Joe Biden will visit Israel, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia next month, the White House said today. The announcement immediately put the administration on the defensive, given the president’s previous stance that the Saudi regime was a “pariah” because of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and other human rights abuses.

One Saudi human rights campaigner called Biden’s decision to meet the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, a “betrayal”.

A senior Democratic senator said he understood Biden’s need to work with the Saudis to lessen oil prices, and thereby reduce pressure on US consumers, but called Riyadh’s record on human rights an “outrage”.

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