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By the point they got here to the again of Air Power One to inform us what to do in case of a rocket assault, it was clear that this was not going to be an abnormal presidential journey.
The well-known blue-and-white Boeing 747 was someplace over the Atlantic Ocean this week ferrying President Biden to Israel, which is in the midst of a battle with Hamas, and the safety of us have been giving directions to the touring journalists about find out how to keep away from, nicely, dying.
They handed out cheat-sheet pocket-size notecards with instructions for find out how to reply if an air raid siren went off, indicating a potential strike by Hamas whereas we have been on the bottom. What to do if there have been an assault whereas we have been below the wing of Air Power One on the tarmac ready for the president to disembark. What to do if there have been an assault whereas we have been within the motorcade heading into Tel Aviv. What to do if there have been an assault on the lodge the place Mr. Biden was to fulfill with Israeli officers.
By no means thoughts that the teeny, tiny font of the recommendation on the notecard could be awfully arduous to learn in the mean time we thought a rocket was taking pictures our approach. But it surely was the primary time since I began protecting the White Home in 1996 that I may keep in mind such a briefing for reporters on Air Power One, an indication of simply how unsure the journey might be.
In spite of everything, they have been bringing the president and his touring get together into a rustic at battle in broad daylight on stay tv. Air Power One was to land at Ben-Gurion Worldwide Airport nicely inside vary of Hamas rockets from Gaza, a spot thought of hazardous sufficient that many worldwide airways have stopped flying there.
Simply the day earlier than, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany needed to be evacuated from his personal aircraft on the similar airport due to air raid sirens and rushed to a shelter. The reporters touring with him? Ordered to throw themselves down on the tarmac and lie flat till the hazard handed.
Simply the day earlier than that, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was equally hustled to a shelter throughout a gathering with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The reporters with him have been scrambled out of vans and into the stairwell of a constructing to journey out the potential assault.
It was already shaping as much as be an uncommon presidential journey in different methods. Even because the motorcade arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for the takeoff of Air Power One, we realized that the second half of the journey, a cease in Jordan for Mr. Biden to fulfill with Arab leaders, had simply been abruptly known as off due to the explosion at a Gaza hospital. Air Power One was rolling down the runway and the itinerary of the journey was out of the blue in flux.
There’s, in fact, a motive that presidents aren’t usually flown into international locations at battle. When it has occurred up to now, it has often been below extra managed circumstances. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the primary president to fly to an abroad vacation spot throughout wartime when he traveled to Casablanca through the North African marketing campaign of World Warfare II, and nobody was advised till after he had safely arrived. Reporters thought he was heading to his Hyde Park residence in New York.
Following that precedent, Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama flew to Afghanistan or Iraq below cowl of secrecy, their arrivals not introduced upfront and their transient stays measured in hours and confined to American army bases. As soon as when Mr. Bush was being spirited out of Washington for a battle zone journey, his cowl was virtually blown when a panhandler approached his unmarked car at a stoplight. Whereas the president was advised to duck down, a quick-thinking Secret Service agent within the automotive behind him shoved just a few {dollars} out the window to draw the panhandler’s consideration.
When Mr. Biden traveled to Ukraine this yr, he was the primary president to go to a rustic at battle exterior the relative safety of an American army presence, however that journey was likewise shrouded in secrecy. For concern of Russian antiaircraft missiles, Mr. Biden was transported by a nine-hour practice journey to Kyiv with solely a handful of aides, guards and two journalists accompanying him.
In contrast, the White Home introduced Mr. Biden’s journey to Israel upfront. And though it requested reporters touring with him to maintain the particulars of his schedule confidential till his arrival, Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace in Israel revealed the place and when he could be going earlier than he landed.
The safety briefing on the aircraft was surreal. Whereas I had lined the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, I had not been among the many few reporters to fly with Mr. Bush or Mr. Obama there. However even then, I used to be advised, reporters weren’t given the sort of briefing we got en path to Tel Aviv.
We have been advised that if we heard an air raid siren, known as “azaka” in Israel for alarm, we’d have roughly one minute till influence if the rocket was coming our approach. If it occurred whereas we have been on the tarmac protecting the president’s arrival, we should always run full velocity to the close by motorcade autos. If a siren went off whereas we have been within the autos, we should always keep in them — the alternative of Israeli safety protocol, which is to get out of a car and discover different cowl as a result of the car itself might be a goal.
As soon as within the lodge in Tel Aviv the place the president would meet with Mr. Netanyahu, we should always discover a designated shelter or secure room within the constructing, known as “mamad.” As soon as the alarm stopped, we have been advised, it could imply the rocket had been intercepted or fallen elsewhere however we should always nonetheless shelter in place for a couple of minutes to keep away from falling particles. If we acquired separated from the president’s get together or Air Power One took off with out us, the small card had telephone numbers for us to name.
Happily for Mr. Biden and his touring get together, the nervous anticipation proved worse than the truth that we’d encounter throughout our quick keep.
Whereas we have been zipped into Tel Aviv, the beachfront city appeared a lot because it all the time does. There have been loads of closely armed troopers alongside the motorcade route, however there often are anyplace a president travels. Israelis in shorts and T-shirts on a heat Mediterranean day stood alongside the street snapping photos with their smartphones, simply as individuals sometimes do throughout a presidential go to.
For no matter motive, no air raid sirens went off in our listening to whereas Mr. Biden was on the bottom. They sounded elsewhere within the nation, we have been advised, they usually sounded in Tel Aviv after we left. However Hamas evidently selected to not provoke the American president throughout his seven and a half hours in Israel.
The journey ended with one other shock. The president got here again to the press cabin to talk with us on the document on the way in which residence — one thing Mr. Biden had by no means executed earlier than throughout his presidency. (“You guys are such a ache within the neck,” he advised us.)
Carrying a lightweight blue zip-up sweater and denims, he acknowledged that the journey was a bet, at the very least politically. Presidential journeys are often pre-scripted with sure outcomes. This one was a little bit of a flyer in additional methods than one.
However Mr. Biden appeared glad that he had achieved what he needed. “I assumed it was value taking the prospect,” he stated.
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