Biden makes a final speech on foreign policy while ceasefire negotiations continue in the Gaza Strip Joe Biden news

Washington, DC – US President Joe Biden made a loud speech defending the foreign policy of his administration a few days before the inauguration of the newly elected President Donald Trump.

Monday’s State Department address served as a coda to Biden’s four-year tenure. He promised to restore the leadership of the United States on the global stage, to conduct a foreign policy based on human rights and rallying alliances.

“We are at a turning point. The post-Cold War era is over. A new era has begun,” Biden said in his speech.

“During these four years, we have faced crises that we have experienced. In my opinion, we passed these tests stronger than when we entered them.

However, critics have given his administration poor marks in a number of areas, particularly with regard to US support Israel’s war against Gaza.

Still, the outgoing president tried to send a message home: The United States is stronger and its enemies weaker than before he entered the White House.

“New challenges will emerge in the years and months ahead, but nevertheless, it is clear that my administration has left the next administration with a very strong hand to play,” Biden said.

“We leave them with an America with more friends and stronger alliances, with weaker adversaries and under pressure—an America that leads again, unites countries, sets the agenda, and rallies others behind our plans and visions.”

Biden spoke on January 20, just 7 days before Trump’s inauguration.

The president-elect condemned Biden’s foreign policy during the election campaign, accusing the Democrat of weakening the US’s position abroad and allowing wars to escalate in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Biden presented a different picture on Monday. According to him, his leadership has strengthened the technological, economic and strategic position of the United States against the competing world power China.

The Democrat also praised his administration’s role in bringing together NATO support for Ukraine, Since February 2022, it has faced a full-scale occupation by Russia.

He also advocated a chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, fulfilling the Trump-era deal with the Taliban. The withdrawal ended two decades of US presence in the country.

“When I took office, I had a choice. In the end, I saw no reason to keep thousands of troops in Afghanistan,” Biden said.

“By ending the war, we have been able to focus our energies and resources on more urgent challenges.”

He added that he is “the first president in decades not to leave the war in Afghanistan to his successor.”

“Positive Turn”

Israel’s war against Gaza perhaps the loudest from Biden’s speech. He called the head of the country “War criminal!” was greeted by shouting protesters.

Critics argue that Washington’s continued military aid to Israel is tantamount to supporting atrocities abroad.

United Nations experts estimate that 46,584 Palestinians have been killed since the war began in October 2023. warning that Israel’s actions in the Palestinian enclave are “consistent with genocide”.

The United States gave Israel a record $17.9 billion in military aid in the first year of the war and has so far refused to use continued funding to end the war.

Experts say Biden’s “unwavering” support for Israel will be a permanent scar on his legacy.

Still, in his speech on Monday, the US president focused on the cease-fire plan that his administration led the UN Security Council approved in June.

A final deal between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas remains elusive. Still, Biden spoke hopefully of the latest diplomatic turmoil.

“We are on the verge of finally implementing a proposal that I put forward months ago,” Biden said.

He added that he recently spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and will soon speak with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is the mediator.

“I’ve learned over many years of public service to never, never, never, never give up,” Biden said. “So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. The Palestinian people deserve peace.”

In response to the speech, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara said Biden was trying to “make a positive impact on a lot of things that are clearly incredibly negative.”

The latest round of talks is “eight months too late,” Bishara said.

He described this period as “eight months of procrastination by the Netanyahu government and the complicity of this administration.”

“Diplomatic and geopolitical opportunities”

All told, Biden’s speech represented a full-circle moment in US politics.

Entering the White House in 2021, Biden promised that Trump’s first term would be a counterpoint to his isolationist and pro-mercurial foreign policy platform.

Leaving in 2025, he appealed to the incoming second Trump administration not to return to the policies of the past.

He highlighted his efforts to combat climate change, including rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, an international agreement to limit carbon emissions.

Trump previously withdrew from the deal in 2020. As he approaches his second term, he is expected to do so again as part of his incoming administration’s broader pledge to deregulate the US energy sector. Biden dealt a blow to those plans in his speech on Monday.

“I know some in the incoming administration are skeptical of the need for clean energy. They don’t even believe that climate change is real,” he said.

“I think they came from another century. They are wrong. They are dead wrong. It is the single greatest existential threat to humanity.”

Biden also sought to create another contrast with Trump by touting US alliances.

“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger. Our alliances are stronger. Our rivals and competitors are weaker. We did not go to war for these events to happen,” said Biden.

“We have increased our diplomatic power, and the United States has created more allies than ever before in the history of our nation.”

His statements overshadowed Trump’s recent comments. While Biden touted “enhanced partnerships across America,” Trump vowed to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada and Mexico. He also called for Panama to take control of the Panama Canal.

Biden also praised renewed alliances in the Indo-Pacific region, including with regional allies such as Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. And Biden used his speech to emphasize the importance of the NATO alliance, even as Trump repeatedly raised the possibility of withdrawal.

“The United States must take full advantage of the diplomatic and geopolitical opportunities we have created,” Biden said.

He advised the United States to “continue to bring countries together to overcome the challenges posed by China, ensure an end to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war, and ultimately seize the new moment for a more stable, integrated Middle East.”