Yasmeen Abutaleb, Michael Birnbaum, John Hudson, The Washington Post (c) 2024
NEW YORK – President Joe Biden urged Israel and Hezbollah to step away from the precipice of all-out war on Tuesday, warning in a major speech before the United Nations that such a conflict could be catastrophic and arguing that there was still time for the countries to pull back.
“Full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest. The situation has escalated,” Biden said. “A solution is still possible. In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security and to allow the residents of both countries to return to their homes.”
Biden also stressed the importance of a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, an agreement that has proved stubbornly elusive, which now appears to hold the key not only to ending the war in Gaza but also to cooling the hostilities between Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group, has said it will keep firing rockets into Israel until a cease-fire is reached in Gaza.
“Now is the time for the parties to finalize the terms” of a cease-fire, Biden said in his speech during the United Nations General Assembly. “Bring the hostages home, secure security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas’s grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, and end this war.”
Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging rocket fire over Israel’s northern border since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but recent days have seen a sharp escalation. Israeli strikes in Lebanon this week have killed more than 550 people, including 50 children, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, and Israeli officials have said they are turning to a new phase of their military operations focused on Lebanon rather than Gaza.
Since Oct. 7, Hezbollah’s rocket attacks have forced Israel to evacuate some 67,500 people from communities in the north, according to the Taub Center, and many of those towns and cities remain largely empty. Israel’s retaliatory strikes on southern Lebanon have displaced more than 111,000 people, according to the United Nations.
Biden’s comments on the unfolding Israel-Lebanon crisis came during what is likely to be his final address to the United Nations after five decades in public life, much of it focused on foreign policy.
Given the lack of progress on a Gaza cease-fire – U.S. officials increasingly believe neither side is willing to make the necessary compromises and say negotiations remain deadlocked – Biden instead spent much of his speech focused on his administration’s work supporting Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, strengthening alliances and defending democracy around the world.
Taking stock of wars and world events that were taking place when he first entered politics in 1972, Biden said he believed the world was at an “inflection point” given the myriad conflicts unspooling across the globe, including the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan.
The president also cast his decision this summer not to seek a second term as one that continued his push to protect democracy, which he called one of the driving goals of his presidency. “My fellow leaders, let us never forget: Some things are more important than staying in power,” Biden told the assembled heads of state. “It’s your people that matter the most. Never forget, we are here to serve the people, not the other way around.”
At the United Nations, Biden recounted the Oct. 7, 2023 attack, when Hamas militants broke through the Israel-Gaza border fence and killed 1,200 people and took some 250 hostage. He also spoke of Palestinian suffering under Israel’s retaliatory military campaign, which has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as well as resulted in mass displacement and fueled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.
“The world must not flinch from the horrors of Oct. 7. Any country – any country – would have the right and responsibility to ensure that such an attack can never happen again,” Biden said, noting that he has met and grieved with hostage families, who are “going through hell.”
He added: “Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell. Thousands and thousands killed, including aid workers. Too many families dislocated, crowding into tents, facing a dire humanitarian situation. They didn’t ask for this war Hamas started.”
The first Arab leader to address the gathering, Jordan’s King Abdullah II, recounted the pain of witnessing the suffering of the conflict and warned that it could get worse as Israel steps up its bombardment of Lebanon.
“The Israeli government’s assault has resulted in one of the fastest death rates in recent conflicts, one of the fastest rates of starvation caused by war, the largest cohort of child amputees and unprecedented levels of destruction,” Abdullah said.
“The world is watching, and history will judge us by the courage we show,” he added. “And it is not just the future that will hold us accountable. So will the people of the here and now.”
While Abdullah was careful not to criticize the United States directly, his comments reflected the frustration among many U.S. allies, including Arab nations and those in the Global South, at Biden’s policy of providing largely unconditional military support to Israel, even as the death toll in Gaza has grown.
Israel has said it has little choice but to try to eradicate Hamas in Gaza and that the high death toll is a direct result of the militant group’s strategy of embedding among civilians. Still, many human rights and aid groups say Israel has done little to guard against civilian casualties and has actively obstructed aid.
Biden spent much of Monday’s speech, which was intended in large part to highlight his legacy as a global leader, focusing on his administration’s work defending Ukraine against Russia’s invasion, as he urged the United Nations to “stand firm against aggression.”
He said he and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, recognized Russia’s invasion as “an assault on everything this institution is supposed to stand for.” While describing his Ukraine policy as a success, Biden warned that Russia still has a path to victory.
“The world now has another choice to make. Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom or walk away, let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed?” Biden told the leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who sat in the grand hall, unsmiling, a translation headset on his ear.
“I know my answer,” Biden said. “We cannot grow weary. We cannot look away, and we will not let up on our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace.”
Still, Russia has recently been making gains in Ukraine’s east. With winter looming, some allies of Ukraine fear the country could be pushed into making concessions to Russia to end the war, and Biden is facing pressure to allow American-made missile systems to strike deeper into Russian territory.
Ukrainian leaders have made that policy change a top priority in recent weeks, and many European leaders agree with them. The issue has opened cracks inside the Biden administration, with the Defense Department and White House aides skeptical of the benefits of such a policy shift and Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressing openness on a trip to Kyiv this month.
Zelensky plans to continue to press the issue this week, including at White House meetings with Biden and Harris on Thursday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – who also quietly favors a policy shift – plans to continue discussions about it during this week’s U.N. activities in New York.
In contrast to the Middle East, Biden’s role in managing the Ukraine conflict received more favorable reviews from world leaders on Tuesday. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen listened to Biden’s speech from the assembly hall, saying in an interview that it was “special because we know this is the last speech from President Joe Biden at the U.N.”
Frederiksen credited the president with holding a diverse array of European countries together in support of Ukraine as populist forces were threatening that support. “Biden has been very engaged with the transatlantic bond, which I hope will continue forever no matter who is the next U.S. president,” she said.
Biden also addressed the civil war in Sudan and the humanitarian crisis unfolding there, including millions of people who are on the brink of famine, pointing to America’s role in providing desperately needed aid to those affected.
Beyond wars, Biden stressed America’s progress in cutting carbon emissions and addressing climate change; managing competition with China; tackling the promise and risk of artificial intelligence; and advancing reform and expansion of the U.N. Security Council. He also announced the United States would send 1 million doses of the mpox vaccine to Africa.
The five-member U.N. Security Council – composed of the United States, United Kingdom, China, Russia and France – has been criticized as dysfunctional because a single country can veto any resolution. Russia has vetoed resolutions supporting Ukraine, for example, while the United States has shielded Israel diplomatically with its veto.
As he wrapped up his speech, Biden reflected on his decision to step aside this summer and end his campaign for a second term. “It was a difficult decision,” Biden said. “Being president has been the honor of my life. There’s so much more I want to get done.”
But he said that after 50 years of public service, he decided it was time for a new generation of leadership. “It’s your people that matter most,” Biden said. “That’s the soul of democracy. It does not belong to any one country.”