On October 20, the White House requested USD 105 billion in additional funding for Israel and Ukraine. Biden is seeking USD 14.3 billion in funding for Israel, largely to fund the ongoing Israeli occupation (labeled “Israel’s defense against terrorism” by the White House). USD 61.4 billion would go to Ukraine to fund the fight against “Russian aggression”, according to the White House.
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza continue to be killed by Israeli bombings, including strikes against hospitals and churches.
“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common,” Biden said in a national address yesterday. “They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy.”
This request comes days after Biden touched down in Israel to pledge solidarity to the state. Photos showed Biden embracing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who a few days ago had called Palestinians “children of darkness” living by the “law of the jungle”) as well as President Isaac Herzog.
In his visit, Biden strongly condemned Hamas, which has been the ruling party in Gaza since 2007. Hamas’ armed wing is one of several Palestinian resistance groups that launched a historic offensive against Israel on October 7. “Hamas committed atrocities that recall the worst ravages of ISIS, unleashing pure, unadulterated evil upon the world,” Biden said. “There’s no rationalizing it, no excusing it.”
Evidence shows that so-called “Hamas” crimes against Israeli civilians are vastly overblown (Hamas is also not the only group involved in the Palestinian resistance effort). Moreover, international law enshrines the right of armed struggle against an occupying power. As Vijay Prashad writes, the UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 resolution of 1982 “reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.”
Biden reiterated the US’s unwavering support for Israel since its inception. “75 years ago, just 11 minutes after its founding, president Harry S. Truman and the USA became the first nation to recognize Israel. We’ve stood by your side ever since. And we will stand by your side now,” he said.
Biden has previous stated that if Israel did not exist, the US would have to create it. Activists have asserted that Israel’s prime importance to the US is not as a home for Jewish people, but as an imperial outpost in West Asia.
“The root cause of the violence against our people is that Israel is an outpost of US imperialism,” said an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement at a 10,000-strong march last week in Times Square in solidarity with Gaza.
