Mr. Biden has made bold trips before, notably a February visit to Kiev, as the conflict in Ukraine was raging. That trip is considered by many aides to be one of the highlights of his presidency. Mr. Biden, 80, has also traveled elsewhere in the region, visiting Poland and Lithuania.

However, if the trip to the Ukrainian capital was made on a secret 10-hour train, the trip to Israel was somehow expected to be even more complicated.

In February, the US side contacted Russia not to interfere with the trip and Moscow, did not try to stop it, although air raid sirens sounded as Mr Biden and his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky walked through the streets of Kiev.

According to a US official, Hamas forces are likely to carry out a provocative attack against him.

A visit by US senators to Tel Aviv this week highlighted the dangers in the region. A group of lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, sought refuge in a bomb shelter when sirens sounded. However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Israel last week without incident.

The debate over the trip comes amid growing concern within the Biden administration about the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and amid Israel's heavy bombing and siege of the area.

Israel is expected to launch a ground offensive in the coming days. Experts say weeks of urban fighting are certain to result in the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. Officials in the Gaza Strip say more than 2,600 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli retaliatory strikes over the past week.

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