Biden Closes Saudi Prince’s ‘Pariah’ Era With a Fist Bump
- Low-key greeting contrasts with effusive handshakes in Israel
- Biden to push Gulf allies to tap unused oil capacity
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President Joe Biden bumped fists with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman when the two men met for the first time in Jeddah on Friday, effectively putting an end to his efforts to shun the Saudi leader.
The low-key greeting underscored the tense circumstances of the trip, with Biden seeking Saudi promises to help lower oil prices, but wanting to avoid any appearance of being too friendly with Prince Mohammed, 36, whom he’d vowed to ostracize for the 2018 killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi.