WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden spoke to the nation in a rare prime-time address Thursday, explaining why he believes it’s crucial for Israel and Ukraine to win the respective wars they’re fighting, as he looks to build support for a hefty aid package aimed at strengthening both countries.
Though Israel endured a horrifying attack from Hamas militants on Oct. 7, Biden said that he cautioned Israelis not to repeat the mistakes an angered U.S. made after terrorists attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001, an apparent reference to the prolonged U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“When I was in Israel yesterday, I said that when America experienced the hell of 9/11, we felt enraged, as well,” Biden said. “While we sought and got justice, we made mistakes. So I cautioned the government of Israel not to be blinded by rage.”
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Biden’s Oval Office speech followed a quick visit Wednesday to Tel Aviv, where he met with Israeli leaders and discussed the next phase of a counterattack in Gaza that began with an aerial bombardment and may now shift to a risky ground incursion.
As with his trip to Ukraine in February, Biden ventured to an active war zone to show his solidarity with a U.S. ally battling an enemy that wants to wipe it out of existence.
“The terrorist group Hamas unleashed pure unadulterated evil in the world,” Biden said in his address. “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.”
He added that “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people.”
Biden sought to connect the two distant wars for an audience that might not see why U.S. interests are at stake. Both Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin aim to destroy neighboring democracies, and if they succeed they’re bound to feel emboldened and look for more conquests, Biden 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 costs of the threats to America and the world keep rising,” he said.
Biden’s remarks also had a more immediate and practical purpose. He wants to put pressure on Congress to approve an emergency funding package that his administration plans to submit Friday. Biden may request $60 billion in aid to Ukraine and a total of $40 billion for Israel, Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border, people familiar with the matter said this week.
“It’s a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” he said. “We’re going to make sure other hostile actors in the region know that Israel is stronger than ever and prevent this conflict from spreading.”
Biden is in a weakened posture as he tries to shape public opinion toward the wars. A CNBC poll taken this month found that only 31% of Americans approved of Biden’s handling of foreign policy, compared to 60% who disapproved.
He spoke to Americans who appear to be tiring of the war in Ukraine, which started in February 2022 with Russia’s invasion. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month found that 41% agreed with the statement that the U.S. should provide weapons to Ukraine — down from 46% in May.
The U.S. has sent about $44 billion in security aid to Ukraine since Russia first rolled its tanks toward Kyiv, according to the State Department.
Ahead of the speech, Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the status of the war with Russia, according to a White House readout of the conversation.
“President Biden underscored the continued strong bipartisan support in the United States for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democratic future,” according to the White House.
As the wars unfold overseas, the fallout at home is growing more pronounced.
Israel’s counterattack has already triggered angry demonstrations from American protesters demanding a cease-fire. On Capitol Hill, about 300 protesters were arrested after they massed inside a House office building Wednesday in a demonstration calling for an end to hostilities. Rabbis were among those who joined in the protest. Some of the demonstrators wore T-shirts reading: “Jews say ceasefire now.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., wrote on X this week that it is Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s “job to protect Palestinian Americans.”
“They are failing,” she wrote.
More than 400 congressional staffers anonymously signed on to an open letter calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and saying they are “profoundly disturbed that such shows of humanity [for Israelis] have barely been extended to the Palestinian people.”
Separately, a State Department official working in a bureau overseeing U.S. arms sales resigned in protest this week, citing America’s “continued — indeed, expanded and expedited” supply of weapons to Israel as it conducts its counterattack.
Josh Paul, the bureau’s director of congressional and public affairs, wrote in a resignation letter: “I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.” Paul’s resignation was first reported by HuffPost.
An Oval Office address is a powerful forum that presidents typically reserve for national crises or messages of overriding importance. It’s the stage John F. Kennedy selected to explain the Cuban Missile Crisis and the one George W. Bush chose to reassure a frightened nation the night of the 9/11 attack.
Biden spent part of the speech urging tolerance and compassion for people of all faiths. He mentioned an alleged hate crime in Chicago. Authorities say a landlord stabbed and killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy, Wadea Al-Fayoume, and also attacked the boy’s mother. Law enforcement officials said both victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith.
“We must, without equivocation, denounce antisemitism,” Biden said. “We must also, without equivocation, denounce Islamophobia. And to those of you that are hurting, I want you to know I see you. You belong. And I want to say this to you: You’re all American. You’re all American. In moments like these and when fear and suspicion, anger and rage run hard, we have to work harder than ever to hold on to the values that make us who we are.”
Though Biden has aligned himself with Israel in the conflict, he and his senior Cabinet officials have made it clear that the powerful Israeli military cannot devastate Hamas at any cost. Through diplomatic means, he said, Biden has ensured that vulnerable Palestinian civilians in Gaza will receive humanitarian aid.
Flying home from Israel on Wednesday night, Biden told reporters that he had spoken by phone to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who had agreed to open a border crossing into Gaza that will permit aid to go through and assist the civilian population. If Hamas “confiscates” the aid, Biden added, the flow will stop.
Biden also obliquely suggested that he is pressing Israel to find an alternative to a ground attack that could result in large numbers of civilian casualties.
Asked whether Israel might forgo a ground incursion, Biden said: “We had a long talk about that and what alternatives there are.”
