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Biden to Push Israel, Ukraine Aid Package Well Over $2 Billion This Week – – Monday, October 16, 2023 

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that the Biden administration hopes to push a new weapons package for Israel and Ukraine through Congress that will be significantly higher than $2 billion. Sullivan, in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said President Biden will have intensive talks with Congress this week on the need for the package to be approved. Republicans’ struggles to pick a speaker for the House of Representatives after Kevin McCarthy was ousted nearly two weeks ago has delayed action on legislation, as Israel prepares a ground war against Hamas in Gaza and U.S. officials warn the regional crisis could escalate. Biden has reportedly been considering a budget request lumping together aid for Israel, Ukraine, and possibly Taiwan and the U.S. southern border to improve the chances of getting it approved amid calls from some Republicans to cut money for Kyiv. When asked whether the request would be for $2 billion, Sullivan said, “The number is going to be significantly higher than that, but it will, as I said, certainly include the necessary military equipment to defend freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity in Ukraine, and to help Israel defend itself as it fights its terrorist threat.” Some Republicans have already said they would not back any Israel aid package that also contains aid for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has held back-channel talks with Iran to warn the Islamic republic against escalating the war between Israel and Hamas into a broader regional conflict, Sullivan said Sunday. Sullivan’s comments came as the Pentagon has begun doubling the amount of American firepower deployed in the Middle East. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III announced the deployment of a second carrier group late on Saturday, calling it a sign of “our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war.” The aircraft carrier the USS Dwight Eisenhower is expected to arrive in the next few days, and will join a small fleet including the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in the eastern Mediterranean. The Air Force is also rushing additional land-based attack planes to the Persian Gulf region, doubling the number of F-16, A-10, and F-15E squadrons on the ground. Combined with the four squadrons of F/A-18 jets aboard each carrier, the U.S. will have an aerial armada of more than 100 attack planes, officials said.

With hostilities centering around Gaza, the blockaded enclave in Israel’s south, the U.S. has asked Qatar to tell Lebanon-based Hezbollah not to open up a second front to the war, a person familiar with the negotiations said. While on a tour of the Middle East since Thursday aimed at enlisting the help of Arab nations in containing the fallout, Secretary of State Antony Blinken also held his first call Saturday on the issue with his Chinese counterpart, asking Foreign Minister Wang Yi to deploy Beijing’s influence in the region toward the same goal. This comes as Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.”

Blinken will return to Israel today as the country prepares to launch an invasion into Gaza by air, land and sea, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Sunday. The White House also announced Sunday that former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey David Satterfield will serve as the U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Humanitarian Issues, where he will “focus on ensuring life-saving assistance can reach vulnerable people throughout the Middle East.” Israel and the U.S. are also discussing a possible visit by President Biden to Israel later this week, Israeli and U.S. officials confirmed on Sunday. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said Sunday that about 600,000 people had evacuated northern Gaza and that others should follow. The Israeli military said it is preparing a “wide range” of offensive plans “for the next stages of the war, with an emphasis on significant ground operations,” though it has not provided a concrete indication of when the assault would start. This comes as Russia has asked the UN Security Council to vote today on a draft resolution on the Israel-Hamas conflict that calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and condemns violence against civilians and all acts of terrorism. Reuters, Financial Times, New York Times, Bloomberg,