For US President Joe Biden, a successful visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia is going to take more than just showing up. Biden risks being rebuffed if he presents an agenda out of step with the concerns of his hosts. The White House must understand that photo-ops and tired talking points are insufficient to fix the administration's mistakes. To come to some agreement on a wide range of issues, including increased Saudi Arabian oil production, Biden should start off by asking his allies a simple question: What do you need?

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In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid is likely to point to challenges next door and down the block. For example, the Israelis – and many Americans, for that matter – are appalled by the Palestinian Authority's ongoing pay-to-slay annuity program for terrorists. The Biden administration's decision to restore aid to the PA without first demanding a permanent end to this official sponsorship of terrorism was more than just ill-advised, it was possibly illegal.

Last year, PA chief Mahmoud Abbas awarded the family of a terrorist who killed two and wounded two others, including a toddler, more than $40,000 and a new house. Another, Hakim Awad, is reportedly paid $14,000 annually as a reward for murdering a family of five in their home.

These incentives to murder are grotesque, and they are buoyed by the anti-Semitic indoctrination of Palestinian schoolchildren at schools staffed by the U.N. Palestinian refugee organization UNRWA, paid for with our tax dollars.

To win support from Israelis, Biden should start by demanding that the PA cut its annual pay-to-slay budget from more than a quarter-billion dollars a year to zero, as well as condition both direct and indirect US aid on the PA's compliance with this demand.

Likewise, aid to the PA, even if it's through NGOs, must be conditioned on a complete overhaul of the PA and UNRWA's educational curriculum, which lays the foundation for future terrorism. The United States must adopt a zero-tolerance policy for incentivizing terror or teaching hatred.

Corrupt Palestinian officials used to enriching themselves on the backs of American taxpayers aren't going to like these demands. Despite this, Biden should stand on the right side of history and push the PA's autocratic leader Abbas to formulate a responsible succession plan that includes immediate and concrete steps towards building democratic institutions fully committed to coexistence, peace and prosperity. At the moment, no single act will do more to change the Palestinian people's plight and increase the likelihood of coexistence in the region than driving Palestinian leaders to embrace liberal, democratic reforms.

In Jeddah, Biden should recognize that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has made incremental progress towards democratic reforms and is an important partner in the fight to contain Iran's hegemonic ambitions. The president should make it clear that the US continues to support any military action by the kingdom or any of our allies, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates, to protect themselves from Iran and its network of well-armed militias and terrorist proxies.

Throughout the region, including crucially in Israel and Saudi Arabia, civilians have come under fire from Iranian missiles, rockets and armed UAVs built in Iran or according to Iranian designs. This is entirely unacceptable and the president should make that unequivocally clear. Biden should also support efforts by our partners to build a regional missile defense architecture that will save lives.

The president is likely to hear one constant refrain throughout his tour of the region: The time has come to initiate a major course correction on Iran, a change being called for by leading US senators on both sides of the aisle.

Though Biden has squandered the incredibly strong negotiating position he inherited from former President Donald Trump, the peoples and leaders of the region need the US to recognize that allowing Tehran to string out negotiations over a moribund political agreement is a failed strategy that has enabled Iran to enjoy some sanctions relief while earnestly pursuing its nuclear weapons program. Iran's nuclear breakout time is now measured in weeks, not months or years. Refusing Iranian demands to lift the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization is a positive sign, but it doesn't move the ball forward.

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The US needs to introduce a comprehensive approach to show the Iranian regime that it does not hold the upper hand in negotiations, and the US should do so with direct input from its Arab and Israeli allies. Punishing economic sanctions, unwavering enforcement and the credible threat of military action are essential to stopping Iran's malign behavior, including its nuclear program. This is likely to necessitate the removal of US Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley from office, which would be heralded as a positive development throughout the region.

Biden should be ready to act and create the conditions for win-win scenarios with his allies. In making these important policy shifts, he will demonstrate that he is unafraid of acknowledging that mistakes have been made, and he will win the trust and admiration of Israelis, Palestinians, Saudis and Emiratis alike. It also increases the likelihood that Biden will return to Washington having made much-needed progress in a volatile and important region.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Ask not what your allies can do for you appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

What would have happened if George Washington didn't have the foresight to see that our nascent Republic needed to elect a new president more than he needed a third term? If Alexander Hamilton, who supported the idea of an elective monarch, was in charge at that point in history what would Mount Rushmore look like today, much less the state of our nation?

