Biden will address the nation at 8pm TONIGHT on Israel and Ukraine as IDF unleashes huge aerial bombing campaign on Hezbollah
- The president will address the nation from the White House at 8 pm
- He is just back from his seven hour trip to Israel
- He is seeking supplemental funds for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and the border
President Joe Biden will address the nation from the White House Thursday night as he asks Congress for $100 billion to bolster US allies Israel and Ukraine at a time of worldwide turmoil.
The president is fresh off his seven-hour trip to Israel, where he showed support for the US ally and hugged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but didn’t get the chance to sit down with the heads of Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority following a hospital explosion in Gaza.
Israel has massed thousands of troops on the border with Gaza in preparation for a possible ground assault, while Israel Defense Forces on Thursday pounded Hezbollah targets across the border in Lebanon.
Biden has bluntly warned adversaries who might try to exploit the turmoil in the region, telling them simply ‘don’t.’ He is facing conflicting cross-pressures, demonstrating repeatedly that he has Israel’s ‘back’ and deploying a sea and air armada to the region, while Arab citizens have taken to the streets in protest against Israel even after the bloody Hamas attacks of October 7.
President Joe Biden is set to address the nation at 8 pm Thursday evening amid worldwide turmoil. He is asking Congress for funds to aid Israel as well as Ukraine
Biden pressed Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi during a phone call Wednesday to open up deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Gaza, but Netanyahu is resisting calls to allow deliveries from Israel. He is first demanding visitation and the return of hostages Hamas seized during its lightning attack, with virtually no information on the status of about 200 captives, including a small number of U.S. citizens.
To have the security impact he wants, Biden must get an aid package through Congress – with one half of the Capitol not even able to organize after Republicans have repeatedly failed to come together to elect a Speaker, while his own approval ratings at home remain low on the cusp of an election year.
Biden’s speech will be ‘to discuss our response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s ongoing brutal war against Ukraine,’ according to a brief White House statement.
That comes after the White House made a strategic decision to combine funds for both conflicts into a single passage, after growing House Republican opposition to support for Ukraine stymied his earlier $24 billion package for that conflict.
Now, the administration is set to ask Congress for $100 billion to bolster Israel, provide arms and support to Ukraine, help Taiwan bolster itself while facing a potential invasion from China, and beef up the border.
Biden’s trip to Israel got off to a difficult start after the explosion at the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza
The Israeli Defense Forces claims it has made missile attacks against military targets of Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon in the past 24 hours
Republicans have demanded action on the border, pointing to chaos there and daily crossings that have hit 10,000 during peaks. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told DailyMail.com the package will include both border funding and perhaps policy provisions.
But Senate Republicans might not care for the administration’s spending ideas. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) complained that the administration planned to steer funds to ‘sanctuary cities’ – Democratic enclaves where GOP governors have been shipping migrants by bus and plane.
The stakes are high for Biden, who is essentially tied with former President Donald Trump in polls even as Trump faces four criminal indictments.
‘The @potus is poised to pitch a grand bargain tonight touching on a suite of urgent needs–aid for Israel; Ukraine; and border security/disaster relief here at home. And he almost certainly will challenge Congress to FINALLY get its act together to deal with it,’ said David Axelrod, a former top advisor to President Barack Obama, writing on the X platform.
That comes after two more failed attempts by House Republicans to elect a speaker, this time with Biden nemesis Rep. Jim Jordan drawing opposition from 22 of his GOP colleagues. He is taking a leading role in the House impeachment inquiry into the president.
Biden’s speech comes at a time of attacks on US embassies, sectarian attacks around the world including a firebomb assault on a synagogue in Berlin on Wednesday, and fears of an expanded Middle East war that could bring in Iran.
It came in a week where Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China, amid information that Hamas terrorists relied on rocket-propelled grenades provided by North Korea.
Amid the turmoil, the U.S. State Department issued a ‘Worldwide Caution Security Alert.’ It advised U.S. citizens overseas to ‘exercise increased caution due to the potential for violence and increased tensions at various locations around the world.’
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