Reporter Grills State Dept Spox On Israel-Hamas War: ‘When Will We See A Real Action By The U.S.?

4 months ago

During a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller answered reporter questions on the Israel-Hamas war.

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Transcript

00:00 >> Thank you.

00:04 Today marks the...

00:05 >> I finally got whatever it was in my throat out, so hopefully...

00:07 >> I'm glad.

00:08 >> Hopefully I can be...

00:09 >> You can borrow my bottle.

00:10 >> I don't know if I'll be any more clear in my answers, but hopefully I won't be choking

00:13 on them.

00:14 >> All right.

00:15 We'll take it from here on.

00:17 Today marks the 57th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank,

00:24 and Gaza.

00:25 And just to give you some of the things that happened on a daily basis, they blew up two

00:28 homes in Jelabon.

00:30 There's a statement by the U.N. saying that the killing of people in the West Bank is

00:37 unacceptable, 500 people, and so on and so on and so on.

00:40 I mean, my question to you, how long must the Palestinians endure?

00:45 Should they endure another 57 years of occupation?

00:48 Isn't it time for the United States of America to make good on its so many commitments, so

00:54 many times over the decades, that this occupation must end?

00:57 Or maybe you don't feel that this occupation has to end.

01:00 >> So, Saeed, if you look at the work that we have been doing, it is to establish an

01:04 independent Palestinian state, to answer the Palestinian people's legitimate political

01:08 aspirations.

01:09 One of the things you heard the president speak to on Friday when he outlined this ceasefire

01:14 proposal that is still pending with Hamas is that we want to resolve the immediate crisis

01:20 in Gaza.

01:21 We want to see an end to the death and destruction there.

01:24 But then we also believe that the acceptance of that proposal could lead us to long-term

01:30 peace, long-term stability, and of course, self-determination for the Palestinian people.

01:34 >> Well, you know, looking at what this president has done or former presidents have done in

01:40 terms of, you know, exercising or leveraging the weight and the prestige of the United

01:46 States on Israel to make good, to stop the settlement.

01:50 You have not.

01:51 To end the killing, you have not.

01:53 I mean, you know, we see this war that has been going on for the past eight months, which

01:58 is just a small part of the past 57 years.

02:02 It has already more than 40,000 Palestinians, maybe more, have been killed, many of them

02:08 women and children.

02:09 The entire Gaza is probably, you know, destroyed or parts of it is destroyed.

02:14 The same thing goes on and on every day in the West Bank, which, you know, seems to have

02:18 disappeared from the radar screen.

02:19 So that is my point.

02:21 When will we see a real action by the United States of America?

02:25 >> So if you want to talk about how we are going to use the influence of the United States

02:29 and the prestige of the United States, you have seen it over the past few days in working

02:33 with Egypt and Qatar to negotiate a proposal that Israel put on the table to achieve an

02:38 immediate ceasefire that we would work to try to turn into long-term, lasting peace.

02:43 And I would note, as I did yesterday when you asked similar questions and as I did the

02:47 day before when you asked similar questions, the obstacle to that proposal getting off

02:51 the ground right now is not Israel, it's not the United States, it's not any of the countries

02:55 in the region, it is Hamas.

02:57 I would also point you to the work that we have been doing with the government of Saudi

03:01 Arabia and with our other Arab partners to try to find long-term normalization of relations

03:06 with Israel.

03:07 And one of the things that would be included in normalization is a pathway to an independent

03:11 Palestinian state.

03:12 The United States has been actively engaged in this question, not just speaking to it

03:16 from podiums, not just giving speeches about it, but actively engaged with partners in

03:20 the region to try to establish an independent Palestinian state, to try to take all the

03:25 carnage of the past eight months, all the death of the past eight months, and to come

03:30 out of that with real, tangible progress to answer the Palestinians' legitimate hopes

03:34 and aspirations.

03:35 And one last comment.

03:37 We also see that the president of the United States yesterday, this administration signing

03:42 a deal with Israel to give it one more wing of F-35 that have been solely used in Gaza

03:48 and nowhere else, you know, giving $15 billion of arms and so on for this war to continue.

03:53 We've seen the president basically say that Mr. Netanyahu wants this war to continue for

04:00 political reasons, and then he backstrikes and so on.

04:02 I don't think these signals would in any way, you know, sort of show the red eye, or

04:09 as we say in Arabic, or show the stick, so to speak, to the Israeli government to end

04:14 its atrocities in Gaza.

04:15 So a couple of things.

04:17 First of all, when it comes to Israel's long-term security, and when you referred to this negotiation

04:22 over providing F-35s, that is a commitment to Israel's long-term security.

04:26 These are planes that would be delivered four years from now, in 2028.

04:30 We are committed to maintaining Israel's qualitative military edge in the region.

04:34 That's something we're required to do by law, and it's something we support, and something

04:37 that we will continue to do.

04:39 That said, we also are pursuing to an end to the conflict in Gaza.

04:44 And as I said, despite the premise of your question, it is not Israel that is the roadblock

04:51 to a ceasefire right now.

04:52 It is not Israel that is a roadblock to hostages being returned.

04:58 Six hundred trucks a day of humanitarian assistance coming in, Palestinians being able to return,

05:03 safely return to their neighborhoods, and eventually get to the reconstruction of Gaza.

05:07 It is Hamas.

05:08 All that is on the table in a proposal that is sitting with Hamas, as it has been sitting

05:11 with Hamas for six days now.

05:14 And we await their answer.

Reporter Grills State Dept Spox On Israel-Hamas War: ‘When Will We See A Real Action By The U.S.?

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