“Mr. President, by the time you get there, Israel may have a different prime minister,” Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban told US President Joe Biden in a June 10 conversation. “I am going to visit Israel, not to visit Israel’s prime minister,” was the president’s immediate retort. “I will accept and work with anyone elected to that post. This is a visit to the Middle East, and it won’t get postponed.”

Saban, one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, met with Biden at his Los Angeles home where he hosted a fundraiser for the president. Following the almost hourlong meeting, also attended by presidential aide Steve Ricchetti, Biden went to greet the guests who had paid between $1,000 to $36,000 to meet him and hear him speak.

Saban told Al-Monitor that Biden had declared his intention to run for a second term in 2024. “He spoke to the audience for 45 minutes in great detail, and did not read from his notes. He looked to me to be in excellent shape.” 

Biden is scheduled to land in Israel July 13. His two-day visit is planned to include a brief stop in Ramallah, the West Bank seat of the Palestinian Authority for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Although Biden regards his Israel visit as important, it clearly takes a back seat to his next stop in Saudi Arabia. While the meeting with Saban was intended to “prepare” Biden for his first presidential trip to Israel, the Saudi issue also came up in the conversation at great length.