State Dept Spokesperson Grilled On Recent Death In IDF Strike: How Was He A Doctor And A Terrorist?

3 months ago

During a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller answered reporter questions on the Doctors without Borders claim that a volunteer was killed in an IDF strike in Gaza.

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00:00and to make sure that they fully meet international standards.

00:07Nadia.

00:08Thank you.

00:08On Gaza, half a million people are facing

00:10kind of a certain level of hunger,

00:13especially in the north, and actually WFP

00:15is describing the situation as full-blown famine.

00:19So what exactly are you doing to pressurize

00:22or persuade or cajole the Israelis

00:25to make sure that this is not gonna happen

00:28and not materialize and actually a full famine?

00:31So we continue to work day and night.

00:34Our special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues

00:37is back in the region today,

00:39after being back in Washington for consultations

00:41around Minister Golan's visit.

00:43She's back in the region working on this exact issue today,

00:47trying to not just get humanitarian aid into Gaza,

00:51but most importantly,

00:52make sure it is distributed around Gaza.

00:54I think everyone's aware that that has been

00:55the chief impediment to actually getting food

00:59to the Palestinian people.

01:00It's not getting aid into the pier.

01:03It's not getting aid into Kerem Shalom.

01:04It's then making sure that it can be distributed

01:06from those points onward.

01:08We have had a number of discussions between,

01:11or I should say, we have been involved

01:13in a number of discussions in the past few days

01:15between the various United Nations agencies

01:18and various components of the Israeli government

01:20to try to work through some security challenges

01:23that the UN is currently facing

01:25to deliver humanitarian assistance.

01:27We continue to push to try to resolve

01:29their legitimate concerns about the safety

01:31and security of their personnel,

01:33and are continuing to push to try to get,

01:36to try to work through some asks

01:38that they have on the table pending

01:40with the government of Israel

01:41to try to make it safer for their personnel

01:44to take humanitarian assistance

01:46and deliver it around to the people of Gaza.

01:48That was my follow-up, actually,

01:49because the UN said that Israel.

01:50I anticipated that.

01:51Okay, I'm reading my mind.

01:52Or.

01:53That Israel.

01:54So do you believe that actually the Israelis

01:56can improve the way that the UN agencies,

02:00especially their workers, are delivering the aid?

02:02It could be met?

02:03Yeah, there are a number of things that Israel can do.

02:07I spoke to some of them yesterday.

02:08Some of them is to allow protective personnel equipment,

02:11protective personal equipment for UN workers.

02:14Some is to kind of increase communications

02:17between the IDF and COGAD and UN workers.

02:21And then there's some other things, too,

02:22that the UN workers have asked for

02:24that I'm not gonna get into from this podium,

02:25but there is more that can be done.

02:27There are some of the requests

02:28where Israel has legitimate security concerns,

02:30and what we're trying to do is broker agreements

02:32that give the UN personnel the assurances they need

02:36that they can offer, that they can operate securely

02:39while still protecting Israel's legitimate security concerns.

02:42One last question is,

02:43I'm sure you've seen these detailed reports.

02:46Most of them have harrowing accounts

02:48of Palestinian prisoners being rounded up,

02:52some of them are being sexually assaulted,

02:56shackled for hours, inhumane conditions,

03:00and that's a description

03:01of Israeli human rights organizations

03:03like B'Tselem and others,

03:05and witnesses who are actually a part of the IDF

03:07who came and talked about what happened.

03:09So you often call Israel as an ally

03:13who you share values with.

03:14So how can the United States make sure that these things,

03:18which is obviously unacceptable for most democracies,

03:23that is not allowed to happen?

03:25What exactly are you doing,

03:27what mechanism are you using

03:29to make sure that this is not happening,

03:31and if you're investigating it yourself?

03:33So with respect to any investigations,

03:35there are, as I've said before,

03:36a number of incidents that we are reviewing

03:38when it relates to potential human rights abuses,

03:41potential violations of the laws of war,

03:43and I'm not gonna speak to any particular incident from here,

03:46but there are a number of incidents

03:47where we have reviews ongoing.

03:50But that said, apart, separate and apart from that,

03:53we have made clear to Israel

03:55that we fully expect them to comply

03:57with all human rights laws, international laws of war,

04:01that includes the treatment of prisoners and detainees,

04:05and when there are abuses, those ought to be investigated.

04:08If accountability is appropriate,

04:10there ought to be accountability,

04:12and we'll continue to make that clear then.

04:13Can I follow on that too?

04:14Sure.

04:15Who was that?

04:17Who asked the question?

04:18Yeah, I wanted to follow on that.

04:20Sure, and I would say that's the last time today

04:22I'm gonna do one without raising hand, but go ahead.

04:25Oh, I apologize, it was a follow on her.

04:28On investigation of the use of Palestinians

04:30as human shields, or video that was on social media today

04:34about Israeli forces using attack dogs,

04:37you talk about investigations,

04:39logistically, what does an investigation look like,

04:41and when would we see results of that type of investigation?

04:45So it depends whose investigation you're speaking to.

04:48If you mean the reviews that are going on

04:51by the United States, there are personnel

04:53inside the State Department that conduct reviews

04:56with respect to the laws of war in this conflict,

04:59as we do in other places around the world,

05:01and I don't speak to those reviews before they're finalized,

05:05nor can I preview when they would be finished.

05:10But just to speak to some of the complexity

05:13that we face in launching those reviews,

05:16and it's the same complexity I face sometimes

05:18in answering questions about this from the podium.

05:20So yesterday, Doctors Without Borders put out a statement

05:24saying that a doctor who was a member

05:27of Doctors Without Borders was killed by an IDF strike

05:30while I believe on his way to work inside Gaza.

