Biden presses flesh in Israel, despite call for fist bumps before meet with killer Saudi prince
President Biden shook hands repeatedly Thursday in Israel — ignoring a reported plan for fist bumps during his Mideast tour and potentially forcing him to extend his hand Friday to Saudi Arabia’s killer Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
The president shook hands with at least a dozen people at an event in Jerusalem where he received Israel’s Medal of Honor — before shaking even more hands while greeting US athletes at an international sporting event, blowing away pretenses that COVID-19 would limit his physical contact with others during the trip.
Biden arrives Friday in Saudi Arabia and will meet with bin Salman as the US seeks greater oil production to tamp down high gas prices. Biden previously tried to sideline the prince after US spy agencies determined he ordered the 2018 operation that killed Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
As Biden entered the Israel medal ceremony on Thursday afternoon, he shook hands with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz — one day after arriving in Israel giving initial fist bumps, before quickly reverting to handshakes for former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gantz.
After getting his medal, Biden shook hands with Israeli President Issac Herzog and was serenaded with a bilingual performance of The Beatles’ “Let It Be” in English and Hebrew. He then warmly shook hands with the duo’s male singer while his female counterpart declined Biden’s extended hand and instead bowed.
As he left the medal event, Biden shook at least eight other hands — beginning with a woman who had enthusiastically mouthed the words to “Let It Be” and then a man seated next to her.
Biden gave Lapid’s hand another shake before greeting Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III and at least one of his associates. And in a scene resembling the annual State of the Union address, other guests reached in for a squeeze along the ceremony’s central aisle — with the US president giving at least four other guests handshakes as he passed.
Biden then spoke with Herzog and his wife, Michal Herzog, before entering his motorcade — clasping hands with the first lady after grasping her arm and her husband’s shoulders as they walked together.
Later in the day, Biden again shook hands with athletes participating in Israel’s Maccabiah games, the so-called Jewish Olympics, which features delegations from around the world.
It was unclear how many hands Biden shook at the event’s opening ceremonies because no media outlet immediately published a pooled video of his greetings.
According to a print pool report, Biden “shook hands with athletes and supporters who cheered ‘Joe’ and ‘USA'” before telling the group, “I’m so damn proud of you.”
The White House hasn’t denied reports that Biden was told to give COVID-19 fist bumps instead of handshakes in his two-country trip to the region.
“We’re in a phase of the pandemic now where we are seeking to reduce contact,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday before Biden arrived in Israel.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, “we’re trying to minimize contact as much as possible where we can.”
The notion of fist bumps instead of handshakes was widely interpreted as a strategy to avoid a presidential handshake with bin Salman. Biden, who is quadruple-vaccinated against the coronavirus, routinely shakes hands at large and almost entirely mask-free White House events, despite a recent increase in COVID-19 infections.
