The American Secretaries of State, Antony Blinken, and Defense, Lloyd Austin, clung this Tuesday to the “links” between the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel to ask the US Senate to prepare and approve the joint aid law for both countries.
“The conflicts in Ukraine and those in the Middle East have clear links,” Blinken said before a committee of the Upper House in which he defended the request that Joe Biden made a few days ago to Congress to approve an urgent budget item of more than 100,000 millions of dollars.
It includes aid of 14.3 billion for Israel and a new package for Ukraine of 61.4 billion.
Thus, Blinken added, since “Russia’s traditional means of supplying its army” were cut off, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government “has increasingly turned to Iran for help” and, in return, ” “Moscow has supplied Iran with increasingly advanced military technology, posing a threat to Israel’s security.”
The testimony of both senior officials before the Senate Appropriations Committee, a chamber led by Democrats, seeks to accelerate the approval of that project at a time when the budget approved last year by Congress for Ukraine is about to be wear out.
In the Upper House there is broad support from both parties, Democrat and Republican, to approve aid in a single package. It would also contain 13.6 billion in different items to increase security on the border with Mexico, and 2 billion to improve security in the Indo-Pacific and thus stop a possible Chinese threat, among others.
In the Lower House, support for Israel is almost unanimous, but on the issue of Ukraine, legislators are divided, since the radical ‘Trumpist’ Republicans view the shipment of weapons to Kiev with suspicion, including its recently elected president, Mike Johnson. .
To try to overcome these differences, while the budgets for next year continue without being approved, on October 20, Biden asked the Government to approve an urgent allocation to guarantee the national security of the United States.
On October 26, and still as part of this year’s budget, the United States announced a new military aid package for Ukraine, this time valued at $150 million, including air defense equipment and tanks.
The United States is the largest donor of military assistance to Ukraine, with more than $43.9 billion given since the start of the invasion ordered by Putin.
“Turning our backs on Ukraine’s efforts to defend its nation would have lasting implications for our own security and our own standing in the world,” the Secretary of State said.
In this sense, Secretary of Defense Austin noted that thanks to US aid “the Russian army has been severely weakened” and “Ukrainian forces have recovered more than half of the territory captured by Russian invaders.”
“That was made possible by bipartisan and senior American leadership in our coalition of some 50 allies and partners,” he said.
In both Israel and Ukraine, he added, they are fighting “against ruthless enemies.” “We want to annihilate them, we will not allow Hamas or Putin to win the battles. This will define global security for years to come,” he stressed.
In the opening speech of the session, Democratic Senator Patricia Lynn “Patty” Murray, chair of the committee, stated that Ukraine and Israel must be addressed “as part of a single package” of aid because “they are related and all are urgent” .
“The Chinese government is watching how we respond to Putin’s aggression in Ukraine. Putin hopes that the Hamas attack will give him an opening and distract the world from helping Ukraine against its brutal invasion. And all of our adversaries are watching closely,” said.
For this reason, it is necessary to “show unity” and “strength,” approving “a solid bipartisan national security package,” he argued.
Today’s session was interrupted several times by protesters calling for a ceasefire in Gaza while Blinken tried to speak.
