US President Joe Biden to visit Israel Wednesday

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00:00 Well, first of all, it is very significant to see a US president

00:03 traveling to Israel while Israel is, in their own words, at war.

00:07 So it really is just symbolically a show of support from Joe Biden

00:13 to travel to Israel at this time.

00:16 So really, the main message and the main goal is to reaffirm

00:20 the ironclad support, as they have called it, of the US for Israel.

00:25 You're seeing also this support militarily with those two aircraft carriers,

00:30 strike groups that are moved to the eastern Mediterranean.

00:34 There are more weapons going to Israel.

00:36 So that is really one aspect of the strip.

00:40 The other one is to avoid this escalation

00:44 and the spillover within the region.

00:46 It's a message that the United States is here, standing by Israel,

00:51 and it's a message to all these other forces.

00:54 You were mentioning Hezbollah with Andrew.

00:57 There's also Iran.

00:58 And so the message is we are here physically.

01:01 Our military is very close by.

01:02 We're here symbolically.

01:04 Don't try to take advantage of the situation.

01:07 That's the message that we've been hearing over and over again.

01:11 There's also talks about how to get those hostages released.

01:15 And there is a second aspect to that trip.

01:19 He's going to go to Israel, but he's also traveling to Jordan,

01:23 where he will be meeting not only with King Abdullah of Jordan,

01:27 but also with the Egyptian president, Sisi, as well as Mahmoud Abbas,

01:31 the president of the Palestinian Authority.

01:34 So that aspect also shows that the U.S.

01:37 is trying to sort of mediate, find a solution to contain this conflict

01:43 and to see how it can avoid this from spilling over,

01:48 whether it's to the north of Israel with Hezbollah or in the wider region.

01:54 So there's a sense that he's not just setting the biggest aircraft

01:58 carrier in the world, but two aircraft carriers for Israel's sake.

02:02 This is, you know, ironclad.

02:03 We are bound. We have the support.

02:04 If you're watching Iran, the U.S.

02:06 are in this at the top level with the president.

02:08 However, he'll also look over plans, we're told, for the full scale offensive.

02:13 And given the massive concern on the ground in Gaza at the moment,

02:15 this dire humanitarian situation,

02:18 what are you expecting from that?

02:19 Well, Antony Blinken, the secretary of state, really laid this out.

02:24 He said that Joe Biden was going to be briefed on Israel's war strategy,

02:29 but also that he would hear from Israel how it will conduct its operation

02:34 in a way that minimizes a civilian casualty.

02:36 And that's something that you've been seeing over the past few days,

02:40 a sort of shift in the rhetoric coming from the Biden administration.

02:44 Now, you're not going to see Joe Biden publicly scold Israel

02:49 or tell Israel what to do in their military operation.

02:52 But you're seeing with this change of messaging and the wording

02:57 in some of those statements

02:58 that there is going to be at least an attempt to quietly steer

03:02 a little bit that military operation, because Tony Blinken,

03:07 in his trip around the Middle East, heard from Arab leaders

03:11 their concern that not having the United States

03:15 talk about the civilian casualties, trying to put pressure on Israel

03:19 to sort of contain, minimize those civilian casualties,

03:23 that this could inflame the Arab world.

03:25 So the U.S. is striking a little bit of a balance there

03:29 by showing their support for Israel, saying and repeating

03:32 that Israel has a right to defend itself, but also pointing to the fact

03:36 that Israel, like the United States, is a democracy

03:39 and democracies follow the rules of war, meaning that they have to try

03:44 to prevent civilians from dying, that they have to let humanitarian aid pass.

03:48 So that is going to be a big focus.

03:50 How much of it will come out publicly is one thing,

03:53 but it is going to be a message.

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