European Union and United States leaders met in Washington Friday to show their united stance in supporting Israel's war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

"We stood together to support the brave people of Ukraine in the face of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's aggression. We're standing together now to support Israel in the wake of Hamas's appalling terrorist attack," US President Joe Biden said at the White House.

"These conflicts show democracies must stand together," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told reporters as she and European Council chief Charles Michel met Biden.

"Today, the world faces enormous challenges. And today, more than ever, the world needs a strong EU-US alliance to tackle these challenges," Michel said.

EU leaders were looking for reassurance of continued US support for Ukraine, which is fighting to repel the Russian invasion launched in February 2022.

That reassurance was evident Thursday when Biden urged Americans to back a $106 billion aid package including military assistance for Ukraine and Israel.

The US is by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine.

Aid to Israel and Ukraine, however, faces hurdle as the US Congress has been paralyzed for more than two weeks divided Republicans, who hold the majority in the House of Representatives, failed for a third time to elect a new House speaker.

Congress also faces a 17 November deadline to act on the budget, so as to avoid a possible government shutdown.

House crisis

In the 17 days since US House speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a rebellion by right-wing hard-liners from within his own party, no other Republican has been able to muster enough votes to replace him, sparking one of the worst institutional crises Washington has seen in decades.

The US legislature is unable to perform even basic functions like funding the government and addressing growing national security concerns.

The party dropped Ohio conservative Jim Jordan, chairman of the influential Judiciary Committee, in a secret ballot Friday after he again failed to secure victory on the House floor on his third attempt.

Despite backing from former president and leading 2024 Republican hopeful Donald Trump, Jordan was defeated by 25 colleagues from his own side who joined every Democrat to deny him the gavel for the third time in four days.

Lawmakers told reporters as they left Capitol Hill for the weekend they would hold a "candidate forum" to choose a new standard-bearer on Monday, with several hopefuls expected to be announced on Sunday.

WITH AFP