06/13/2024 05:32 PM EDT Department Press Briefing – June 13, 2024June 13, 2024 1:19 p.m. EDT MR MILLER: Good afternoon, everyone. Let’s start with some opening comments. Last night, Secretary Blinken wrapped his eighth trip to the Middle East since the October 7th terrorist attacks, visiting four countries and meeting with leaders from across the region and the world at a conference in Jordan. During the trip, the Secretary continued to push for a ceasefire agreement that would secure the release of all hostages, surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza, and set the conditions for an end to the war. He announced an additional 404 million in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, bringing the total U.S. contribution since October 7th to more than 674 million – making the U.S. the largest contributor of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people in the world. He also continued conversations with countries in the region about the day after the conflict, and how we can work together to establish effective governance, security, and reconstruction in Gaza. As the Secretary said at a news conference in Doha yesterday, that work is key to turning a ceasefire into an end to the conflict, turning the end of the conflict into enduring peace, and using that peace as a foundation for a more stable, prosperous region. The Secretary then traveled to Italy last night, where he is joining President Biden to continue to work on issues related to the conflict in Gaza, as well as other challenges facing the world. He will be there through the end of the week. And with that, go to questions. No AP, so we’ll start with – I’ll also note at the top I may have to wrap slightly shorter than usual today, so I’m not out here when the President begins speaking in Italy. So – QUESTION: Okay, yeah. Thanks – MR MILLER: Go ahead. QUESTION: — for that, Matt. Welcome back. MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: I’d like to ask first on Evan Gershkovich and the – he’s being charged with espionage, including – MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: — working for the CIA, and going now on trial. Is there any – what is your reaction? Is there any credibility to the charges, in your understanding? How do you see it playing out? MR MILLER: No. There is absolutely zero credibility to those charges. We have been clear form the start that Evan has done nothing wrong. He should never have been arrested in the first place; journalism is not a crime. The charges against him are false, and the Russian Government knows that they are false. He should be released immediately. And I can tell you that on behalf of the United States Government, we will continue to try to work – or we will continue to work to bring home Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan every day. It’s something that we are constantly working on and constantly pursuing. QUESTION: Can I follow up on Evan? MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: Thanks, Matt. Are you concerned at all for his safety as he is transferred from Moscow to Yekaterinburg? And you – Roger Carstens said you guys may lose contact with him during that time. MR MILLER: I don’t have any specific concerns to mention here, but we are in – I will say we are in contact with Evan. We have been in contact, and we’ve had consular visits with him regularly. The last one we had was in May. We will continue to seek consular access to him; it’s something that we have demanded from the Russian Government, and continue to push for. And part of the reason we do that is to – so we can regularly check on his safety and his well-being. And that’s what we continue to do. QUESTION: And do you see this as any sign, either positive or negative, for negotiations to secure his release? In the past we have seen these negotiations sort of stall until there has been a trial. So how do you read – MR MILLER: I – I just don’t want to – I don’t want to kind of speculate one way or the other about what the impact of these could be. We’re going to continue to try to pursue his release. We put a substantial offer on the table to secure the release of Evan and Paul Whelan some months ago, as we said publicly; we’re continuing to work to secure their release. We don’t talk about the details of that publicly, as has always been the case, but it is one of the Secretary and the President’s highest priorities. QUESTION: Going to Gaza? MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: So the Secretary during his trip talked about in coming weeks you’re going to – the U.S. will lay – will put forward proposals for the day after the conflict in Gaza. So just to – to try to – I know obviously it’s not the coming weeks just yet, but to understand what that – what that will be, what that might look like, is this – this is something that can – will – you’re planning to put forward in detail whether or not there’s a ceasefire agreement in the meantime? MR MILLER: I don’t want to get ahead