{"id":1552529,"date":"2022-07-13T12:50:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-13T16:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1552529"},"modified":"2022-07-13T12:50:35","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T16:50:35","slug":"biden-to-minimize-contact-during-trip-to-israel-saudi-arabia-over-covid-variants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-to-minimize-contact-during-trip-to-israel-saudi-arabia-over-covid-variants\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden To Minimize Contact During Trip To Israel, Saudi Arabia Over COVID Variants"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-to-minimize-contact-during-trip-to-israel-saudi-arabia-over-covid-variants%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1552529&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/white-house\">White House<\/a> Press Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/karine-jean-pierre\">Karine Jean-Pierre<\/a>\u00a0told reporters that President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/joe-biden\">Joe Biden<\/a> would minimize physical contact during his trip to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/middle-east\">Middle East<\/a> over concerns regarding new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/covid-19\">COVID<\/a> variants.<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Pierre shared the updates with reporters on Wednesday aboard Air Force One.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to minimize contact as much as possible where we can,\u201d she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/press-briefings\/2022\/07\/13\/press-gaggle-by-press-secretary-karine-jean-pierre-and-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-en-route-tel-aviv-israel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stated<\/a>. \u201cBA.4, BA.5 is now the majority of cases that we\u2019re seeing in the United States.\u00a0 We\u2019re always monitoring what\u2019s going on in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The questions followed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/health-and-wellness\/coronavirus\/article-711784\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media reports<\/a> in Israel that the White House informed interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid\u2019s office that Biden would not shake hands with Israel\u2019s ministers or political leaders upon arrival at the Ben Gurion Airport.<\/p>\n<p>The stance strongly contrasts visits by past American presidents. For example, former President Donald Trump shook hands with numerous Israeli leaders during his 2017 visit. Prior presidents have also traditionally included customary handshakes with Israel\u2019s leaders prior to the COVID pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also spoke with reporters on Air Force One regarding COVID concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[T]he simplest way for me to put it is that we\u2019re in a phase of the pandemic right now where we\u2019re looking to increase masking, reduce contact to minimize spread.\u00a0 That\u2019s the approach we\u2019re taking.\u00a0 How exactly that plays out in any given interaction is something that we will see unfold,\u201d Sullivan explained.<\/p>\n<p>Reporters also asked whether Biden was seeking to avoid being photographed shaking hands with Saudi Crown Prince\u00a0Mohammed bin Salman during his visit to Saudi Arabia, Biden\u2019s second stop during his Middle East tour. Jean-Pierre answered that the decision was made by the recommendation of Biden\u2019s doctor rather than for political purposes.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to not shaking hands with leaders during his visit, Jean-Pierre said no press conference had been scheduled during the president\u2019s visit to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[W]e don\u2019t have a \u2014 a press conference for Saudi, but what we are trying to do is trying to make sure that you guys hear from the President in Saudi on \u2014 on the bilat, on the trip, and make sure that you guys hear directly from him,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n<p>The lack of physical contact may also be part of a concern White House aides have expressed about Biden being exposed to the coronavirus. A recent New York Times report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/09\/us\/politics\/biden-age-democrats.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted<\/a> that aides are tested once a week and wear colored wristbands as proof of testing.<\/p>\n<p>White House aides meeting with Biden must also test the morning of a meeting and wear an N95 mask, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s visit to Israel is scheduled to include a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum where he will receive Israel\u2019s Presidential Medal of Honor. The president is also expected to learn more about Israel\u2019s new \u201cIron Beam\u201d missile defense system and meet with Lapid and other leaders regarding Iran and its nuclear plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre\u00a0told reporters that President Joe Biden would minimize physical contact during his trip to the Middle East over concerns regarding new COVID variants. Jean-Pierre shared the updates with reporters on Wednesday aboard Air Force One. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to minimize contact as much as possible where we can,\u201d she stated. \u201cBA.4, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":325,"featured_media":1552603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/325"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1552529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1552603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1552529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1552529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1552529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}