JUST IN: State Sec Blinken Holds Joint Press Briefing With NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a joint press briefing with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Well, good morning, everyone.
00:06In just a few weeks' time, we'll gather here in Washington for NATO's 75th summit,
00:13celebrating 75 years of strength, of unity, of growth, of innovation in our alliance,
00:20but also, critically, looking forward to make sure that NATO is fit for purpose for the
00:26challenges of today and the challenges tomorrow, making sure that this alliance continues to
00:33do what it's done so effectively for the last 75 years, and that's protect our people.
00:38And I think it's an opportunity as well to remind all of our citizens about the power
00:45of collective defense, the power of collective defense as the best way to prevent conflict,
00:52to deter aggression, to avoid war, because at the heart of NATO is a commitment from
00:58each ally to come to the defense of any other ally that may be the victim of aggression.
01:04And that means that a would-be aggressor, considering taking action, knows that if they
01:09pick a fight with one, they pick a fight with all.
01:13And that is the most effective, powerful way to do what we all want to do, which is to
01:18prevent war from occurring in the first place.
01:19So these investments that we're making in our defensive alliance are the best possible
01:24investments we can make in preventing conflict, avoiding conflict, deterring aggression.
01:31Secretary General and I were together in Prague with all of our allies just a couple of weeks
01:35ago, working through the key decisions ahead of the July summit.
01:39And of course, critically, the Secretary General was here with President Biden yesterday, working
01:45to help finalize these details and very important ones.
01:50We continue that conversation today.
01:52We have very ambitious commitments that we're making as an alliance going forward.
01:57We're demonstrating our enduring support for Ukraine and providing a strong bridge to Ukraine's
02:02membership in the alliance.
02:04We're establishing a NATO command in Wiesbaden, coordinating training, security assistance,
02:10equipment, its transfer, its repair, its maintenance.
02:14We're strengthening our collective deterrence and defense.
02:17We're implementing the robust plans that allies agreed to, the most robust plans for defense
02:23and deterrence since the end of the Cold War, meeting the long-term challenge that Russia
02:26poses to the transatlantic alliance and to security.
02:30We're growing our defense industrial bases to make sure that all of our countries can
02:33effectively produce what's needed for our defense.
02:38And critically – and you heard President Biden and the Secretary General address this
02:42yesterday – we are boosting our burden sharing, making sure that every ally is standing
02:47up and carrying the weight of our collective defense.
02:50As the Secretary General announced yesterday, 23 allies – 23 allies out of the 32 – now
02:58meet the 2 percent target, the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defense, a target established
03:02in 2014 at the Wales Summit when President Biden took office in 2021.
03:10Nine allies were meeting that mark.
03:12Now it is 23.
03:14And we've also seen, as the Secretary General said yesterday, an 18 percent increase in
03:19defense spending across the alliance.
03:21That's the largest in a decade.
03:23And it is necessary to meet the challenges of this time.
03:27We're also making sure that our alliance is strengthening partnerships with other countries,
03:32including countries out of the transatlantic area, particularly deepening coordination,
03:37deepening cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific who will be present at the summit,
03:41as well as within the transatlantic community with the European Union, a critical partner
03:46for all of us.
03:48The alliance recognizes that security challenges in one part of the world impact another, and
03:56vice versa.
03:57So what's happening in the transatlantic space has real consequences and implications
04:02for the Indo-Pacific and other areas, just as what's happening in the Indo-Pacific
04:05space has real implications for our own alliance.
04:08And there's a recognition of that, and that recognition is turning into concrete and strong
04:14partnerships.
04:15Prime Minister Kishida may have said this best in the context of Ukraine, when he said
04:19what's happening in Ukraine today may well be happening in East Asia tomorrow.
04:26We're also adapting and building resilience to emerging threats, and this is also something
04:30that you'll see underscored at the summit.
04:33There are hybrid attacks and threats as well as other challenges to security that we've
04:39seen manifest themselves in different ways in recent years, including things like pandemics.
04:44NATO has to be fit for purpose to deal with all of these.
04:49Two other points I want to make quickly before turning it over to the Secretary General.
04:52I mentioned already that the summit will focus on bolstering Ukraine's long-term success.
05:00From day one, as the battlefield has evolved, so too has our support for Ukraine.
05:04Partners, the alliance, the United States have all adapted and helped Ukraine deal with
05:10what it had to deal with in terms of warding off this Russian aggression.
