Biden hits Germany with lightning-quick visit focused on Middle East, Ukraine

Berlin — President Joe Biden made a lightning-fast, pomp-filled visit to Germany Friday, making an in-person push for transatlantic unity and scooping up Germany’s highest civilian honor.

Biden also met in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom, to discuss a range of issues behind closed doors – including how to continue to support Ukraine against Russian aggression, and the rapidly changing situation in the Middle East.

“They talked about President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy’s victory plan and how we can all work together to try to see if we can't get to a just peace that President Zelensky and the Ukrainian people will approve of,” said John Kirby, White House national security spokesperson. “And of course, you know, can implement.”

And the brutal conflict in Gaza injected itself into Friday’s state visit, with news that Israeli forces had killed the leader of the U.S.-designated terror group Hamas, who was the mastermind behind the October 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.

Standing on the tarmac minutes after landing in Germany late Thursday, Biden addressed the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israeli troops, calling it a “good day for the world."

“Now's the time to move on,” he said. “Move on, move toward a cease-fire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we're able to make things better for the whole world. It's time for this war to end and bring these hostages home.”

Biden said he would dispatch Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to Israel to discuss plans for the day after.

Kirby said the administration’s priority is freeing the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

“The president believes that, certainly, with Sinwar’s killing yesterday, that there's a unique opportunity here for us all to kind of grab hold of, to see what we can do to end the war and to get a cease-fire. And we still believe that a cease-fire actually in the north, too, but we still believe a cease-fire is important for Gaza to get those hostages home.”

For Germany, this frenzied one-day visit – which included a brief meeting with a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor, Margot Friedlander – was suffused with meaning and history.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier — who awarded Biden the nation’s highest honor, Germany's Grand Cross special class of the Order of Merit — began his reflection of the significance of Biden’s visit with an anecdote from the early 1980s, when a young U.S. senator visited Bonn, then the capital of the divided nation.

In true German style, Steinmeier joked, the bureaucrat accompanying the 40-year-old senator made copious notes, saying he was “keenly interested” in Germany, and concluded that the young senator might have a “significant political future.”

“What a remarkable understatement,” said Steinmeier before he pinned the 8-pointed golden star to Biden’s suit lapel. “Today, you are the 46th president of the United States – and under your leadership, the transatlantic alliance is stronger, and our partnership is closer than ever.”

Steinmeier continued, “Maybe the most precious service to democracy, the most joyful and reassuring thing for people is to know that even this most powerful man in the world is – in the end – a fundamentally decent human being.”

VOA asked White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan if part of Biden’s mission in Germany was to shield foreign policy against a possible Donald Trump presidency.

“What the president is trying to do is to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term,” Sullivan replied. “And every other ally agreed that that was the responsible thing to do.”