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Biden links Ukraine and Israel wars, makes pitch for Congressional funding
On Friday, the administration followed up on Biden’s speech and asked the Congress for close to $105 billion in funding.
Projecting Israel’s war against Hamas and Ukraine’s resistance against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion as a battle of democracies against terrorists and dictators who seek to annihilate them, US President Joe Biden said the world was an “inflection point”, made a fervent call to a divided US Congress to process a substantial military assistance package for the two countries and to meet other American security priorities, and claimed this was “smart investment” which will pay dividends for generations.
On Friday, the administration followed up on Biden’s speech and asked the Congress for close to $105 billion in funding. This includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $10.6 billion for Israel, $9 billion for humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, $3.7 billion to step up security at the US embassy in Israel, $7.4 billion for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific, and $12 billion for better border security at the US-Mexico border.
In a rare address from the Oval Office on Thursday evening, Biden, who called America the “indispensable nation”, spoke extensively about the Israel-Hamas conflict where he pledged unprecedented security assistance to Tel Aviv, but also reiterated the need for Israel to respect the laws of war and protect civilian lives and reaffirmed American support for the “two-state solution”. Biden also referred to American efforts to enhance connectivity and growth in the region, mentioning the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.
At a time when Republican support in the US House of Representatives has been dwindling for further assistance to Ukraine, Biden also warned that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeded in Ukraine, he would target members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) next, countries the US was treaty-bound to protect. Russia’s success would also embolden other “aggressors”, including in the Indo-Pacific, Biden warned, in a clear allusion to China’s intentions in the region, and the Middle East, where he specifically mentioned Iran as a country which was backing both Russia and Hamas.
Biden’s juxtaposition of the two wars appears to be an attempt to turn the narrative when critics have suggested that the West is being hypocritical in supporting Ukraine against Russian occupation and batting for Ukrainian liberty, while legitimising Israel’s occupation and plans for an invasion and ignoring the liberty of Palestinians.
Weaving in the external with the internal, Biden also acknowledged both the rising anti-Semitimism and Islamophobia in America itself and sent a message of solidarity to Jewish and Muslim communities at home, rejecting efforts at inciting hate and appealing to America’s nobler instincts.
In a speech which even critics termed as among the most significant of his presidency, Biden spoke about his visit to Israel and called Hamas’s attack “pure unadulterated evil”, adding, “But sadly, the Jewish people know, perhaps better than anyone, that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to inflict pain on others.”
Biden said he had also spoken to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, reiterated to him that the US was committed to the right to dignity and self determination of Palestinians and Hamas’s attacks didn’t take that away. “Like so many other, I am heartbroken by the tragic loss of Palestinian life, including the explosion at a hospital in Gaza — which was not done by the Israelis,” Biden said, a more categorical statement than the past, rejecting allegations that an Israeli strike was responsible for the attack.
Biden then said the assault on Israel echoed nearly 20 months of “war, tragedy, and brutality inflicted on the people of Ukraine”. “Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy — completely annihilate it.”
He then sought to answer a question that is increasingly gaining salience in the US as an isolationist impulse rises. “I know these conflicts can seem far away. And it’s natural to ask: Why does this matter to America?” Biden said that history had shown that when terrorists didn’t pay a price for terror, dictators didn’t pay a price for aggression, they caused chaos, deaths and destruction and costs and threats to America kept rising.
“So, if we don’t stop Putin’s appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won’t limit himself just to Ukraine,” Biden said, accusing Moscow of harbouring designs on Poland and Baltic countries. If Putin attacked a NATO Ally, Biden said, US will we defend “every inch of NATO” and be in a situation it did not seek, of American troops fighting in Russia or against Russia. The President added that competitors and adversaries beyond Europe were watching too. “If we walk away and let Putin erase Ukraine’s independence, would-be aggressors around the world would be emboldened to try the same. The risk of conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world — in the Indo-Pacific, in the Middle East.” He then pointed to Iran, pointing out that it was supporting Russia and Hamas.
Biden contrasted this with what the US had been attempting to do to create a better future in the region, “one where the Middle East is more stable, better connected to its neighbors, through innovative projects like the India-Middle East-Europe rail corridor that I announced this year at the summit of the world’s biggest economies”. Biden and PM Modi had unveiled IMEC along with other partner countries at G20 Summit in New Delhi, and the project was seen as one more step that will help enable the process of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a process that the Hamas terror attack and Israel’s response has thrown into deep freeze.
Biden then went back to appealing to the sense of American exceptionalism that has often permeated the rhetoric of presidents. “American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with. To put all that at risk if we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it’s just not worth it,” Biden said, adding he was sending an urgent budgetary request to the US Congress on Friday to fund US national security needs to support critical partners.
Terming it as “a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations”, Biden claimed that the unprecedented package will sharpen Israel a “qualitative military edge”, but he had also reminded Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu of the need to abide by the “laws of war”. He acknowledged the need for food, water and medicines in Gaza, spoke about how he had secured an agreement to allow humanitarian supplies from Egypt into Gaza, and said, “As hard as it is, we cannot give up on peace. We cannot give up on a two-state solution. Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity, and peace.”
Biden then turned inwards, warning against hate, racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia that have intensified in the US. He said Hamas’s attack had triggered deep scars among the Jewish community, now worried about being targeted. It had also revived the memories of post-9/11 Islamophobia in Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian-American communities, Biden said, referring to the killing of a six year old child of a Palestinian-American family in Illinois this week. “We can’t stand by and stand silent when this happens. We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism. We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia.”
Going back to Ukraine, at a time when the morale about Ukraine’s prospects in repelling the Russian invasion has dipped, Biden recalled the successes — of Ukraine regaining 50% of the territory held by Russian troops and how Kyiv stood free. “All Ukraine is asking for is help — for the weapons, munitions, the capacity, the capability to push invading Russian forces off their land, and the air defense systems to shoot down Russian missiles before they destroy Ukrainian cities,” Biden said, pointing out that Congressional funding will help the US replenish its own military stocks.
“We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen,” Biden said as he wrapped his speech with an ode to American ability to fulfill its responsibilities as a “great nation”.