05:13Now, thanks to the supplemental, which passed Congress after many months – but it did
05:19pass and it passed with overwhelming bipartisan support – we've now been working these
05:23recent weeks to speed all of that assistance to the frontlines, to make sure that Ukrainians
05:28have what they needed in hand to deal with the ongoing Russian aggression.
05:31And we've seen, I think, that be very effective in terms of stabilizing the frontlines and
05:37making sure that the Russians could be stopped in their offensive.
05:42It's making a big difference.
05:44Of course, as we've said all along, what makes the biggest difference is the extraordinary
05:47courage and resilience of Ukrainians themselves, both in dealing with the challenges in Kharkiv
05:51and in the east, but also taking the fight as necessary to Russia in Crimea as well as
05:56in the Black Sea.
05:59The bilateral assistance agreement that the United States signed just a few days ago,
06:04President Biden and President Zelenskyy, that marks now the, I think, 17th bilateral security
06:10agreement that's been signed since President Biden announced this initiative on the margins
06:14of the G7 a year ago.
06:16And by the time of the summit, we expect that – the NATO summit – we expect that some
06:2020 countries, and maybe more, will have concluded their bilateral security agreements with Ukraine.
06:25This is proof, clear proof, that all of our countries are with Ukraine for the long haul
06:34and that if Mr. Putin is counting on outlasting Ukraine or outlasting any of us, he is misguided.
06:42He's wrong.
06:44And again, I think you'll see at the summit further emphasis on that.
06:48We're also, as necessary, imposing new sanctions on Russia to keep the pressure up so that
06:55the aggression ultimately ends.
06:58And among other things, we're looking at countries that are supporting Russia's defense
07:03industrial base, which is allowing Russia to continue the war, including China.
07:07As President Biden has made clear, we have a real concern not with weapons being supplied
07:13by China to Russia – that's not what they're doing.
07:15What they are doing, as you've heard me discuss many times, is providing critical
07:20support to Russia's defense industrial base.
07:23Some 70 percent of the machine tools that Russia's importing are coming from China.
07:27Ninety percent of the microelectronics coming from China.
07:30And that has enabled Russia to keep that defense industrial base going, to keep the war machine
07:34going, to keep the war going.
07:37So that has to stop.
07:41We as well are doing everything we can to provide the necessary support to Ukraine beyond
07:48the supplemental.
07:50You saw partners come together across the G7 and beyond to be able to use effectively
07:55some of the Russian sovereign assets that are primarily in Europe and that now are being
08:00leveraged to provide some $50 billion to Ukraine in additional assistance, and we'll continue
08:05to look at that.
08:07We had a very effective recovery conference just a few days ago as well, looking at other
08:11forms of enduring support for Ukraine, including in the energy sector.
08:15The bottom line is this.
08:18The Ukraine strategy that we've had and that we've been acting on individually and collectively
08:24now for nearly two and a half years is showing effective results.
08:29Effective results in making sure that Ukraine can ward off Russian aggression, and it's
08:34done that remarkably.
08:36Keep in mind, Putin's objective from day one was to erase Ukraine from the map, to end
08:39its existence as an independent country, to subsume it into Russia.
08:43That has failed.
08:45But going forward, we want to make sure that Ukraine is a success, that it stands strongly
08:53on its own feet militarily, economically, democratically.
08:57And that's exactly what we're enabling Ukraine to do, and that is the mark of success going
09:02forward.
09:03Again, decisions that will be made at the summit will further that effort, and more
09:08to be said in a few weeks' time.
09:13Heading into the 75th summit, we have an alliance that is stronger, that is bigger, that is
09:20more fit for purpose than at any time in recent years.
09:25That's thanks to the effort that every ally has made, the commitments that every ally
09:28has made.
09:29But it's also fundamentally thanks to the leadership of one individual, and that is
09:34the person standing beside me, the Secretary General of NATO for this past decade, Jens
09:39Stoltenberg.
09:40Jens, you have led the alliance at a time of historic change, historic challenge, and
09:48the results are there for everyone to see.
09:51This would not have happened without your leadership, and it's truly been extraordinary.
09:57Now, some of you know that the Secretary General is particularly fond of numbers, likes to
10:03recite them.
10:05I understand that you even told one interviewer that if you could bring just one book to a
10:09desert island, it would be a book on statistics.
