WASHINGTON, Oct 20, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - President Joe Biden on Thursday said
Hamas and Russia are both out to "annihilate" democracies, in an impassioned
speech to the nation from the Oval Office where he made the case for
assistance to Ukraine and Israel as a vital US interest.

Hamas and Russian President Vladimir Putin "represent different threats but
they share this in common: they both want to completely annihilate a
neighboring democracy," Biden said in the prime-time speech.

He said he would ask Congress on Friday to approve massive funding to help
Ukraine and Israel, arguing 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," the 80-year-old Democrat said in just the second speech of
his presidency delivered from behind the historic Resolute Desk.

"American leadership is what holds the world together. American alliances are
what keep us, America, safe. American values are what make us a partner that
other nations want to work with," he said.

"America is a beacon to the world. Still. Still," he said.

Fresh from a whirlwind trip to Israel this week, Biden wants to win over war-
weary voters and hardline Republicans as he ramps up his 2024 reelection bid.

The White House is said to be teeing up a huge request to Congress for a $100
billion package that would include funding for Israel in its war with Hamas
and also for Ukraine's battle against Russian invasion.

Tying together two conflicts an ocean away from the United States is a bid by
Biden to frame them as part of a bigger struggle to shape the world order and
protect Americans at home.

- Somber setting of Oval -

Presidents traditionally reserve speeches from the solemn setting of the Oval
Office for moments of key national significance.

Biden's only previous address from there was in June when he hailed a deal
with Congress to avert what would have been a catastrophic US debt default.

But Congress has now been paralyzed for more than two weeks as divided
Republicans, who control the majority in the House, fail repeatedly to agree
on electing a House speaker.

Hard-right Republicans, and a growing number of voters, are also strongly
opposed to 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.

US media reported that Friday's package request will include $10 billion in
emergency assistance for Israel and $60 billion for Ukraine.

Just before the speech, Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky.

Zelensky welcomed the recent delivery of ATACMS long-range missiles from the
United States, adding: "Ukraine is grateful for the vital and enduring US
support in our fight for freedom and against Russian aggression."

Biden has also been striking a statesmanlike tone on the Israel-Hamas war
with an eye on US voters where there is strong support for Israel -- even if
leftwing Democrats oppose his stance.

In Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Biden backed Israel as it gears up for a ground
invasion of Gaza after the October 7 attacks by the Palestinian militant
group Hamas which killed more than 1,400 people.

But he also brokered a deal to get some aid through Egypt into the Gaza
Strip, where Israeli bombing since has killed at least 3,785 Palestinians,
most of them civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.

The threat of a wider Middle Eastern conflict meanwhile looms in the
background.

The United States has already moved two aircraft carriers into the eastern
Mediterranean to deter Iran or Lebanon's Hezbollah, both allies of Hamas,
from getting involved.