Biden: Hamas and Vladimir Putin Aim to Destabilize Neighboring Democracies

Joe Biden said that he would ask Congress on Friday to approve massive funding to help Ukraine and Israel.

In an address to the nation from the Oval Office, US President Joe Biden on Friday said Hamas and Russia are both out to “annihilate” democracies. “The terror and tyranny of Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy,” Biden said.

Biden said that If international aggression continues, then “conflict and chaos could spread in other parts of the world.”

The US president said he would ask Congress on Friday to approve massive funding to help Ukraine and Israel. He argued that this was an investment for the United States’ future as a global leader.

“It is a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said from the Oval Office. “American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are what keep us, America, safe. American values make us a partner that other nations want to work with.”

Biden’s rare address to the nation comes days after he visited Israel on an urgent mission to keep the war between Tel Aviv and Hamas from spiraling into a broader regional conflict and to encourage the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

In his address, the US president also said that his priority is the safety of Americans who have been taken hostage by Gaza.

“As the President, there is no higher priority for me than the safety of Americans who are hostage,” he said. “In Israel, I saw people who are strong, determined, resilient, and also angry, in shock, and in deep, deep pain.”