10:15I have some things I could say about that that I won't, but let's just remind a few
10:21numbers, a few statistics, because they do show what's happened over this remarkable
10:24decade of the Secretary General's leadership.
10:27Four new allies in our alliance – North Macedonia, Montenegro, Finland, Sweden – multinational
10:33battle groups in eight countries, enhancing NATO's forward defense posture.
10:40Seventy-five percent of the citizens in Allied nations say that NATO is important to their
10:47security.
10:49These numbers speak powerfully for themselves.
10:52At every step, the Secretary General has set the tone, he's built consensus among the
10:5732 countries.
10:59His vision, his achievements will pay dividends for this alliance far into the future.
11:05So Jens' contributions ultimately can't be fully quantified, but neither can the gratitude
11:12of the United States and all of our allies.
11:14To you, Mr. Secretary General.
11:16Thank you.
11:17SECRETARY GENERAL STOLTENBERG Secretary Blinken, dear Tony, thank you for
11:21your kind words and thank you for your support throughout these years in different ways.
11:29Thank you also for your very strong commitment to NATO, to our transatlantic alliance, and
11:35let me also thank you for your tireless efforts to end the suffering in the Middle East.
11:43NATO was founded in Washington 75 years ago.
11:47Since then, the alliance has been the ultimate security guarantee for all our members.
11:53Standing together, we prevent war and preserve peace.
11:58In NATO, the U.S. has 31 friends and allies.
12:03Together, Allies represent half of the world's economic and half of the world's military
12:09might, advancing U.S. interests and multiplying America's power.
12:17NATO makes America stronger.
12:20Yesterday, as you mentioned, Secretary Blinken, with President Biden, I announced that NATO
12:27Allies are making major increases in defense spending.
12:32This year, defense spending across Europe and Canada is up 18 percent, the biggest increase
12:39in decades.
12:41Twenty-three Allies will meet the target of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense.
12:50This is more than twice as many as just four years ago.
12:55Since 2014, Europe and Canada have added over 640 billion extra in defense spending.
13:06This demonstrates a historic improvement in burden-sharing within NATO.
13:12It shows that the United States does not need to shoulder the burden alone.
13:18And that the U.S. has a strong alliance in which Allies are stepping up year after year.
13:24And much of this increased defense spending is spent right here in the United States.
13:32Over the past two years, European Allies have signed contracts with American companies worth
13:37140 billion U.S. dollars.
13:43Since 2014, NATO has undergone the most significant transformation in our collective defense in
13:49a generation.
13:50We have put in place the most comprehensive defense plans since the Cold War.
13:57We have 500,000 troops at high readiness.
14:01And we have doubled the number of battlegroups in the eastern part of the Alliance.
14:05And with Sweden and Finland as members, we are stronger than ever.
14:11Russia's war on Ukraine is a brutal assault on a peaceful, democratic nation.
14:18This war is propped up by China, North Korea, and Iran.
14:24They want to see the United States fail.
14:28They want to see NATO fail.
14:30If they succeed in Ukraine, it will make us more vulnerable and the world more dangerous.
14:37So our support to Ukraine is not charity.
14:41It is in our own security interest.
14:47We all want this war to end.
14:51But the Russian occupation of Ukraine offers no peace.
14:55And capitulation to Putin offers no security.
14:59The stronger our support, the sooner the war will end.
15:05Which is why I welcome the 10-year bilateral security agreement between the United States
15:10and Ukraine.
15:13Europe is also doing its part, matching U.S. efforts in Ukraine.
15:18And at the NATO Summit this July, here in Washington, I expect European Allies and
15:24Canada to come forward with more financial and military support.
15:29And that leaders will agree that NATO takes the lead in coordinating the security assistance
15:34and training for Ukraine.
15:37All of this will reduce the burden on the United States.
15:42Secretary Blinken, I thank you and the U.S. for hosting the Summit, which we all are looking
15:49forward to attend.
15:51At the Summit, we will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the most successful Alliance
15:56in history, but also make important decisions for the future.
16:02Thank you.
16:03MODERATOR The first question goes to Humeyra Pamuk with Reuters.
16:08QUESTION Thank you, Matt.
16:10Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary General, I'm very glad you like numbers.
16:13I have a number of questions in true Washington fashion, multi-part questions that Secretary
16:20Blinken is particularly fond of.