05:33I was asked about it at the podium,

05:34I said I can't give you an assessment on that strike

05:36because I don't know the details.

05:38Hours later, the IDF put out a statement

05:41saying that that particular doctor

05:41was also a terrorist member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad,

05:45who was a participant in their rocket program.

05:49I don't have the ability to litigate that claim.

05:51We don't, at first blush, often have the ability

05:54to litigate claims made by the different parties

05:57in this conflict, and so I know sometimes

05:59when I'm asked to pronounce judgment,

06:00it's frustrating that we can't do it,

06:02but the incident yesterday is the exact situation

06:05why oftentimes in the middle of a conflict,

06:08it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions

06:13when there is conflicting information that we all face.

06:15So I will say, as it pertains to our reviews,

06:19we collect information from all the relevant parties.

06:22As we said when we released a report on this matter

06:24some time ago, we have open inquiries

06:27to the government of Israel asking for information

06:29about these specific incidents,

06:31and we'll continue, those reviews will continue.

06:33Sorry, on this though, do you have any reason

06:35to believe that the IDF claim is more credible

06:38than the MSF claim?

06:40So both things can be true.

06:42What MSF claimed was that he was a doctor

06:44who was a member of MSF.

06:46What Israel claimed is that in.

06:47Are you saying that that's wrong?

06:48No, I'm not saying that's wrong.

06:50What Israel claimed was that he was a doctor

06:51who was a member of MSF, who was also a terrorist

06:54involved in Palestinian Islamic Jihad's rocket program.

06:57My point is, neither of those are

06:59United States verified information,

07:01so when I get asked about a strict.

07:03He was a doctor, and he was also

07:05involved in Hamas's missile program?

07:08Rocket program.

07:09Rocket.

07:10Rocket program.

07:11Yeah?

07:12Yeah.

07:12How?

07:13I don't know, but that goes to my.

07:14Didn't the IDF tell you?

07:16They put out a statement on this.

07:17This goes to my exact point,

07:20that you see claims made by various parties on the ground,

07:23and then oftentimes you see conflicting claims

07:25made by the IDF.

07:26We will reach out to our Israeli partners about.

07:29Hold on, we will reach out to our Israeli partners

07:30for more information about these,

07:32but oftentimes when I'm asked for definitive conclusions

07:35about the specifics of a strike,

07:38we are operating on incomplete information,

07:40and that's why it's frustrating.

07:41This is why I can't offer a definitive conclusion

07:43about any one strike.

07:44There are a lot of instances in history

07:45where physicians have been also criminals

07:48of some kind or other.

07:49That's my point, yeah.

07:50But, you're just saying that,

07:53you're just saying, well, MSF,

07:54which is a respectable organization,

07:56IDF, a respectable organization,

08:01but they have completely different views.

08:04So, you guys need to come in the middle and decide.

08:10Don't you?

08:11That is what we do with respect to the ongoing assessments.

08:14That's the point I was making, two points I was making.

08:16One, with respect to ongoing assessments,

08:18when you look at that information environment,

08:20sometimes that's why it takes time

08:21to reach a definitive conclusion,

08:22because things aren't as simple

08:24as they appear at first blush, right?

08:26I get a question about it, hold on.

08:28I get a question about it yesterday.

08:29No, I know.

08:30Simple as they were at first blush.

08:32You just don't, you don't know.

08:33Exactly right, and you don't know.

08:35The second thing is, that's why it's hard, oftentimes,

08:37to give definitive answers when I get asked about this

08:39from the podium, because information changes,

08:41more information comes to light,

08:42and maybe that information is correct, maybe it's not.

08:44We try to gather it and make definitive determinations.

08:47But, Matt, don't you make assessment to other countries

08:50when you don't have equally the same information?

08:52Whether it's Iran, whether it is China,

08:54whether even in Russia or Ukraine or others.

08:58So, is it just with Israel that you're always unable

09:01to make that conclusive results,

09:05or is it just because you don't have the information?

09:08So, first of all, I would say there are times

09:10when it is quite obvious what happened,

09:13and we do make specific determinations very quickly.

09:17So, look at the World Central Kitchen strike,

09:19where it was quite obvious within a few hours,

09:21within certainly the first 24 hours,

09:23what happened and that it was a mistaken strike,

09:25and we spoke to that exactly.

09:26Other times, it is less clear.

09:28So, that's the first thing, but then I would say,

09:30with respect to Israel, as with any other country,

09:34we make determinations based on the information

09:36that's available to us.

09:37We reach out, in this case, to NGOs

09:39and others who are on the ground,

09:41and we reach out to the government of Israel

09:43when trying to make assessments about individual strikes

09:46before making any definitive conclusions.

09:48But you do accept, at least, what both sides agree on,

09:51that this person was a doctor?

09:53I have no reason to dispute that.

09:55I have no reason to dispute at all that he was a doctor.

09:58And to be clear, you did.

09:59Yeah.

10:01That's funny.

10:06And to be clear, you have explicitly

10:08asked Israel for evidence that this doctor was involved

10:11in homosexuality.

10:12I don't know if we have, with respect to this strike.

10:16We often do.

10:17Will you?

10:18It is, no, hold on a second.

10:19We often do, when it comes to strikes like these,

10:21when there are claims of human rights abuses

10:23or claims of civilian casualties.

10:25It is regular practice for us to do so

10:28through our embassy in Jerusalem.

10:30I can't say we've done so in this case,

10:32but it would be normal practice for us to have done so.

10:34I just don't have verified that we did in this one specific

10:36one, or that we're not doing it in the coming days.

10:38But it would be our standard practice to do so, yes.

10:41We move to Kenya?

10:43Sure.

State Dept Spokesperson Grilled On Recent Death In IDF Strike: How Was He A Doctor And A Terrorist?

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