State Department Responds To Israel’s Invitation To Washington NATO Alliance Summit Invitation

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During a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel answered reporter questions on Israel's participation in the NATO Alliance Summit in Washington.

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00:00the U.S. invited the foreign ministers of Israel and several Arab countries to the NATO summit?

00:05Can you confirm that and who was invited?

00:07MR RATHKE I expect that there will be additional guests

00:11from countries that are not members of the NATO alliance, but I will – I'm not going to get ahead

00:16of the summit. We'll – let us get to next week, and I imagine across the interagency we'll have

00:21more to say about next week's activities.

00:24QUESTION Can you say if Israel is one of these?

00:26MR RATHKE Again, I'm just not going to speak to specific participation yet. Like I said,

00:32I expect there will be attendance from other countries not fully in the NATO alliance, but

00:39I don't have a specific roster to announce today.

00:44Matt, coming back to you.

00:44QUESTION Well, yeah. Well, let the record show, I was actually here.

00:48MR RATHKE I know. I said –

00:49QUESTION And then we were told you were going to be late, so I went to make a quick phone call.

00:54MR RATHKE I was just waiting for our president to wrap up.

00:56QUESTION Yes, and then you – and yes, and then you denigrated me by saying I wasn't here.

01:01MR RATHKE All I said was that your notebook was here and you were not – hardly a denigration,

01:06but go ahead.

01:07QUESTION All right, I understand. So anyway, on the Middle East and as it relates to, one,

01:13Gaza, but two, Lebanon. So one, on Gaza, is there any movement at all that you guys have seen

01:22on this ceasefire proposal? And then two, on Lebanon, where do things stand now if they're

01:34any different than they were yesterday? And if they're not different than yesterday, then okay.

01:40MR RATHKE On the second part, they are not different from yesterday, but let me just,

01:46to the first part of your question, echo what the Secretary said at the Brookings Institution

01:50yesterday, is that we continue to be in intense effort with our partners in Egypt, our partners in

01:55Qatar, to see ways that we can close the gap that Hamas created and not saying yes to a proposal

02:02that everyone, including the United Nations, including the Israelis, had said yes to. That

02:08is something that we are working around the clock, literally as we speak. And in the context of

02:12Israel's northern border, as I said yesterday, restoring calm on the blue line continues to be

02:18a priority, and we believe that a ceasefire in Gaza could bring about a calm to the conflict

02:25in the north as well, creating conditions for the displaced in both Israel and Lebanon to return

02:31home. And that's something we're going to continue to work towards.

02:33QUESTION Okay. So as it relates to Lebanon, you don't see anything over the last 24 hours that

02:38makes you more or less – or I don't know – is there anything that you see that makes you more

02:44or less concerned about? MR RATHKE

02:46Matt, I have seldom offered specific analysis to events like that. I will just leave it broadly,

02:54again, that this is an immense priority for this administration. We want to see calm

02:59along the blue line. We believe that it needs to be a priority for not just Lebanon but also Israel,

03:04and this is something that we're continuing to work through.

03:06QUESTION Can I follow up? I know he doesn't

03:10work in a building, but Amos Hochstein is in Paris, if I'm not mistaken. Can you say anything

03:16about his – why he's there, what the U.S. is trying to do?

03:19MR RATHKE I don't have any updates as it relates to Mr. Hochstein's travel. I'm sure my colleagues

03:24at the White House and the National Security Council would be happy to offer any information,

03:30and we'll also check with the team – we'll also check with the team to see if there's

03:34any context to offer from this building. I'm sure they would, Matt.

03:37QUESTION No, I don't either.

03:39MR RATHKE Maybe other people – I think, of course,

03:41the Middle East has some things on other topics.

03:43MR RATHKE Why don't we see if there's anything more on the Middle East region,

03:46and then I'll come back to you. Camilla's had her hand up, Said. I promise I will get to you.

03:50Go ahead.

03:51QUESTION Thanks. We're done sticking on Lebanon.

State Department Responds To Israel’s Invitation To Washington NATO Alliance Summit Invitation

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