President Biden is giving a rare Oval Office address on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET to make the case that it is in Americans’ best interests to hike funding for Israel after the deadly Hamas attack — and funding for Ukraine, embroiled in its long fight against Russia.
The Oval Office backdrop is a signal of the gravity that Biden places on these national security matters. The speech — which is expected to last 15 to 20 minutes — is only the second time he has spoken to the nation from behind the Resolute Desk; the first was in June, after the debt ceiling crisis was averted.