of what – any – I don’t want to get any further than what the Secretary said yesterday. We are continuing to have conversations with our partners in the region about what exactly those plans will look like. We had those on this trip. As you know, it’s something we’ve been working on really in earnest since January; a number of complicated issues to work through. Obviously, the best environment to kind of launch those proposals would be if we had a ceasefire, because once you have a ceasefire, that’s something that we want to turn into something more enduring. But where we might be several weeks from now, it’s very hard to speculate, because as you know we’ve been trying to get a ceasefire for some time, and we don’t have one yet. We’re continuing to push for one. But I think the point the Secretary was trying to make is we don’t want to let the absence of a ceasefire stop us from pursuing that work on reconstruction and on security and governance, because it’s important that we nail down the details, and with our partners in the region that we’ve been working with. And it’s important that we are ready to seize any opportunity to make sure that, should we achieve a ceasefire, we can turn that into something more meaningful and enduring and lasting. QUESTION: And is there a – is there a plan that regional countries have signed up to? Is it the Israelis who are – who are left to convince? Is this something that you were going to put forward in order to get them on board, is that sort of – MR MILLER: I just don’t want to speak to it in any more detail. These are conversations that continue at a diplomatic level. The Secretary’s been engaged in them, Assistant Secretary Leaf has been engaged with them, with her counterparts, and will continue over the next few weeks. QUESTION: And – and I’m sure other people will have questions on this, but just on Israeli operations in Rafah, there’s reporting that they have sort of gone deeper into – into the city, reaching the beach. I think the Israeli military themselves said they struck 45 targets over the past day. Is – does this constitute the full-scale operation that you’ve been warning about? MR MILLER: It continues to be something we’re watching incredibly closely. But we still have not yet seen them launch what looks like a full-scale major military operation – certainly not in the size, scope, or scale of the operations in Khan Younis, in Gaza City, elsewhere in Gaza. It’s been a more limited operation, which is not to say it hasn’t had a dramatic impact on the population there; of course it has. We’ve seen hundreds of thousands of people – maybe a million or a little more than a million – people who have left Rafah and fled west and fled north, and we continue to work to try to get humanitarian assistance to those people. But just in terms of the operation itself, it does still look like somewhat of a different operation than the kind that we had seen previously and that we had warned very much against publicly and in direct conversations with the Israeli Government. QUESTION: Thank you. Could you talk a little bit more about these – Hamas wanting these written guarantees from the U.S.? Do you see this as in any way reasonable, or outrageous? Have they done this before? Is there anything you can give us on that? MR MILLER: I cannot talk any more about that, as you might imagine. We’re not going to talk at all about the details of the response that Hamas got, at least in terms of what is contained in that – in those – in that response. I’ve seen a lot of reporting about it; not all of it has been accurate. I wouldn’t characterize it any further than what the Secretary said yesterday. QUESTION: Thank you. QUESTION: What hasn’t been accurate? MR MILLER: Nice try. (Laughter.) No. I’ll come to you Said, don’t — QUESTION: Can I just – just one on the — MR MILLER: Said, I’ll just always – you know I’ll always come to you, so — QUESTION: (Off-mike.) MR MILLER: Go ahead. QUESTION: Open-ended question: The pier is set to be dismantled again, due to sea state – do you have any comment on that? MR MILLER: I would defer to my colleagues at the Pentagon who are responsible for the operation of the pier. Did you have anything else, Jenny? Yeah. QUESTION: Yeah. I just wanted to know if there’s been any contact through the mediators with Hamas since they submitted their proposal the other night. When do you expect there to be any contact? There’s some reporting that the Israelis aren’t going to participate in further negotiations. MR MILLER: I will let the mediators speak to that. Obviously, we were in contact on – what day is today, Thursday? – on Tuesday night with the Egyptian mediators, and the Secretary spoke directly with the Qatari mediator, the prime minister, yesterday in his meeting in Doha. They, as I think you know, are – tend to be in fairly regular contact with the political wing of Hamas. But in terms of what the next step of negotiations will look like, I don’t want to get into that from here other