Biden opens first Mideast trip as president in Israel

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US President Joe Biden arrived at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport, as part of the first Middle East visit of his presidency.

He was greeted by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Alternate Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

US President Joe Biden takes part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem after touring Israel’s Iron Beam defence system at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.

Palestinians hang banners reading: “Mr. President, this is apartheid”, in the West Bank biblical city of Bethlehem, ahead of US President’s arrival for an official visit. “From the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, the apartheid system is one,” says B’Tselem Field Research Director Kareem Jubran, adding that the “international community must put pressure on this system, to abolish it.”