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Joe Biden is heavily criticized for his “fist bump” with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Pictures of the relaxed greeting have quickly spread widely around the world.
– It projects a level of intimacy and relaxation, says Fred Ryan, CEO of the Washington Post.
US President Joe Biden has visited Saudi Arabia and met the country’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A film from last Friday shows the president stepping out of a black limousine, buttoning his jacket and slowly sticking out his card against the Saudi prince.
But instead of shaking hands, the leaders are met with a fist bump instead.
The relaxed greeting has now been met with sharp criticism from the outside world.
Has called the country pariah
In a report released by the US intelligence service, CIA, in 2021, the Saudi Crown Prince was singled out as the one who approved the operation in 2018, which led to Jamal Khashoggi being killed and dismembered.
During his 2020 election campaign, US President Joe Biden said the world would isolate Saudi Arabia “as the pariah it is”, following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Biden has also criticized the country several times since then.
Prior to his visit to Saudi Arabia, the President also took into account any criticism the White House assumed would come in connection with the meeting.
Among other things, Biden has written a column that was published in the Post, where he explains the reason and his intentions with the visit.
Among other things, he writes that he wants to “strengthen a strategic partnership”, at the same time as he also emphasized that “fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda” when he travels abroad.
“Shameful”
Fred Ryan, CEO of the Washington Post newspaper for which the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi worked, calls the greeting with his clenched fists “shameful”, reports AFP.
– It projects a level of intimacy and relaxation that gives (bin Salman) the undeserved restoration he desperately strived for, he says.
Kenneth Roth, head of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, also harshly criticizes the US president’s actions.
Biden’s support for human rights can be sold for a drop of oil.
Biden: Clearly clarified what I think
Shortly after he met the Crown Prince on Friday, Biden left a comment and received questions from journalists.
Among other things, he stated that he raised the case with Khashoggi as the main issue during the meeting.
He also stated that he clearly clarified what he thinks about it, both “then and now”.
When asked if he believes that the country should still be treated as a “pariah”, however, no answer came from the president.