 U.S. President Joe Biden is on his first visit to West Asia since taking office early last year. His first stop was Israel. His visit was met with throttles by Palestinians demanding justice for the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akhle at the hands of Israeli security forces. While the UN Human Rights Office found Israel responsible for this killing in the investigation, the United States recently said it could not reach a definite conclusion and refused to hold Israel accountable. Neither this issue nor the larger issue of the continuing violation of Palestinian human rights by the Israeli apartheid regime featured in Biden's agenda. Instead, he reassured the Israeli government that the U.S. does not consider the country an apartheid regime even if a few Democrats say so. He said Israel is a democracy and an ally to the U.S. Because the connection between the Israeli people and the American people is bone deep. It's bone deep. A generation after generation, that connection grows. We invest in each other. We dream together. We're part of what has always been the objective we both had. With this visit, we're strengthening our connections even further. The Human Rights Group Bethlehem put up billboards throughout the occupied West Bank reminding Biden how the U.S. is in fact funding Israel's apartheid regime. The main agenda of Biden's visit was, it seems, to continue this funding. The two countries signed a joint agreement called the Jerusalem Declaration. In this agreement, the U.S. reaffirmed its commitment to fulfilling all the terms of the Obama-era memorandum of understanding which had promised $38 billion as a gift to Israel in military aid over 10 years. The declaration also pledged to never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. In an Israeli television interview, Biden said that the U.S. is even willing to use force against Iran as a last resort. The agreement also emphasized support for the Abraham Accords. The two countries committed to work together to combat all efforts to boycott or delegitimize Israel, whether at the United Nations or the International Criminal Court. They also firmly rejected the boycott divestment sanctions campaign. Biden's visit completely lacked any agenda for regional peace. There was no initiative for facilitating talks between Palestinians and Israel, showing the U.S. administration's complete indifference to Israel's apartheid policies. Despite being critical of Donald Trump's pro-Israel policies before becoming president, Biden has continued to adhere to most of Trump's decisions. This includes Israel claiming Jerusalem as its capital and Israel's claims of sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Jalan Heights. By emphasizing support for the Abraham Accords, the administration is further pushing Arab states to normalize relations with Israel, while the question of Palestinian statehood remains unattressed. In fact, Biden disregarded the historic demand for Palestinian statehood by saying that the two-state solution cannot be considered in the near term. The Biden administration has failed to exert any pressure on Israel to seize the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied territories. It also refused to stop Israeli aggression in Gaza during 2021, attacks which killed almost 250 Palestinians and destroyed civilian infrastructure. He has done nothing except issue statements regarding the Israeli attempts at massive force displacements of Palestinians in Masafariyatah, Sheikh Jarrah and other parts of the occupied territories. Biden's visit to Israel has only meant more of the same brutal policies for Palestinians, an arrangement which is favorable to both Israel and the U.S. While Israel continues to expand its legitimacy in the region with the help of U.S. backing, the U.S. gets to exert control over Israel, a key ally, and maintain its interests in an important region.