Live updates: follow the latest news on Joe Biden's Middle East visit
US-Israeli relations are “bone deep”, President Joe Biden said upon his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport on Wednesday at the beginning of a high-profile trip to the Middle East.
The US president was met by a delegation of Israeli leaders including acting Prime Minister Yair Lapid, alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and President Isaac Herzog.
An Israeli military band played the American national anthem under the glaring sun as temperatures rose above 30°C.
Mr Biden kept his remarks brief: describing himself as a Zionist, he said that in the long term, a Palestinian state was the best option for peace in the region. This view has put his administration at odds with an array of influential Israeli nationalist parties and was met by the stony faces of the leaders in attendance.
The 79 year-old president, who is embarking on his 10th visit to Israel, will also head to the occupied West Bank to discuss aid to Palestinians during meetings with Palestinian Authority leaders who want the US to commit to pressuring Israel to halt settlement expansion.
Mr Biden will spend two days in Jerusalem for talks with Israeli leaders before meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday.
The talks with Mr Abbas will mark the highest level of face-to-face contact between the US and the Palestinians since then-president Donald Trump took a tough approach to the relationship on taking office in 2017.
After his visit to Israel, the president's plane, Air Force One, will fly directly from to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, a first for an American president, before he attends a summit with regional allies, hosted by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Greater peace, greater stability, greater connection, it's critical, it's critical for all the people of the region,” Mr Biden said and added that his administration remained committed to a two-state solution to end the Palestinian-Israeli crisis.
“We'll discuss my continued support — even though I know it's not in the near term — a two-state solution that remains in my view the best way to ensure a future of equal measure of freedom, prosperity and democracy for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
Following his arrival, the two countries launched a strategic high-level dialogue on technology, which aims to advance a “technological partnership on critical and emerging technologies and solutions to global challenges: pandemic preparedness, climate change, implementation of artificial intelligence and trusted technology ecosystems”, the White House said in a statement.
Mr Biden has said in the past he visited Israel “every chance” he got.
“To return to this great country is a blessing because the connection between the Israeli and American people is bone deep — we invest in each other, we dream together, we are part of the objective we have both had,” he said.
The US president's visit is a “historic and personal one”, said Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid.
“It is historic because it shows the bond between our two states, it is personal because of your relations with Israel,” he said.
Mr Lapid said during a welcoming ceremony for Mr Biden that the two sides will discuss building a new security and economy architecture with Middle East states following the historic Abraham Accords.
“We will discuss the need to renew a strong global coalition that will stop the Iranian nuclear programme,” he said.
Israel has said it will do whatever is necessary to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. It is staunchly opposed to a restoration of the 2015 deal that gave Tehran sanctions relief.
During his trip to Saudi Arabia, Mr Biden will hold talks with Saudi officials and attend a summit of regional allies at the weekend, attending a meeting of the Gulf Co-operation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan, known as the GCC+3.
His trip aims to promote regional stability, deepen Israel's integration in the region and counter Iranian influence.
“This trip will reinforce a vital American role in a strategically consequential region,” US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday.
Following his arrival in Israel, Mr Biden will receive a briefing from Israeli defence officials on the US-supported Iron Dome defence system and a new laser-enabled system called Iron Beam.
He will then pay his respects at Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to Holocaust victims of the Second World War.
US-Palestinian ties have recently been strained by the May killing of prominent Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as she was covering an Israeli army raid in the occupied West Bank.
The UN has concluded the Palestinian-American was killed by Israeli fire, something Washington said was likely but that there was no evidence the killing was intentional.
Agencies contributed to this report
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Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
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Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
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Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score)
Porto (0) v Liverpool (2), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
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