Biden asks Americans to support more aid to Israel, Ukraine in rare Oval Office address
The Associated Press | Posted: Friday, October 20th, 2023 12:51 AM | Last Updated: 11 hours ago
U.S. president wants Congress to approve billions of dollars for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan
U.S. President Joe Biden declared it is "vital for America's national security" for Israel and Ukraine to succeed in their wars, making the case Thursday night in a rare Oval Office address for deepening U.S. involvement as he prepared to ask for billions of dollars in aid for both countries.
If international aggression is allowed to continue, Biden said, "conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world."
The militant group Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin "represent different threats," he said. "But they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy."
He said he would send an urgent funding request to Congress, which is expected to be roughly $105 billion US over the next year.
The proposal, which will be unveiled on Friday, includes money for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
"It's a smart investment that's going to pay dividends for American security for generations," Biden said.
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He also acknowledged that some Americans are asking, "Why does it matter to America" that the United States support the wars?
"I know these conflicts can seem far away," he said.
"History has taught us that when terrorists don't pay a price for their terror, when dictators don't pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction. They keep going and the cost and the threats to America and the world keeps rising," he said.
Rising tide of hate
With Israel continuing to bombard the Gaza Strip and preparing a ground offensive, Biden emphasized the conflict's deadly toll on civilians, saying he's "heartbroken by the tragic loss" of Palestinian life.
"Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace," he said.
He also warned about a rising tide of antisemitism and Islamophobia in the U.S., noting the recent killing of a six-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois.
"To all you hurting, I want you to know I see you. You belong. And I want to say this to you. You're all Americans."
The speech had a "strong emotional component," said international relations expert Janice Stein, noting that Biden was careful to separate the Palestinian people from Hamas, and to denounce both antisemitism and Islamophobia.
"I think this was Joe Biden's way of saying, 'my embrace of Israel in reaction to those atrocious Hamas attacks does not mean that I don't hear you.' And he literally used those words: I hear you," Stein, founding director of the Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, told CBC News.
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High-stakes trip to Israel
Biden says he hopes that combining the aid into one piece of legislation will create the necessary political coalition for congressional approval.
His speech came the day after his high-stakes trip to Israel, where he showed solidarity with the country in its battle against Hamas and pushed for more humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Ahead of his address, Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stress that the U.S. remained committed to backing Kyiv, the White House said.
Biden faces an array of steep challenges as he tries to secure the money. The U.S. House of Representatives remains in chaos because the Republican majority has been unable to select a speaker to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted more than two weeks ago.
In addition, conservative Republicans oppose sending more weapons to Ukraine as its battle against the Russian invasion approaches the two-year mark. Biden's previous request for funding, which included $24 billion US to help with the next few months of fighting, was stripped out of budget legislation last month despite a personal plea from Zelenskyy.
"These are perilous days," Stein said of Biden's challenges at home, because he has to rally not only the American public but a dysfunctional Congress.
"It was in many ways a sophisticated message," she said. "If we are dysfunctional at home, how do we lead abroad?"
Resistance
The White House has warned that time is running out to prevent Ukraine, which recently struggled to make progress in a grueling counteroffensive, from losing ground to Russia because of dwindling supplies of weapons.
There will be resistance on the other side of the political spectrum when it comes to military assistance for Israel, which has been bombarding the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
Critics have accused Israel of indiscriminately killing civilians and committing war crimes by cutting off essential supplies like food, water and fuel.
Bipartisan support for Israel has already eroded in recent years as progressive Democrats have become more outspoken in their opposition to the country's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory, which is widely viewed as illegal by the international community.
There are rumbles of disagreement within Biden's administration as well. Josh Paul, a U.S. State Department official who oversaw the congressional liaison office dealing with foreign arms sales, resigned over U.S. policy on weapons transfers to Israel.
"I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be short-sighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse," he wrote in a statement posted to his LinkedIn account.
Paul is believed to be the first official to have resigned in opposition to the administration's decision to step up military assistance to Israel after the Oct. 7 attack.
While visiting Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Biden told Israel that "we will not let you ever be alone." However, he cautioned Israelis against being "consumed" by rage as he said the United States was after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001.
Wartime decision-making, Biden said, "requires asking very hard questions" and "clarity about the objectives and an honest assessment about whether the path you are on will achieve those objectives."
A speech from the Oval Office is one of the most prestigious platforms that a president can command, an opportunity to try to seize the country's attention at a moment of crisis. American networks carried it live.
Biden has delivered only one other such speech during his presidency, after Congress passed bipartisan budget legislation to avert a default on the country's debt.
The Senate plans to move quickly on Biden's proposal, hoping that it creates pressure on the Republican-controlled House to resolve its leadership drama and return to legislating.
However, there are disagreements within the Senate on how to move forward. Eight Republicans, led by Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, said they did not want to combine assistance for Ukraine and Israel in the same legislation.
"These are two separate and unrelated conflicts and it would be wrong to leverage support of aid to Israel in an attempt to get additional aid for Ukraine across the finish line," they wrote in a letter.