16:21SECRETARY GENERAL LINDSEY GILMORE Number one is a very good number.
16:23QUESTION Let me start with Gaza, and I'll turn to NATO.
16:28Mr. Secretary, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted about an hour ago, conveniently
16:33timed for this press conference, a video talking about U.S. pause on some weapons to
16:38Israel and said you assured him last week that U.S. is working to remove those bottlenecks.
16:44Is this an accurate characterization of what you told him?
16:48If not, what did you tell him?
16:50Will the U.S. remove its holds on these bombs?
16:54And finally, have the ceasefire negotiators made any progress since last week?
16:59Are you more or less optimistic today about the prospects of a deal?
17:04Let me turn to both of you.
17:06Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to North Korea a first in 24 years, and the
17:11partnership of Russia, China, and North Korea seems to be solidifying and emerging as a
17:16front against West's rules-based order.
17:19How concerned are you about this partnership?
17:22Mr. Secretary General, particularly for you, do you see a collective NATO role to contain
17:27this emerging front?
17:29And back to both of you again, what specifics do you have on how much North Korea is contributing
17:34to Russia's war machine?
17:36And what is your understanding that – what Moscow is giving Pyongyang in return?
17:43Thank you.
17:44Thanks, Tamara.
17:45So, on the questions regarding Israel and Gaza, first, it's very important to remember
17:53that our security relationship with Israel goes well beyond Gaza.
17:58Israel is facing a multiplicity of threats and challenges, including in the north from
18:02Hezbollah, from Iran, from the Houthis in the Red Sea, from various groups that are
18:09aligned against Israel and, in many cases, beholden to Iran.
18:15So the President's been very clear from day one that he will do everything he can
18:19to make sure that Israel has what it needs to effectively defend itself against these
18:24threats.
18:25And a big part of that as well is making sure that in providing that assistance to Israel,
18:33it has a strong deterrent, which is the best way to avoid more conflict, to avoid more
18:38war, to avoid what we're already seeing in Gaza spreading to other areas, to other
18:43fronts.
18:44That's been one of our objectives from day one.
18:47So we're committed to that.
18:49We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked
18:58about with regard to 2,000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely
19:04populated area.
19:06Like Rafah, that remains other – under review.
19:09But everything else is moving as it normally would move, and again, with the perspective
19:14of making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against this multiplicity
19:19of challenges.
19:20With regard to the ceasefire negotiations – and you heard me talk about this at length
19:25during our trip – I'll just remind everyone once again that the entire world came together
19:31behind the proposal that President Biden laid out a few weeks ago, the entire world with
19:35one exception, and that was Hamas.
19:38Hamas came back with – after everyone else had said yes, including Israel, reconfirmed
19:44to me by Prime Minister Netanyahu when I was in Israel, Hamas came back with new conditions,
19:49new demands, including demands and conditions that actually went beyond what it had already
19:56previously accepted.
19:57So we're working to see if we can bridge the gaps that Hamas has now created by not
20:03saying yes to the proposal that everyone else had agreed to, that was endorsed by the United
20:07Nations Security Council, countries around the world.
20:10And we have the negotiators, the mediators – Egypt, Qatar in particular – working
20:15on this to see if we can bridge the gap.
20:19As I've said before, and I'll repeat again based on what we've seen in the – in recent
20:26days, I believe that the gaps are bridgeable, but that doesn't mean they will be bridged,
20:30because ultimately Hamas has to decide, and it could decide again to continue to move
20:37the goalposts, to move the line out.
20:40If it continues to do that, the net result will be that people will continue to suffer
20:46horrifically every single day.
20:49And you have to question whether one individual living, we believe, hundreds of feet underground,
20:56relatively safe, is putting his own interests and his own views ahead of the interests,
21:04the needs of the people that he purports to represent.
21:07There could be a ceasefire right now if they had said yes a week ago.
21:13So we'll continue to work this with urgency, with determination, to see if we can bridge
21:18the gap.
21:19But I can't tell you with conviction that we will, because again, you have Hamas that
21:24continues to move the line.
21:26With regard to Mr. Putin and his travels to North Korea, look, we've seen, as you've
21:31said, Russia try in desperation to develop and to strengthen relations with countries
21:37that can provide it with what it needs to continue the war of aggression that it started
21:41against Ukraine.
21:42And you heard the Secretary General just reference this.
