'Do You Continue To Have The Notion That Israel Is Negotiating In Good Faith?': Press Grill Miller

last month

During a State Department press briefing, reporters grilled Spokesperson Matthew Miller over Israel's actions and negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.

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Transcript

00:00Let me ask you on the negotiations, why do you continue to have the notion that Israel

00:06is negotiating in good faith, when in fact it killed the chief negotiator of the other

00:11party?

00:12I mean, if you go and shoot the chief negotiator, you kill him, you know?

00:16People must think that you are not very serious about negotiations.

00:20So I will speak to what we've seen in the negotiations, and that is, first of all, an

00:26agreement to the framework, and then some other issues that we are trying to resolve

00:31going forward.

00:33And I'm not going to assess the motives of any of the parties involved.

00:38What I'm going to make clear is the position of the United States, that we have impressed

00:43upon the government of Israel quite directly, that they need to work to get to yes on this

00:47agreement.

00:48Okay.

00:49But, you know, Israel is not even allowing the food to go in.

00:52I mean, things are – aid is rotting, and they're not allowing anything to go in, and

00:58the situation is very, very dire in Gaza.

01:01So if they're not even showing that kind of gesture, why should they be taking –

01:06So it's not – so, Said, I'm going to – not quibble, but I think the – it's

01:10not a premise.

01:12What you stated in the lead-up to your question is not – is incorrect.

01:15It's not that they are blocking aid from coming in.

01:17They are letting aid come to the various crossings, and then we continue to struggle with the

01:22security situation inside Gaza of getting out of the crossings, and that's something

01:26that we're working through with the government of Israel and the various UN agencies.

01:30But ultimately, it is always going to be difficult.

01:33We've seen that now nine months – more than nine months into this conflict, and what

01:36we've seen is it is always going to be difficult because of the unique nature of Gaza and the

01:40unique nature of this conflict to move humanitarian assistance around when you're in the middle

01:44of a conflict between the IDF and a terrorist organization that continues to kind of pop

01:50in and out of civilian infrastructure.

01:53And so that's why we continue to work for a ceasefire, because ultimately, that is the

01:56way to solve this humanitarian crisis that currently plagues the people of Gaza.

02:00And finally, I have one last question.

02:02An Israeli American soldier with a U.S. citizen posted videos showing a detonation of Gaza

02:08homes and mosques and so on.

02:10Is that – in fact, it's something that Amnesty called a war crime.

02:16If this U.S. citizen comes to the United States, should he be arrested?

02:21That's a question for the Justice Department, the State Department.

02:22Justice Department.

02:23But – okay, but is that a war crime if you show that you have done that?

02:26I cannot.

02:27So I can't – there's no way I can take any video devoid of context and pronounce

02:31judgment on whether it's a war crime or not from here.

02:33All right.

02:35Can I just check on one thing on this?

02:36Yeah.

02:37I think it was the third-to-last question that Said asked.

02:38The premise of it was that Israel had killed – had assassinated the top Hamas negotiator.

02:44Is that something that you're willing to accept and put on – say on the record that

02:49it was, in fact, Israel that did it?

02:51Or have I missed something over the course of the last couple of days?

02:53So I will let every country speak to their actions.

02:56The United States, for our part, was not involved in any way.

02:59No, I'm not asking if you were involved.

03:00I'm asking if you accept the premise of the question that Israel did, in fact, do

03:04it, if, in fact, the Israelis have told you that they were responsible.

03:07So I am not going to speak to what any other government may or may not have done.

03:13I will make clear that the United States not only was not involved, but we were not aware

03:16of this incident before it occurred.

03:18Yeah.

'Do You Continue To Have The Notion That Israel Is Negotiating In Good Faith?': Press Grill Miller

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