JERUSALEM ¨C If U.S. President Joe Biden¡¯s arrival in Israel on Wednesday for his first trip here since taking office could be summarized in just two words, they might be: Donald who?
A year and a half after Donald Trump left the White House, Israeli leaders welcomed his successor with a rapturous embrace, as if to prove that their love affair with the former president would not stand in the way of a close relationship with the new president. As for Biden, he seemed just as determined to prove that he took a back seat to no one in supporting Israel.
At a red-carpet airport ceremony flush with fawning on both sides, President Isaac Herzog of Israel called his U.S. counterpart ¡°our brother Joseph,¡± declaring that ¡°you are truly amongst family.¡± The country¡¯s interim prime minister, Yair Lapid, called Biden ¡°a great Zionist and one of the best friends Israel has ever known.¡± For his part, Biden asserted that ¡°our relationship is deeper in my view than it¡¯s ever been¡± and told an Israeli interviewer that returning to the Holy Land was ¡°like going home.¡±
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