21:45North Korea is providing significant munitions to Russia and other weapons for use in Ukraine.
21:54Iran has been providing weaponry, including drones, that have been used against civilians
21:58and civilian infrastructure.
22:00And as I mentioned a moment ago, the deep concerns we have about China, not in terms
22:04of providing weapons, but in providing what Russia needs to keep its defense industrial
22:09base going and to produce itself more tanks, more munitions, more missiles – yes, these
22:14are the countries of concern.
22:17And with regard to China in particular, as I've said before, it can't on the one
22:22hand say that it wants better relations with countries in Europe while at the same time
22:26fueling the biggest security threat to Europe as a whole since the end of the Cold War.
22:31And the President heard that himself – President Biden heard that himself from our European
22:35partners who were part of the G7 just last week.
22:39So we are very much concerned about this because this is what's keeping the war going.
22:44And the fastest way to end the war is for Putin to be disabused of the notion that he
22:50can outlast Ukraine and outlast all of Ukraine's supporters.
22:53But also if he knows that the fuel he needs for his war machine won't be there anymore.
23:01So if China in particular, which professes to have a strong interest in ending the war,
23:06if it really means it, it will stop fueling the war machine and will continue to do everything
23:11we can to cut off the support that countries like Iran and North Korea are providing.
23:18I very much agree with what Secretary Blinken just stated.
23:24Putin's visits to North Korea demonstrates and confirms the very close alignment between
23:31Russia and authoritarian states like North Korea, but also China and Iran.
23:39And this also demonstrates that our security is not regional, it's global.
23:44What happens in Europe matters for Asia, and what happens in Asia matters for us.
23:49And this is clearly demonstrated in Ukraine, where Iran, North Korea, China are propping
23:57up, fueling Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
24:02So this idea that we can divide security into regional theaters doesn't work anymore.
24:08We are, everything is intertwined and therefore we need to address these challenges together.
24:16We are of course also concerned about the potential support that Russia provides to
24:25North Korea when it comes to supporting their missile and nuclear programs.
24:32We see how much military support Russia gets from North Korea, but also from Iran, and
24:40how China is propping up their war economy.
24:43And this is also one of the reasons why at NATO, and at the NATO Summit here in Washington
24:49next month, we will further strengthen our partnership with our partners in the Asia
24:55Pacific region, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Japan, also to address the fact
25:00that the challenges they see, we see in Asia, in Asia Pacific, are directly linked to the
25:08challenges we face in Europe.
25:11And let me also say that I also fully agree that China cannot have it both ways.
25:17They cannot continue to have normal trade relationships with countries in Europe, and
25:21at the same time fuel the biggest war we have seen in Europe since the Second World War.
25:29So at some stage, this has to have consequences for China.
25:32Hele Svensson with Netavizan.
25:35Thank you.
25:36My question also goes to both of you.
25:40Norway today still has a continued fishing cooperation with Russia.
25:45I am wondering how we should approach this moving forward, and if there are, or if you
25:51are concerned, or we should be concerned about them taking advantage of this cooperation
25:56relationship in light of Russian intelligence?
25:59So which country?
26:01Norway.
26:02Norway.
26:03Fishing cooperation.
26:04Sorry, I know Norway.
26:05No, first of all, I'm not speaking on behalf of Norway, but what I can say is that I expect
26:11all Allies to fully implement the sanctions we have agreed within the EU framework and
26:21also individual Allies have imposed.
26:23And beyond that, I leave it to Norway to comment on how they implement the sanctions.
26:28Yeah, and I agree with the Secretary General.
26:30Thank you.
26:31Tom Aitken with BBC.
26:36Thank you very much.
26:37I'd like to start with Mr. Secretary General.
26:40We heard the Secretary of State talk about hybrid attacks against NATO front-line countries,
26:45an issue he's talked about before, particularly in Prague.
26:50And a view that NATO would respond collectively as is appropriate.
26:57What does that response look like?
26:58Perhaps you can elaborate on whether there is a response already, or is this something
27:02that you think should take place in the future?
27:07Do you retaliate or try and create deterrence?
27:09I'm just interested in how that happens, and is there evidence that such action can create
27:16deterrence?
27:17And Mr. Secretary of State, Amos Hochstein has been in the region over the last few days
27:22in the Middle East.
27:24Can you report any progress on de-escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah?
