The Last Thing America Needs to Do in a Dark World: Leon Panetta’s Address to the House of Representatives after the Israel Attack
The international coalition that President Biden brought together to support Ukraine is a point of pride, it’s something he has been able to do with his foreign policy experience.
The public’s support for assistance to Ukraine has waned during the war. After the Israel attack, Biden said he was going to give a big address to Americans to explain why he thinks it needs to continue.
Biden has offered full-throated support for Israel as it still reels from brutal attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians. More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed. More than a dozen Americans are still missing, according to the State Department.
But keeping those promises will take billions in funding from Congress — funding that is far from assured as the Republican-led House of Representatives struggles to overcome factional strife to name a speaker.
Leon Panetta, who previously served in the Obama and Clinton administrations, including as CIA director and defense secretary, said, “We’re part of two wars going on in Ukraine and Israel because of challenges to our democracy.”
It is more than just the credibility of Joe Biden. It’s the credibility of the United States. Panetta told NPR that the last thing this country needed to do in a dangerous world was send its adversaries a message of weakness.
The White House is Running Out of Money to Defend Ukraine and the U.S. Can Do It Now Or Will It Fail to Protect It?
The White House has said it will soon run out of money to help Ukraine. It requested 24 billion dollars from Congress to help it. But that request wasn’t included in a stop-gap spending bill that runs until Nov. 17.
It is expected to ask for more help to defend it from 2o 24. Money will be given to Israel, and possibly other priorities. Details of the funding request — known as a supplemental — have been kept under wraps, although administration officials on Friday were making the case for the funding with Hill leaders in private briefings.
The National Security Council doesn’t have time on their side, according to John Kirby. The runway is not always here, as we still have access to give security assistance to both partners.
Biden told 60 Minutes that the US can support both countries at the same time. “We’re the United States of America for God’s sake, the most powerful nation in the history — not in the world, in the history of the world,” he said. “We have the capacity to do this and we have an obligation to … And, if we don’t, who does?”
Heather Conley, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said it’s long past time for Biden to be doing more to explain to the public why they need to back Ukraine.
“This is a time to make sure the American people understand the gravity of the situation, the investment the United States needs to make, and to make sure everyone understands the stakes that are in place,” Conley said.
“If Ukraine is not successful in restoring its territorial integrity — if Israel struggles to defend itself — this opens the floodgates, if you will, for other countries to take advantage of the weakness, to also take advantage, to express grievance. “That price tag gets higher”, he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Israel in the midst of the Gaza Strip and the situation in the Middle East
President Biden’s political identity is dependent on his being a leader on the world stage which is why he is trying to retain his seat in the Senate.
PeterFeaver is a political scientist at Duke University who has worked for both the Clinton and Bush administrations.
“If that success is replaced by a collapse in Ukraine because we stop supporting Ukraine, then the Biden foreign policy record looks much much more negative,” Feaver said.
After more than seven hours of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top Israeli officials, Secretary of State Antony Blinken decided to take the trip. The United States and Israel agreed on aid to the Gaza Strip, according to a brief remark by Tony Blair’s chief of staff.
The trip comes as Israel prepares to launch a ground assault on Hamas in Gaza. There are shortages of food, water, and medicine in Gaza, and a rising civilian death toll from Israeli strikes.
Biden will meet with Netanyahu for an update on the strategy and pace of military operations, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a conference call Monday night.
While Biden is in the region, he wants to see an update on the hostage situation because U.S. officials believe some Americans are being held by Hamas.
The Pentagon moved an aircraft carrier strike group into the region in an attempt at deterrence. There is a significant concern that the conflict could spread, something Biden and his administration want to avoid.
According to Biden, in an interview with 60 Minutes that aired Sunday, it was necessary to take out the extremists in Hamas and Hezbollah. He does not think that Israel would be a good choice to occupy Gaza.
Kirby said that Biden would raise his concern about the casualties. He said they have been discussing the law of armed conflict and protecting innocent civilians with their Israeli counterparts.
However, he has faced a tough battle getting more funding for Ukraine from Congress, and polling shows American support for that conflict has waned since the early days of the war.