President Joe Biden addressed the American people from the Oval Office on Thursday evening, connecting the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel and arguing, “We cannot let terrorists like Hamas and Putin win.”
The president implored Congress to pass a projected $100 billion in new funding, which is already facing resistance from Republicans in Congress who are wary of giving Ukraine new money.
But Biden, sitting at the Resolute Desk, argued in his 15-minute address that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for the bloody attack on Israel on October 7, “pose different threats,” but one pursue a common goal.
“Both want to completely destroy a neighboring democracy,” he said.
Biden warned that if bad actors like Putin were left unchecked, “aggressors around the world would be emboldened to try to do the same.”
“The threat of conflict and chaos could spread to other parts of the world, in the Indo-Pacific, in the Middle East, particularly in the Middle East.”
He then pointed out another similarity between Ukraine and Israel: Iran.
“Iran supports Russia in Ukraine and supports Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region,” Biden said. “And we will continue to hold them accountable, I might add.”
President Joe Biden addressed the American people in the Oval Office on Thursday, drawing a connection between the conflicts in Israel and Ukraine
He continued: “American leadership holds the world together.”
“American alliances are what keep us – America – safe.” “American values make us a partner that other nations want to work with,” he said. “To put all this at risk, if we leave Ukraine, we turn our backs on Israel – it’s just not worth it.”
The president explained that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “appetite for power and control” means he will not “limit himself to Ukraine,” which could lead to a conflict involving NATO countries.
If that happens, Biden warned, “we’re going to have something we’re not going for.”
“We don’t want American troops fighting in Russia or against Russia,” he said.
The president also made other promises: He told the family members of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in Israel during the Oct. 7 terrorist attack that “we are using every opportunity to bring their loved ones home.”
“As president, there is no higher priority for me than the safety of Americans held hostage,” he said. “The Hamas terrorist has unleashed pure, unadulterated evil on the world, and unfortunately, the Jewish people know perhaps better than anyone that there is no limit to the depravity people can inflict pain on others.”
He also pushed for foreign aid to reach Gaza, where Palestinian civilians are suffering as the Hamas terrorist group fires rockets into Israel.
Biden said during his meeting Wednesday in Tel Aviv with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he discussed “the urgent need for Israel to abide by the laws of war.”
“That means protecting civilians in combat as much as possible,” Biden said. “The people of Gaza urgently need food, water and medicine.”
The president said after talks with Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi he had “secured an agreement for the first delivery of United Nations humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
“If Hamas does not divert or steal this shipment, these supplies, we will create a pathway for a sustained delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians,” Biden said.
He added: “We cannot give up on peace.” “We cannot give up on a two-state solution.”
While his in-person meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was canceled following the hospital explosion in Gaza, Biden spoke with the leader by phone aboard Air Force One after spending seven hours on the ground in Israel on Wednesday.
Biden said he “reaffirmed that the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination.”
“Hamas’ actions did not take this immediately,” Biden said.
The president said he was “heartbroken” by the “tragic loss of Palestinian life” in Gaza, including in the hospital, and added “what was not done by the Israelis,” doubling down on Wednesday’s statements in which he blamed an erring rocket fired by another Hamas-like terror group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Biden’s funding request, reportedly $60 billion for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel, comes at a time of chaos in Congress.
The House has been speechless since October 3, when Rep. Matt Gaetz filed a motion to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from his top post.
Eight Republicans and the entire Democratic caucus voted to remove McCarthy, with MAGA-aligned Rep. Jim Jordan and McCarthy’s running mate, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, seen as the most viable candidates for the gavel.
But attempts to get Scalise and then Jordan as speakers failed.
After Scalise won the Republicans’ first internal campaign race, he lost a vote in the House of Representatives and decided to leave.
Despite losing House votes on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jordan told reporters Thursday afternoon that he planned to march on.
An attempt to further strengthen incumbent Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry has currently failed.
But Biden will also have problems with the Senate.
On Thursday, Republican Senator Roger Marshall wrote a letter signed by seven other Senate Republican colleagues calling for aid to Israel and Ukraine to be discussed separately.
The eight senators said that by bundling the relief packages, Biden was “risking a government shutdown.”
“My colleagues and I firmly believe that any aid to Israel should not be used as leverage to send tens of billions of dollars more to Ukraine.” “These are two separate conflicts at different stages that cannot be described as a “package deal “can be considered,” Marshall wrote.
Republican opposition to more aid to Ukraine has increased in recent months.
“These are two separate and unrelated conflicts and it would be wrong to use support for aid to Israel to push additional aid to Ukraine over the finish line,” Marshall continued, joined by Sens. Ron Johnson, Josh Hawley and joined by Mike Lee, Rick Scott, Cynthia Lummis, Mike Braun, JD Vance and Marsha Blackburn.
Ahead of Biden’s Oval Office speech, former President Donald Trump – the leading Republican candidate – tried to score some political points.
“The terrible disasters unfolding in Israel, as well as the chaos at our southern border and in hotspot after hotspot around the world, all have one thing in common: They were caused by the deadly combination of incompetence, radicalism and weakness of Crooked Joe Biden caused. ” Trump said in a statement.