27:30And on Gaza, an investigation by the Associated Press this week identified 60 Palestinian
27:35families in which at least 25 members have been killed, some of them involving four generations
27:41of the same family, many with more than 50 family members killed, and in one, 173 family
27:48members were killed.
27:50And I'm interested to understand that for Palestinians who hear what you say about a
27:55continuing conflict for just cause, but to them, this feels like a war that seeks to
28:02destroy Palestinian society, what do you say to those people?
28:06How do you reconcile those views and those positions?
28:09Thank you.
28:11On the Russian hybrid actions against NATO Allies in Europe, let me say that what we
28:24have seen over the last weeks and months is a surge in hostile actions by Russia against
28:33NATO Allies.
28:34That includes sabotage, arson attempts, cyber attacks, and also trying to use migration
28:42as a tool to coerce NATO Allies.
28:46And we need to react to this in a calm and measured way, but at the same time to take
28:53it very seriously.
28:55And that's also why NATO Allies have agreed response options that Allies can take both
29:03individually and collectively.
29:06On the NATO level, this is about increasing awareness, sharing intelligence, making Allies
29:13aware that this is not individual, not linked instance, but this is actually a pattern of
29:20Russian behavior over some time, and I welcome also the U.S. sharing a lot of intelligence
29:26on these actions with other NATO Allies.
29:29Then it is about protecting our critical infrastructure, including undersea and cyber
29:35infrastructure, and we have taken several steps to increase the protection of critical
29:41infrastructure.
29:42And then, of course, many of these actions are met by individual actions in the individual
29:53member states.
29:54So there have been several arrests across the Alliance in the United Kingdom, in Poland,
30:00in Germany, in the Baltic countries.
30:02We have seen those behind these sabotage actions being arrested, and there are legal processes
30:10going on.
30:11So there is a mix of collective action by NATO and individual Allies taking the necessary
30:19legal steps to protect us against this Russian behavior.
30:25On Lebanon.
30:27So as I mentioned earlier, one of our objectives from day one, since October 7th, has been
30:31to prevent this conflict from spreading, including in the north.
30:37And as you mentioned, Thomas Hockstein is in Lebanon, in the region, working on this.
30:43We've all collectively been working on this for many months and intensely, again, in recent
30:49weeks.
30:50No one wants escalation.
30:51No one wants to see the conflict spread.
30:53And one of the paradoxes I think we have in this moment is I don't think any of the potential
30:59belligerents actually want to see a war or conflict spread.
31:03I don't believe Israel does.
31:04I don't believe Hezbollah does.
31:06Lebanon certainly doesn't, because it would suffer the most.
31:09I don't believe that Iran does.
31:11And yet you have momentum potentially in that direction, because with the back and
31:19forth that goes on every day, there is always the possibility of miscalculation, of one
31:25side not fully seeing what the other is doing.
31:28And it's very important to do everything we can to arrest that and to find a diplomatic
31:34resolution to the challenge that exists for Israel as well as for Lebanon.
31:40In Israel, there are something like 60,000 or 70,000 Israelis who have been forced from
31:44their homes.
31:45They've basically depopulated a big part of northern Israel because of the threat from
31:49Hezbollah, because of Hezbollah launching rockets into Israel and making life impossible.
31:54There are many Lebanese in southern Lebanon who are also not able to live in their homes
32:00and live in their towns.
32:01So we're working diplomatically to find a resolution to this so that people on both
32:07sides of the line have the confidence to be able to live in their homes and go back
32:14to their – where they live.
32:18Now here again, so much of this comes back to the ceasefire.
32:23The most immediate way to empower our diplomacy and to be able to reach an agreement that
32:29allows people to return to their homes and live in security would be through a ceasefire
32:34in Gaza, because Hezbollah has tied the actions that it's committing against Israel to Gaza.
32:42So if we get that ceasefire, I think that will make it more likely that we can find
32:48a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in the north.
32:53With regard to Palestinian families that you discussed, on a human level, the suffering
33:07of little children, men, women, is horrific, and we see it every single day.
33:21People who are caught in a crossfire Hamas is making as a result of a war that Hamas
33:27started are suffering every single day.
33:32And for all of us, this is a profoundly human tragedy.
33:39I've met with Palestinian Americans who've lost multiple members of their own families
33:46in Gaza, who shared with me the pictures of a little niece, a little nephew, a brother,
33:54a sister, a parent, a grandparent, who's been killed in the months since October 7th.
