Biden requests $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel, border

 

President Joe Biden requested urgent military aid for Ukraine and Israel in a massive $106 billion security package Friday, but he faces a tough battle to get it through a paralyzed US Congress.

Biden's demand came a day after he drew a direct link between the Hamas attack on Israel and Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to convince Americans that the United States must show global leadership.

The 80-year-old Democrat argued in an impassioned Oval Office speech that the huge sums involved -- a total of $105.85 billion, including $61 billion in military aid for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel -- would secure US interests for generations.

But Biden's request comes as the US House of Representatives remains in chaos, with Republicans, who hold a narrow majority, in their worst meltdown in decades and unable to elect a speaker for the past 17 days.

"The world is watching and the American people rightly expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities," White House Office of Management and Budget director Shalanda Young said in a letter to Congress.

"I urge Congress to address them as part of a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited Washington in September to seek more military aid against Russia, said he was "grateful" to Biden for proposing the aid.

"We are counting on both parties in Congress to bend the arch of history toward good," Zelensky said on X, formerly Twitter.

Biden's mega aid package throws an olive branch to Republicans in the form of $14 billion in funding for the migration crisis at the southern border with Mexico, including $6.4 billion for security  -- a central concern for the right-wing party.

- 'Chaos' -

The package also includes $7 billion for countering China and strengthening allies in the Asia-Pacific region, and over $9 billion for humanitarian assistance for Gaza, Ukraine and Israel.

Most importantly, however, the huge funding ask is an attempt to bolster waning support for Ukraine by linking it with funding for Israel -- which does have widespread bipartisan backing.

Whether Republicans can set aside their squabbling and choose a speaker so that Biden's request can even get a hearing remains unclear.

Republicans dropped hardliner Jim Jordan as their latest candidate on Friday after he failed to secure victory on his third attempt.

An earlier request for aid for Ukraine was stalled when Republican House speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a rebellion in September.

A growing number of Republicans -- and US voters in general -- oppose adding to the $43.9 billion in security assistance that the United States has committed to Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

But considerable support remains in Congress, including among prominent Republicans in the Senate, where the Democrats hold the majority.

Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer promised quick action in the upper chamber and urged Republicans to sort themselves out.

"This legislation is too important to wait for the House to settle their chaos," he said in a statement.

Biden's speech on Thursday drew the link between the wars in Ukraine and Israel as part of a vision of the US as a "beacon to the world" confronting "terrorists" like Hamas and "tyrants" like Putin.

It was Biden's bid to remind Americans of the decades-long US geopolitical stance as leader of the Western democracies.

The Kremlin on Friday denounced Biden's comments.

"We do not accept such a tone in relation to the Russian Federation, in relation to our president," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Biden, meanwhile, welcomed European Union leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen for a summit at the White House on Friday, where they delivered a message of unity on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

Hamas attack ‘aimed’ at derailing Israel-Saudi ties

President Joe Biden said Friday that he believed Hamas's brutal attack on Israel two weeks ago was aimed at disrupting warming ties between the country and Saudi Arabia.

"One of the reasons why they acted like they did... why Hamas moved on Israel... (was) because they knew I was about to sit down with the Saudis," Biden told guests at a campaign fundraiser.

"The Saudis wanted to recognize Israel... unite the Middle East," he said.

Momentum toward a landmark US-brokered deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia -- guardian of Islam's two holiest sites -- was shattered by the October 7 attack by Hamas militants on Israel.

The Islamist group stormed into Israel from the Gaza Strip, taking more than 200 hostages and killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burnt to death on the first day of the raid, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has since vowed to destroy Hamas, and says around 1,500 of the group's fighters were killed in clashes before its army regained control of the area initially under attack.

A bombing campaign launched in response has levelled entire city blocks in Gaza, so far killing 4,137 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Saudi officials announced on October 14 during a visit to Riyadh by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the country had suspended talks with Israel on normalization of relations.

Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, had spoken of progress with Israel but also insisted on movement on the Palestinian cause.

The Gulf kingdom has never recognized Israel and has not joined the 2020 Abraham Accords, brokered by the United States, which led neighboring Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Morocco, to establish diplomatic ties with Israel.

The Biden administration had pressed Saudi Arabia to follow suit, with Riyadh demanding in exchange security guarantees from Washington and assistance in developing a civil nuclear program.

In an interview with Fox News last month, Saudi's crown prince said he was "getting closer every day" to a normalization agreement with Israel, while emphasizing the importance of the Palestinian question for his country.

Hamas, the Palestinian movement in power in the Gaza Strip, opposes normalization agreements with Israel.

Top US diplomat acknowledges toll of Mideast crisis on his staff

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has acknowledged the emotional toll that the war between Israel and Hamas has taken on US diplomats amid media reports of internal dissent over Washington's handling of the conflict.

Blinken sent a letter to all State Department employees Thursday night noting the "challenging" circumstances affecting the US diplomatic corps, some of whom feel the "ripples of fear and bigotry" the conflict has generated.

US leaders including President Joe Biden and Blinken have pledged unwavering support for Israel, publicly blessing the country's reprisals for Hamas' shock raid from the Gaza Strip on October 7, which have included a relentless bombing campaign of the crowded enclave.

At least one State Department official has quit over the Biden administration's approach to the conflict. The official, Josh Paul, said on LinkedIn he left over "policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel."

Blinken's letter was not a response to the reports of frustrations within the department, a source familiar with the matter said.

In his letter, Blinken described his recent trip to the Middle East, which saw him bounce between Israel and several Arab countries, visiting some several times.

"I know that, for many of you, this time has not only been challenging professionally, but personally," he wrote in the letter, which AFP obtained.

The United States, he said, mourns the loss of "every innocent life in this conflict."

"That is why President Biden has made clear ... that while we fully support Israel's right to defend itself, how it does so matters," he added, referring to the need to respect "the rule of law and international humanitarian standards."

"Let us also be sure to sustain and expand the space for debate and dissent that makes our policies and our institution better," Blinken wrote.

"We have a difficult stretch ahead. The risk of greater turmoil and strife is real."

This week, the Huffington Post claimed that State Department employees were unhappy with US policy towards the conflict, with one telling the publication that there was "a mutiny" in the works.