US President Joe Biden has just immersed himself fully in the campaign for the November elections. He did it in a setting that he knows well, Congress, appearing comfortable and, at times, even unleashed, when responding live to the Republicans who loudly interrupted him. It was the big speech he needed to dispel doubts about his age81, that have arisen among voters, even those close to the Democratic Party, about his ability to govern for another four years.

The speech turned out to be a success both in content, bragging about how his policies had benefited the middle class, as in the form, with the president showing greater energy than usual and responding live to the Republicans who booed and insulted him, calling him a “liar.” Throughout the appearance, Biden contrasted the “honesty and decency” that he claims to represent against the “anger, hatred and revenge” of Trump, whom he did not mention by name and whom he referred to for a fortnight. sometimes as “predecessor” or “former president”.

Israel must “protect innocent civilians”

In his speech, Biden acknowledged the deaths of more than 30,000 Palestinians in the Israeli Army’s bombings against the Gaza Strip, which is why he asked Israel to “protect innocent civilians” in its operations against the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). “Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population. But Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect the innocent civilians of Gaza. This war has claimed more innocent civilian casualties than all previous wars in Gaza combined “More than 30,000 Palestinians have died. Most of them are not from Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children. Girls and boys are also orphans,” he expressed during his speech before Congress.

Likewise, iUrged Israel to allow in more humanitarian aid and to ensure that humanitarian workers do not find themselves in crossfire situations. “Almost two million more Palestinians bombed or displaced. Houses destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruins. Families without food, without water, without medicine. It is heartbreaking,” he added. However, he once again assured that Israel has the right to pursue and eliminate the Palestinian militia for the attacks of October 7″, in which 1,200 people died and another 240 were taken hostage, on what he described as the “day deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.

So, spoke of “five heartbreaking months” for Israelis, Palestinians and even Americans, among which there are families who are still waiting for the release of their relatives held by Hamas, ensuring that their Administration will not rest until they return home. Biden highlighted his government’s efforts to achieve a ceasefire of at least six weeks, which would coincide with the celebration of the Ramadan holiday, and that would also allow the release of the hostages. Furthermore, he assured that Hamas “could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, handing over the weapons and handing over those responsible for October 7.”

Ukraine and “standing up to Putin”

During his speech, Biden also once again requested the approval of new financing funds for Ukraine, comparing the current situation in Europe with the Second World War and ensuring that “history is watching” Washington’s decisions. before the “sowing of chaos” of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. “Beyond the sea, Russia’s Putin is on the march, invading Ukraine and wreaking havoc across Europe and beyond. If anyone in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you he won’t. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we support him and provide him with the weapons he needs to defend himself,” he declared to the congressmen.

In that sense, asked to “stand up to Putin” and approve the new military financing package for Ukraine, blocked in the House of Representatives due to a budget dispute between Democrats and Republicans. “I’m telling Congress, we have to stand up to Putin. (…) History is literally watching. History is watching. If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe will be at risk. The free world will be at risk. (…) My message to President Putin, whom I have known for a long time, is simple. We will not walk away. We will not bow down,” the president said.

However, he clarified that he is not asking for US military for Ukraine, and He promised that “there are no American soldiers” nor will there be. “Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world. Tonight, I come to this very chamber to address the nation. Now, we are the ones facing an unprecedented moment in history. And yes, my purpose is night is to wake up Congress. And alert the American people that this is no ordinary time either. Not since President (Abraham) Lincoln and the Civil War, freedom and democracy have been under assault at home as they are today,” he stated.

Do not “bury the truth” of the assault on the Capitol

The US president also attacked the Republicans this Thursday for the assault on the Capitol, which took place on January 6, 2021, when a mob of Donald Trump’s followers broke into the building to stop the session that confirmed the Democrat’s victory in the presidential elections of 2020.”You can’t love the country only when you win“declared the president, who took the opportunity to address American politicians and ask them to unite and defend democracy, recalling his “oath to defend against all foreign and national threats.”

In this sense, he asked that they advocate for respect for free and fair elections, recovering trust in the institutions. “Make it clear that political violence has no place in the United States,” he declared from the box of the House of Representatives, in the Capitol building. “My predecessor and some of you are trying to bury the truth of January 6. (…) Many of you were here on that dark day,” lamented the president, after maintaining that “the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol put a dagger at the throat of American democracy.”

Biden claimed that the American people “saw with their own eyes that these insurrectionists were not patriots,” that they had simply come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and overturn the will of the people at the ballot box. Thus, he argued that this fact, along with the “lies about the 2020 elections” and the “plots to steal” the elections “They posed “the most serious threat” to democracy American since the Civil War. “But they failed. The United States remained strong and democracy prevailed. But we must be honest, the threat persists and democracy must be defended,” he concluded.

Criticism of Trump… without mentioning him

Former President Donald Trump was another of Biden’s targets in his State of the Union address. Without being mentioned by name, the tycoon attracted criticism and warnings. Before the two chambers of Congress, with the Democratic bench supporting him with constant applause and ovations and the conservative bench reproaching and booing him, the president spoke for just over an hour to defend his management and, with it, criticize the danger that in his opinion his adversary might suppose. “Unlike my predecessor, I know who we are as Americans. “We are the only nation in the world with a heart and soul that emanates from the old and the new,” he said, making a plea for unity without demonizing immigration.

Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, are the two foreseeable candidates for the November presidential elections in the United States after sweeping the ‘Super Tuesday’ primaries, so the electoral confrontation between both experienced in the 2020 elections will be repeated, in a country polarized after the surprising triumph of the American tycoon in 2016. Since then, both candidacies have been marked by the advanced age of both and, above all , for the numerous judicial processes on Trump’s shoulders. In recent months, Biden’s management of the conflict in the Gaza Strip has brought him numerous internal criticisms.