34:02And it's profoundly motivating in the wake of this suffering to want to do everything
34:12we possibly can to bring this to an end.
34:16The fastest way to do that – and this has been the case now for weeks, for months – is
34:21through the ceasefire that we've been working to achieve.
34:24And the biggest obstacle to achieving that ceasefire, again, remains Hamas and remains
34:30the decisions of perhaps one man, who is, we believe, hundreds of feet underground in
34:36relative safety, while the people he purports to represent are suffering every single day.
34:42So we have to, all of us, put the interests of these many, many innocent families and
34:52people first and foremost, and that means that Israel has to do more, continue to do
34:57much more to protect civilians, to make sure that they get the assistance they need.
35:05But it first and foremost means that Hamas has to make a decision.
35:10Is it actually looking out for the interests of Palestinian people?
35:15Is it looking out for its own interests at the expense of the interests of Palestinians
35:20who are suffering every single minute in Gaza?
35:23The fastest way to bring this to a conclusion tomorrow is through this ceasefire.
35:29That's what we're looking to achieve.
35:32Can I just follow up just on the point about the crossfire?
35:35Because many of these deaths were in terrorist groups, and by definition, there are no – there
35:40is no Palestinian evidence saying this is not a crossfire.
35:44And you haven't heard the exact description before, so I just wanted to clarify.
35:48Yeah.
35:49Look, on that, again, we've been on this as well from day one in trying to press Israel
35:58to do everything it can to avoid civilian casualties, to put a greater premium on civilian
36:04protection.
36:05And, yes, we see that – we see this too.
36:10It's – without justifying any particular airstrike, and certainly we've ourselves
36:19reported as a government, as the State Department, on numerous incidents where civilians have
36:24been killed or grievously injured, including through airstrikes.
36:30But as we've also said, this terrain is extraordinarily difficult, maybe uniquely
36:36difficult, because, again, you have Hamas that not only is hiding deep underground in
36:42tunnels while the people it purports to represent are not, it's also hiding in apartment buildings,
36:49schools, using those as places to plot, to plan, to protect itself.
36:56But that means also that it's endangering thousands, tens of thousands of children,
37:04women, and men.
37:07It launched this war on November 7th.
37:10It conducts it in a way by retreating to places where it's hiding behind civilians that
37:15further endanger civilians.
37:17And it has not made the decisions necessary to stop it, which it could do right now.
37:22MODERATOR The final question goes to Anders Spygaard
37:25with NRT.
37:26Thank you.
37:27QUESTION Mr. Secretary, how do you – how can Ukraine
37:33trust your words of support when the recent bilateral agreement can be canceled with a
37:40six-month's notice?
37:43And how confident are you that you will not need to ask Mr. Stoltenberg to extend his
37:50term as Secretary General?
37:53And I didn't quite hear your answer to my colleague's question here on Israel.
37:58Is Netanyahu's – Prime Minister Netanyahu's characterization, is it true, what he said
38:05about – that you – what you assured him last week?
38:10Mr. Secretary General, China can't have it both ways.
38:16What kind of consequences should China – should be on China?
38:23And you want to secure the long-term help to Ukraine.
38:31You have been talking about a fund, if I understand it correctly.
38:34The alliance has been lukewarm to an aid fund.
38:38What's your next step there?
38:41And if you soon get to read some more statistical books, what can you say about your possible
38:48successor?
38:49Thank you.
38:50SECRETARY BLINKEN Thank you.
38:51With regard to the bilateral security agreements, first, it's important to note that the United
38:56States signed our agreement last week.
38:58President Biden and President Zelensky signed it together.
39:00But we are not alone.
39:03Dozens of countries have either concluded or will conclude bilateral security agreements
39:08with Ukraine, each of which basically says the same thing, that we're committed individually,
39:15as well as through the work that will be formalized at the NATO summit, to supporting Ukraine
39:20in building a deterrent force for the future that can ward off aggression and, as necessary,
39:27deal with it.
39:28And each of these agreements is projected over a decade to, again, send a very strong
39:34message that each of us is in this for the long haul.
39:38And that is the determination and commitment of the United States.
39:41I think the fact that ultimately the Supplemental Funding Bill passed with overwhelming bipartisan
39:46support in both houses of Congress, again, is indicative of the depth and strength of
39:52that support in the United States.
