Joe Biden implores Americans to get behind Israel, Ukraine

In a rare address to the nation, the President Biden cast Hamas, Russia and Iran as a new ‘axis of evil’, that would threaten the world’s safety without American leadership.

Joe Biden delivers his address from the Oval Office on Thursday night. Picture: AFP

US President Joe Biden has delivered an impassioned plea to Americans to unite behind support for Ukraine and Israel, in a rare address to the nation that linked the futures of the two besieged nations to “indispensable” US support, arguing their success was “vital for America’s national security”.

Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Israel to signal US support for the Jewish state, Mr Biden linked Vladimir Putin’s Russia and the Islamic fundamentalist organisation Hamas as joint enemies of freedom and democracy in their respective quests to destroy the statehoods of Ukraine and Israel.

“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common. They both want to completely annihilate a neighbouring democracy,” Mr Biden said, suggesting Ukraine was “fighting for the same things we fought for 250 years ago: freedom, independence, self-determination”.

“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,” Biden said.

In his second address from the Oval Office as president, Mr Biden cast Russia, Hamas and Iran as a new ‘axis of evil’ that left unchecked would “embolden” dictators and tyrants, wreaking havoc in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East.

“Iran is supporting Russia in Ukraine, and it’s supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region,” he said, speaking hours after the US shot down several rockets launched by pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“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”.

The president also put a dysfunctional congress, mired in infighting, without a Speaker following GOP inability to agree on a successor to Kevin McCarthy, on notice he would be making an urgent request for additional funding, speculated to US$10 billion for Israel and an extra US$60 billion for Ukraine.

“It’s a smart investment that’s going pay dividends for American security for generations, help us keep American troops out of harm’s way, help us build a world that is safer, more peaceful and more prosperous for our children and grandchildren.

Mr Biden, stressing he had neither the intention nor desire to send American troops to Ukraine, emphasised how much of the US aid to the two nations ultimately went to US domestic industry, seeking to cauterise a longstanding Republican complaint that US aid was siphoning of US taxpayer funds that could be deployed domestically.

“Patriot missiles for air defence batteries, made in Arizona. Artillery shells manufactured in 12 states across the country, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas. And so much more,” the president said.

The US gives US $3bn a year in support to Israel and has provided US$75 in aid to Ukraine since Russian invaded in February 2022.

The Biden’s address was broadly well received, reportedly eliciting claps from his staff in the Oval Office; veteran Fox commentator Brit Hume declared it “one of the best, if not the best speech, of his presidency, he was firm, he was strong”.

Republican senator JD Vance of Ohio blasted the near 15 minute address as “disgusting” for using Israel as “cover” for asking for further funding for Ukraine, whose efforts to eject Russia from its territory after 20 months had stalled, foreshadowing potential difficulty in securing further congressional support.

“They are not the same countries, they are not the same problems, and this effort to use Israel for political cover is offensive,” he said.

In a nod to elements within the Democratic Party who have defended Palestinians in Gaza, some going as far as blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks that killed at least 1400 Israelis, the president underscored his support for a “two-state solution”, a political settlement that has eluded diplomats for decades.

“Israel and Palestinians equally deserve to live in safety, dignity and peace,” he said, taking the opportunity once again to assert that Israel was not responsible for the hospital bombing that killed hundreds of Palestinians this week.

“We mourn every innocent life lost. We can’t ignore the humanity of innocent Palestinians who only want to live in peace and have an opportunity”.

Mr Biden delivered his remarks against a series of domestic polls that put Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee for president in 2024, who has argued against increasing US foreign entanglements, ahead of the president in key battleground states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.