Jamal Khashoggi’s US lawyer sentenced to three years following detention in UAE

President Joe Biden on Thursday offered a wholehearted endorsement to the Abraham Accords, a series of normalisation agreements between Israel and several Middle East monarchies brokered during the Trump administration. Mr Biden added that he would work to expand the efforts under his predecessor to deepen ties between Israel and its neighbours.

Andrew Feinberg listened to the president’s remarks.

In his final official appointment of the day, President Joe Biden is watching the opening ceremony of the Maccabiah Games at Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem.

The third largest sporting event in the world, the games were first held in 1932 and are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sport event held every four years in Israel.

President Biden was joined by President Herzog and Prime Minister Lapid. The president greeted and posed for photos with the US team.

Andrew Feinberg reports on the president’s welcome to Israel.

US President Joe Biden on Thursday warned that the negotiations meant to bring Iran back into the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Mr Biden was asked if he’d set a deadline for when he might walk away from the talks, which the US is hoping will re-start the agreement which former president Donald Trump walked away from in 2018.

Andrew Feinberg reports for The Independent.

Citing Israeli officials, Axios is reporting a major deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia that could see a path mapped out toward the normalisation of diplomatic relations between the two Middle Eastern powers.

The deal concerns two Red Sea islands — Tiran and Sanafir — and would see Saudi Arabia pledge to honour commitment of the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace agreement that maintains freedom of navigation by Israeli ships.

The US has been quietly negotiating the deal for months and would give Israel security guarantees about the freedom of navigation based on Saudi commitments.

A separate agreement will then be made possible allowing Israeli airlines the use of Saudi air space for eastbound flights to India and China, as well as allowing direct charter flights from Israel to the kingdom for Muslim pilgrims wanting to visit the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

An announcement is expected over the weekend when President Joe Biden visits Jeddah.

At present, no times have been given for the president’s schedule on Friday 15 July, but he has five items listed including a visit to the West Bank to meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestininan Authority.

• The President will deliver remarks at Augusta Victoria Hospital regarding the East Jerusalem Hospital Network.
• The President will meet with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority at the Muqataa Presidential Compound in Bethlehem, West Bank.
• The President and President Mahmoud Abbas will deliver joint statements.
• The President will visit the Church of the Nativity.
• The President will travel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Jeffrey Fields, associate professor of the practice of international relations at the University of Southern California, writes:

This visit represents a reversal of rhetoric and policy for Biden, especially as the agenda includes a meeting with the crown prince accused over Khashoggi’s killing.

President Joe Biden has reportedly helped cement an agreement between Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt that would resolve a long-standing dispute over a pair of islands in the Red Sea and allow Israeli aircraft to transit through Saudi airspace for the first time in history.

According to Axios, the agreement would allow the Saudis to take full control of Tiran and Sanafir islands, which have been a demilitarized zone since Egypt and Israel signed the 1979 peace treaty negotiated with the help of then-president Jimmy Carter.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Reports that Joe Biden will be welcomed in Saudi Arabia by a lesser-ranked member of the royal family have fuelled theories that his meetings in the Middle East will not go as well as he plans.

Lamiat Sabin reports.