President Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday for a four-day Middle East visit that includes a stop in Saudi Arabia. Israel’s interim Prime Minister Yair Lapid held a red carpet ceremony as Biden landed at Ben Gurion Airport, giving him what The New York Times called a “rapturous welcome” and calling him “our brother Joseph.” Before departing the airport, Biden toured a U.S.-funded advanced missile defense system.

On Friday, President Biden will visit the occupied West Bank and meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Ahead of Biden’s trip, activists hung banners in Bethlehem that read, “Mr. President, this is apartheid.”