Miriam Alster / Getty
President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel was a gamble. With it, he became the first U.S. president to travel to that country while it was at war.
Missiles rain down on Israel daily. The situation on the country’s borders with Gaza in the South and Lebanon in the north is volatile. And yet, physical danger, while a very real consideration on Biden’s trip, was not the greatest risk he was undertaking.
Biden was traveling to a country in which the leader and the coalition surrounding that leader have derided the U.S. president and actively embraced his opponents. Those Israeli leaders have been unreliable allies—failing to support America’s Ukraine initiatives and critical of America’s stance with Iran.