• 5 months ago
During Thursday’s White House press briefing, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby was asked about the protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit.

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Transcript
00:00John, we heard from the Vice President earlier with comments – sorry, strong comments related
00:07to the vandalism and the protests that we saw yesterday.
00:10We haven't heard yet from the President or from the White House at large.
00:13Do you condemn what you saw yesterday?
00:14How do you characterize the protests, including what we saw at Union Station?
00:18Well, we did put out a statement last night from the White House, but absolutely condemn
00:23any violence in protest activity.
00:25I mean, it's the First Amendment, right, to peacefully protest?
00:28We fully support that.
00:29We know that there are strong views about what's going on in Gaza.
00:33And some of those views are in opposition to some of the policies that we're pursuing.
00:38We get it.
00:39That's democracy.
00:40But when it turns violent, and when you burn an American flag and pull it down off a U.S.
00:44Government site, that's just absolutely unacceptable.
00:49And obviously, we condemn all that.
00:51Are these protests pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, anti-Israel?
00:54How do you characterize what we're seeing?
00:56I think it's a little bit of all those things.
00:58I mean, I can't speak for the protesters.
01:00Obviously, I don't share their views.
01:02But obviously, they took great exception to the Prime Minister speaking on Capitol Hill.
01:07And as I said, many of them have taken exception with our policies with respect to Gaza.
01:13Today, we heard from one of the family members who's going to be meeting with both the Prime
01:16Minister and the President a short time from now, Aviva Siegel.
01:18She was a former hostage of Hamas.
01:20She says, I want to ask President Biden if Bibi is not able or willing to agree to the
01:25ceasefire and hostage deal to bring the Americans home.
01:28Is there anything more that President Biden is prepared to do unilaterally to try to bring
01:32those hostages home?
01:34I wouldn't get into hypothesizing and speculating about options one way or the other.
01:43We want to get all the hostages home, clearly the Americans in particular.
01:47And that's why this deal is so important, Peter.
01:52And we are close.
01:54We are closer now.
01:55I believe, than we've been before.
01:57The gaps are closable, no question about that.
02:00And we believe, the President believes, that getting that hostage deal in place, getting
02:04that six-week ceasefire, that's the best way to get all these loved ones back with their
02:07families.

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