JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — President Joe Biden began his trip to Saudi Arabia with a fist bump greeting to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, circumventing the optics of a president’s outstretched hand to a leader accused of having Saudi-American blood on his hands.
The brief, choreographed moment was broadcast live on state television, a public thaw of the ice that has kept the powerful crown prince at arms length since Biden took office.
As in Israel days earlier, it wasn’t long before the president quickly flouted the rule. Inside the al Salam Royal Palace, Biden extended his reach to grip the hand of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud as the crown prince looked on.
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The White House said doctor’s orders were to blame for the policy instructing Biden not to shake hands with Middle East leaders this week. The president undermined the policy almost immediately while greeting Israeli leaders in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Wednesday. After fist-bumping several Israeli officials on the red carpet, the American president was spotted shaking hands with opposition leader and former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president was again seen shaking hands while meeting Israeli officials during a defense ministry briefing on Iron Dome and Iron Beam technology, raising questions about how he would greet Saudi leaders.
Biden arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday and traveled to the Royal Palace to meet with Saudi King Salman and his son, the de facto leader and crown prince, often referred to as MBS. During that meeting, Biden is expected to meet with Saudi leaders to discuss a range of topics, such as oil production, climate technology, and measures to ease regional cooperation. Biden said Thursday that he also intended to discuss human rights.
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The decision to meet with the Saudi crown prince reverses promises Biden made on the campaign trail to isolate the kingdom as a “pariah” state for several human rights violations, including the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Though he promised during his 2020 campaign to make Saudi Arabia “pay the price” for its role in the journalist’s death and a U.S. intelligence report determined Saudi Arabia was responsible for the 2018 assassination, Biden has declined to punish the country’s leader, instead largely keeping the crown prince at a distance.
Biden bristled at questions over his plans to meet the crown prince in the days leading up to his trip, noting it would not compromise his agenda to discuss human rights violations in the kingdom.