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Would the Emancipation Proclamation have been issued if it was Andrew Jackson in the White House during the American Civil War instead of Abraham Lincoln? The latter wrote, "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong." The former owned 150 slaves and was the architect of the "Trail of Tears."

Concerning Iran, our nation stands at a moment in history that has the potential to change the shape of the Middle East and the world as we know it. And if this moment requires the work of one person to change history for the better, then at minimum, that person should espouse the same views of the people and the nation they aim to defend.

The disastrous 2015 Iran nuclear deal was nothing more than an illusory accord that relieved sanctions while maintaining Tehran's ability to continue its nuclear progress. To renegotiate a deal that never should have been would be rewarding the increasingly bad behavior of the world's greatest terrorist threat.

So what is the antidote to Iran's poisonous ideology of radical Islamic hegemony? While US President Donald Trump's reinstatement of crippling economic sanctions has fared well, as evidenced by Iran's increasingly tyrannical behavior, now it seems isolationism and appeasement are the order of the day.

Today, Iran is not just crossing its fingers behind its back at the photo call with John Kerry; no, last week, Iran seized two British tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. This came after the downing of a US Navy drone and a belligerent promise to enrich as much uranium as they wish. The Iranians have upped the ante, and so should America. America should meet Iran's insolence with strength; instead, they send Rand Paul.

One need not delve too deeply into Sen. Paul's record to see that despite what he may say, his actions don't always line up as someone who claims to be a "friend" to Israel. In the past, Paul has singlehandedly and repeatedly opposed harsher sanctions on Iran, in addition to opposing US military assistance to Israel. And just in case you thought the Kentucky budget hawk only reserved these legislative holds for fiscal concerns, he was also the lone-wolf Republican to stop meaningful bipartisan federal anti-BDS legislation.

History has shown us that there is no reasoning with the unreasonable. And Neville Chamberlain's declaring "peace in our time" after signing the Munich Agreement with Hitler in 1938 showed the United Kingdom – and the world at large – where appeasement leads. Less than one year later, World War II began; five years later, more than 60 million people were dead.

A peace pact with Nazi Germany; have you ever read anything more oxymoronic? Probably not; well, at least not until you read that Rand Paul is the emissary to Israel's fiercest adversary. How can we maintain that we are Israel's greatest friend and ally, yet send their "frenemy" to negotiate on our collective behalf?

I am thankful, as is the rest of Western civilization, that Winston Churchill occupied 10 Downing Street in 1940. Today, it is the Union Jack – and not the swastika – that flies over Buckingham Palace, and it was not because Churchill was perfect. But Churchill was the right man for the right job at the right time.

To date, concerning the US relationship with Israel, President Trump has shown us that he, too, is the right man for the job. He pulled out of the Iran deal, acknowledged that Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, moved our embassy to Jerusalem, rightly recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and pulled funding for UNRWA – and that is just the highlight reel.

As for the senator from Kentucky, if you are looking for a balanced budget amendment, Rand is your guy. If advocating for civil liberties and privacy reforms are your thing, then look no further than Sen. Paul. No, Rand Paul is not the boogeyman, but he is simply the wrong man for this job.

President Trump and his administration have worked too hard for too long repairing and reinforcing our relationships with Israel and our Arab partners, once again confronting our shared enemies from a position of strength. Trump should solidify his track record by bringing Iran to its knees, through maximum pressure, crippling sanctions and the silent treatment. Instead, we are sending over a US senator who, on the subject matter of sanctions, sounds more like Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's silver-tongued foreign minister, than a man willing to stand up to the evil regime in Tehran.

The circumstances of the past that have required the right person for the right job at the right time are before us once again. In the 1940s, the Nazis perfected the industrialization of genocide. Today, Iran has perfected the industrialization of terror. Hitler considered the destruction of the Jews to be his most important job; Iran's leaders believe that Israel's annihilation is their "ultimate slogan." If these historical similarities are a harbinger of things to come, then we need a Churchill, not a Chamberlain.

And while sending Chamberlain to do Churchill's job will at best buy time, in the end – and in the words of Winston himself – doing so will only lead to "total and unmitigated defeat."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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