John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, engaged in a heated exchange with an Arab reporter during a White House briefing regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The reporter suggested that Israel was acting as a “terrorist state,” prompting Kirby to strongly defend Israel’s actions.
He emphasized the US’s efforts to prevent civilian casualties and blamed Hamas for deliberately endangering civilians by using them as shields. (Trending: Joe Biden Admits He’s ‘Not Sure’ About Running If Trump Wasn’t)
John Kirby slams an Arab reporter for saying Israel is "acting like a terrorist state" inflicting "collective punishment" on Palestinians, and "killing journalists" pic.twitter.com/HZ4hO3d158
— AnalyzingAmerica (@AnalyzAmerica) December 9, 2023
Kirby reiterated that Israel’s goal is to target Hamas and not civilians, highlighting the complexities and challenges of the situation.
“So, do you then express that there’s no safe zones in the south and now, Israel is encouraging to move more to the south, so is it a collective punishment and are we going to see more civilians in the south? Are there no safe zones?” the Arab reporter asked.
“We don’t want to see — we don’t want to see a single more civilian killed,” Kirby said.
“We don’t want to see a single more civilian injured. We don’t want to see damage to civilian infrastructure like hospitals, and we have made that case and we’ll continue to make that case to our Israeli counterparts.”
“But don’t you see nothing is changing on the ground?” the reporter pressed.
“What — what’s really happening? So, if we call Hamas a terrorist group, killing civilians as a non-state actor player, isn’t it also Israel acting like a terrorist state, killing humans — civilians, unarmed people, journalists — every day?”
“So, again, we don’t want … civilian casualties,” Kirby said.
“Sorry, just one more point. It’s okay. I don’t know if it’s going to answer your question,” Kirby said.
“Hamas — Hamas deliberately slaughtered and murdered some 1,200 people on the seventh October and it seems like we’re all willing to forget that. Deliberately.”
“It was their intent. And to take hostages. They actually — that was the purpose of the whole thing on the seventh.”
“We don’t want to see any more civilians harmed on this, but they have a right and responsibility to defend themselves against that very genocidal threat and it is not the Israeli Defense Forces’ strategy to kill innocent people,” Kirby explained.
“It’s happening. I admit that. Each one’s a tragedy, but it’s not like the Israelis are sitting around every morning and saying, ‘Hey, how many more civilians can we kill today? Let’s go bomb a — let’s go bomb a school or a hospital or a residential building and just — and cause civilian casualties.’”
“They’re not doing that. They’re trying to go after Hamas and it’s a very difficult when Hamas — oh, by the way, in addition to deliberately slaughtering people — is deliberately hiding themselves in residential buildings, in hospitals, in tunnels, making it — putting the innocent people of Gaza directly in the crossfire,” Kirby said.
“Now, you tell me: Is that right?”
“Now, is that right to kill — let’s — let’s — please — sorry —” the reporter attempted to change direction.
“I think we gotta move on,” said Kirby.
The exchange was eventually cut short by the White House Press Secretary.
“Yeah. We’re going to — nope, we’re going to move on,” Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Arab male reporter: But don’t you see nothing is changing on the ground? A CNN producer lost 9 members of his family today. Killing journalists — over 60 journalists died on the ground, even in south Lebanon. They were not a target. They were clearly journalists. What — what’s… pic.twitter.com/5d4VihkR0v
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 6, 2023
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