39:54And polling continues to show strong support in the United States for helping Ukraine,
39:59making sure that it can stand on its own feet effectively, because that's what this is about.
40:04Any international agreement of one kind or another always has a mechanism in it for one
40:09of the parties to pull out of that agreement.
40:12That's a standard operating fair in any of these agreements.
40:16But I think everything that we've seen, not just from the United States but from so many
40:21other countries, is an enduring commitment to Ukraine and making sure that it can stand
40:25strongly on its own feet.
40:27And I do not expect that to change.
40:30With regard to the Secretary General, look, I think many of us wish on one level that
40:37this was a lifetime appointment because of – but I don't think the Secretary General
40:42feels that way.
40:43And I'm confident, very confident, that the alliance will come strongly together behind
40:48a new Secretary General, and that when the current Secretary General – Secretary General
40:53Stoltenberg's term ends this fall, there will be a very strong Secretary General in
40:59place to pick up the baton and carry the extraordinary work that this Secretary General has done
41:05forward into the future for the alliance.
41:07And finally, with regard to the last question on Israel, I stand by exactly what I said
41:12a few minutes ago.
41:13Thank you.
41:14QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:15QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:16QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:17QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:18QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:19Again, I've been very –
41:20QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:21QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:22I've been as clear as I can possibly be.
41:23QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:24QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
41:25I'm not going to – I'm not going to talk about what we said in diplomatic conversations.
41:28I can just say – I can just say, again, that we have a commitment to make sure that
41:35Israel has what it needs to defend itself against a whole variety of threats.
41:40Gaza is part of it, but it far surpasses Gaza in terms of the threats they face.
41:46The President is committed to that.
41:47We continue to move these different cases through our system on regular order.
41:54We have one case that the President's talked about publicly about the 2,000-pound bombs
41:59and concerns that we have about them being used in densely populated areas.
42:03That remains.
42:04We continue to work through that.
42:06But there's been no change in our posture, which our posture is, again, to make sure
42:10that Israel has what it needs to defend itself across these many threats.
42:15Many of the systems that are moving through our system are ones that have been on order
42:22for in some cases years.
42:25It takes a long time to move these things.
42:28And a number of the things that are going to Israel won't get there for years.
42:32That is the nature of the way this works.
42:34But it's regular order with the exception of that one system that we've talked about
42:39many times in public.
42:41Thank you.
42:43First, briefly on the question about China, while it's too early to say exactly what kind
42:49of consequences, but I think just in itself that more and more Allies recognizes that
42:54it cannot continue the way it is like it is today, where China really tries to have a
43:00normal relationship with European NATO Allies, and at the same time are enabling Russia to
43:10conduct a war of aggression against a European country, the biggest security challenge we
43:16have faced in Europe since the end of the Second World War.
43:19And, of course, this is then about how, unless China changes its behavior, what kind of consequences
43:29should then this have for, for instance, our trade relations?
43:32Too early to say, but it has to be an issue that we need to address, because to continue
43:38as we do today is not viable.
43:41Then on support for Ukraine, so we are discussing and we are addressing many deliverables on
43:52Ukraine before the upcoming NATO Summit.
43:57We have already agreed a plan for NATO training and security assistance for Ukraine.
44:05We have seen new announcements, and I expect also more announcement of more military support
44:10to Ukraine.
44:11I'm certain that we will also have language expressing that Ukraine will become a member
44:18of the Alliance.
44:19And then you are right that I have also put forward proposals on a more long-term commitment,
44:25because I strongly believe that the stronger our support is, the more credible our long-term
44:32commitment to Ukraine is, the sooner this war can end.
44:35The exact language, exact what we will agree, is what Allies are now discussed among Allies,
44:43but I'm confident we'll have a good solution agreement by the Summit.
44:50Then normally I don't say anything about my successor, because it's not for me to select
44:55my successor.
44:56But with the announcement by Prime Minister Orbán today, I think it's obvious that we
45:02are very close to a conclusion in the Alliance for Allies to select the next Secretary General.
45:10And I think that's good news.
45:12I think Mark Rutte is a very strong candidate, he has a lot of experience as Prime Minister,
45:19he's a close friend and colleague, and I therefore strongly believe that very soon
45:26the Alliance will have decided on my successor, and that will be good for all of us, for NATO
45:32and also for me.
45:33Thank you.
45:34Thanks, everyone.
45:35Thank you.