WASHINGTON (AFP/Reuters) – President Joe Biden made an impassioned call for the United States to show global leadership by backing Israel and Ukraine, saying in a speech from the Oval Office Thursday that defeating Hamas and Russia was a vital US interest.
Biden, 80, said he would make an "urgent" request to Congress on Friday for funding to help Ukraine and Israel, arguing that this was an investment for the United States' future on the world stage for decades to come.
"American leadership is what holds the world together," Biden said in just the second primetime speech to the nation of his presidency from behind the historic Resolute Desk.
Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin "represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy," he added.
"We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen."
Biden said Hamas sought to "annihilate" Israel's democracy and appreciated Ukraine's effort to repel Russia's invasion.
"We can't ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have opportunity," he continued.
He said America's national security required it to support "critical partners" like Israel. “It’s a smart investment that’s gonna pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said.
Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Israel this week, the Democratic president wants to win over war-weary voters and hardline Republicans as he ramps up his 2024 reelection bid.
His 15-minute speech was a call to Americans to overcome deep political divisions and unite behind support for two conflicts that he said posed a critical threat to the US despite being an ocean away.
'BEACON TO THE WORLD'
"We can't let petty partisan angry politics get in the way of our responsibility as a great nation," said Biden said, with the Stars and Stripes and a flag of the US presidential seal behind him. "America is a beacon to the world. Still. Still," he said.
Biden also called for an end to a surge in both anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim prejudice in the United States, especially after the killing of a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy in an alleged hate crime linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict. "To all of you hurting, I want you to know, I see you," he said. "You're all American."
The White House is said to be teeing up a huge request to Congress for a package of more than $100 billion. The package includes $60 billion for weapons for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel, the New York Times reported.
It also includes $7 billion in security assistance for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region to counter threats from China, $14 billion for security on the southern US border with Mexico and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for conflict zones, it said.
Biden said the money was a "smart investment that's going to pay dividends for American security for generations."
Presidents traditionally reserve speeches from the solemn setting of the Oval Office for moments of key national significance. Biden's only previous address from there was in June when he hailed a deal with Congress to avert what would have been a catastrophic US debt default.
'APPETITE FOR POWER'
But Congress has now been paralysed for more than two weeks as divided Republicans, who hold the majority in the House, fail repeatedly to agree on electing a House speaker.
Hard-right Republicans, and a growing number of voters, are also strongly opposed to adding to the $43.9 billion in security assistance that the United States has committed to Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Just before the speech, Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he visited on a top secret trip to Kyiv in February.
Zelensky welcomed the recent delivery of ATACMS long-range missiles from the United States, adding: "Ukraine is grateful for the vital and enduring US support."
In his speech, Biden took aim again and again at Russia’s Putin, warning that "if we don't stop Putin's appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won't limit himself just to Ukraine."
Biden will be hoping his strong tone on the Israel-Hamas war plays well with an eye on US voters where there is strong support for Israel – even if leftwing Democrats oppose his stance.
In Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Biden backed Israel as it gears up for a ground invasion of Gaza after the October 7 attacks by Hamas which killed more than 1,400 people.
But he also brokered a deal to get some aid through Egypt into the Gaza Strip, where Israeli bombing since has killed at least 3,785 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.
The threat of a wider Middle Eastern conflict meanwhile looms in the background.
The United States has already moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah, both allies of Hamas, from getting involved.
THE GAZA SITUATION
Reuters adds: On the ground in the Gaza Strip, Israel appeared to be getting closer to a full-scale invasion of the seaside enclave ruled by Hamas. The Israeli military massed troops and equipment near the Gaza border.
"You see Gaza now from a distance, you will soon see it from inside. The command will come," Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told troops gathered at the Gaza border on Thursday.
Israel has pounded Gaza with air strikes over the Oct. 7 rampage by Hamas gunmen who killed 1,400 Israelis. Israel has put the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people under siege and has signalled a fullscale invasion.
"All the indications are that the worst is coming," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters in Amman.
Civilians in Gaza say their situation is increasingly desperate as they run short of food, water, fuel and medical supplies. Some 3,500 people have been killed and more than a million have been made homeless, according to Palestinian health officials.
AID SLOW TO MOVE
During an eight-hour visit to Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Biden sought to broker a deal to get aid into Gaza but had only limited success. He said Israel and Egypt agreed that 20 trucks with relief supplies could cross into the enclave. Two Egyptian security sources said equipment was sent on Thursday through its border crossing to repair roads on the Gaza side. More than 100 trucks were waiting in Egypt.
The crossing has been out of operation amid Israeli bombardments on the Palestinian side of the border.
While some officials previously expected aid to enter Gaza on Friday, the chances appeared to dwindle. The newly appointed US Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues David Satterfield was still negotiating the "exact modalities" of aid deliveries with Israeli and Egyptian officials, the State Department said.
There have been repeated delays and obstacles, and Israel has demanded assurances that relief supplies could not be commandeered by Hamas militants.
The United Nations has called for aid to return to pre-conflict levels of 100 trucks a day. Secretary General Antonio Guterres planned to visit the Rafah border crossing from Egypt to Gaza on Friday, a move that Israel's ambassador to the U.N., Gilad Erdan, told a rally in New York City showed that "his top priority is giving aid to the terrorists."
FLASHPOINTS BEYOND GAZA
Meanwhile, a Gaza hospital attack on Wednesday that enraged the Arab world and the anticipated Israeli ground invasion have heightened fears of the conflict spreading.
Palestinians blamed an Israeli air strike for the hospital blast, but Israel said it was caused by a failed rocket launch by Palestinian militants. Biden backed the Israeli account.
The Pentagon on Thursday said a US Navy warship intercepted three cruise missiles and several drones launched by the Houthi movement from Yemen potentially toward Israel. The Houthi, like Hamas, are backed by Iran.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, another Iran ally, said it fired rockets at an Israeli position in the village of Manara on Thursday and drew an Israeli artillery barrage in response after the worst escalation in violence on the border in 17 years.
A civilian was killed in the area, Lebanese security sources and the UN peacekeeping force said.
The Lebanese army said a journalist was killed by Israeli gunfire on Thursday in a southern Lebanon border area where Israel's forces and Hezbollah had a heavy exchange of fire. The Lebanese army said a group of seven media personnel became stranded in the crossfire and it requested UN peacekeepers to extract them.
Israel's military, asked about the Lebanese army's account, said it was investigating the matter. Last week a Reuters journalist was killed and other journalists were injured in southern Lebanon.
Amid concerns the West Bank could become a third front in a wider war, 13 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday.
The spokesman for Hamas' armed wing, Abu Obeida, on Al Jazeera called for anti-Israel rallies across Arab and Muslim countries on Friday and said the group was prepared for a long battle with Israel.