Berlin (AFP) – US President Joe Biden and European leaders meeting during his farewell visit to Germany on Friday were expected to renew calls for a Gaza ceasefire after Israel said it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. While still on Air Force One, Biden hailed the death of the man Israel blames for the October 7 attack as a “good day”, saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza truce and hostage deal.
Biden in his talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was also set to pledge sustained military support for Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s invasion. Biden’s flying visit comes as Ukraine faces a third gruelling winter at war, and a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “victory plan” to the European Union and NATO in Brussels.
“Our solidarity with Ukraine is unbroken,” Scholz said ahead of the Berlin talks, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin should “not speculate that our support will wane”. “At the same time, we must explore all options for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” he wrote on X. “There must be another peace conference, with Russia’s participation.”
Biden’s visit comes weeks ahead of a US election in which allies are nervously eyeing a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House. Trump, who during his last term berated NATO allies, has also opposed the level of US military support for Ukraine and would be expected to soften US criticism of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
– ‘Day after’ for Gaza –
Biden’s meetings in Berlin were to heavily focus on the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and its Hezbollah allies, including the risk of a wider escalation with Iran. Biden said Thursday he would congratulate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also “discuss the pathway” for securing the release of hostages and “ending this war once and for all.”
“There is now the opportunity for a ‘day after’ in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” he said. Scholz, speaking in Brussels Thursday, said “there is a proposal from President Biden and others as to what …a ceasefire could look like and we fully support that.”
The 81-year-old Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a four-day state visit that would have included a major Ukraine defence meeting with Zelensky. After cancelling that trip to coordinate the response to Hurricane Milton, Biden was at pains to make his valedictory Germany trip nonetheless, with a stripped-down programme squeezed into a one-day visit.
Biden was to meet from 0800 GMT with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and receive Germany’s highest honour for services to German-American friendship and the transatlantic alliance amid the Ukraine war. The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, followed by Germany. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, said Biden was seeking “to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalised for the long term.”
– Weakened leaders –
Biden’s Germany trip is the first by a US president since Barack Obama went in 2016 during his farewell tour with Angela Merkel. Like Biden, centre-left Scholz is now considered a weakened leader a year ahead of German elections, with the economy doing poorly, in part because of higher energy prices brought by the Ukraine war.
Biden’s withdrawal from the election race after a disastrous debate performance has sparked calls in Germany for unpopular Scholz to also let someone else within his Social Democrats (SPD) take over. News site Spiegel wrote Friday that “two men are meeting in Berlin today whose appeal is limited despite their powerful offices.” While Biden’s “age-related mistakes were so obvious that the Democrats doubted him,” it said, Scholz’s “unpopularity is so obvious that many in the SPD are having their doubts about him.”
© 2024 AFP
