Putin and Hamas seek to annihilate democracies: Biden links Israel and Ukraine wars

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, US President Joe Biden said the world was at an “inflection point” as he 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.

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 the 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. Russia’s success would also embolden other “aggressors”, including in the Indo-Pacific, Biden warned, in a clear allusion to China and Iran.

Biden’s juxtaposition of the two wars appears to be an attempt to turn the narrative when critics have suggested the West is being hypocritical in supporting Ukraine, while legitimising Israel’s occupation of Gaza and West Bank.

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.

Biden, in a speech 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.

“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 then went back to appealing to the sense of American exceptionalism that has often permeated the rhetoric of presidents.

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