than to say that we are committed to trying to push forward to get a ceasefire. We were disappointed with the response that came back from Hamas yesterday. As the Secretary says – you’ve heard some other people say – there were some suggested changes that were fairly minor and were fairly workable, and then there were some that we don’t see as workable. But, that said, we are committed to trying to push forward and get a ceasefire because we continue to believe it is in the interests of all involved parties. QUESTION: You were disappointed, but were you surprised that they came back with these changes? I mean, given that Netanyahu didn’t ever publicly commit to this – I know the U.S. says that Israel has been on board, but there has been no public indications – MR MILLER: I don’t think – I don’t think – I personally doubt that comments or lack of comments from the Israeli Government had anything to do with the substance of the Hamas response. I think the substance of the – well, I’m not going to characterize why they might have submitted the response that they did. So we were disappointed, both that it took so long to get a response, and then that the response had a number of changes that could drag the negotiations out further. As you’ve heard the Secretary say yesterday, getting a ceasefire is urgent. There are people that are suffering every day. There are Palestinians who are dying every day as a result of this conflict. There are hostages that continue to be held. You see the conflict in the north of Israel continue to reach concerning levels. And we want to tackle all of those issues, and the best way to do that is through a ceasefire, and that’s why we’ll continue to pursue it, and we want it to happen without delay. Said. QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Welcome back. MR MILLER: Thank you. QUESTION: We missed you, so — MR MILLER: That’s kind of you, Said. QUESTION: A couple of questions – a follow-up on Simon and Camilla. First of all, on the talks itself, on – you said that Hamas’s response was late in coming. But the resolution at the – at the Security Council was on Monday. The response was on Tuesday, almost, like, 24 hours and so on. MR MILLER: The – I don’t think the clock started with the UN Security Council resolution. It started with the — QUESTION: Okay. So — MR MILLER: – proposal being delivered to them, which was 12 days before their response. QUESTION: All right, Matt. Okay. On the issue of their response, now, we’re a bit confused because the National Security Advisor, Mr. Sullivan, said actually they were minor. Most of the – in fact, all the suggestions by Hamas, or the amendments, were quite workable, quite doable. Now we heard something different — MR MILLER: That is – that is not what he said, but go ahead. QUESTION: Okay. MR MILLER: He said a number of them were minor; some were – some were problematic. QUESTION: Okay. Well, that’s what the – that’s my question, actually. But the Secretary said that there are some workable, and some are not workable. Can you share with us some of these things that are not workable, for instance? MR MILLER: No, I cannot. I’m not going to get into the details of that from here. I don’t think it’s – I don’t think it’s appropriate to conduct a public negotiation. QUESTION: Okay. MR MILLER: But as the Secretary said, there are a number of things that Hamas suggested in its response that go further than they had agreed to in previous iterations. As you know, there have been proposals that go back and forth. QUESTION: Right. MR MILLER: And as the Secretary said, usually in a negotiation if someone – if a party agrees to something in one stage of the negotiation, they don’t then further – they don’t then make a more – or a less reasonable demand later on in the process. So all that said, we’ll continue to push to try to get a resolution because we think it’s in the interests of all the Palestinian people and the Israeli people. QUESTION: So as far as I know, there has been no official Israeli response. But you guys keep saying that Israel agreed to this, yet we have not heard from the prime minister. We have not heard from any senior official saying, yeah, we accept – or reject, for whatever – there’s been no response. MR MILLER: So — QUESTION: There are reports – Israeli media reports that say that the prime minister did not even share the document with many of his ministers and that – like Ben-Gvir or Smotrich and so on. Do you have any comment on that? MR MILLER: So — QUESTION: The Israelis have not responded. Why have they taken so long to respond to something that initially was their proposal? MR MILLER: Why are they taking a long time – the Israeli Government does not need to respond to its own proposal. It’s their proposal. But in terms of support – just to be clear, in terms of support for that proposal, two things. Number one, it’s not true that the Israeli Government hasn’t come out and said it was their proposal and they support it. They did do that. They did that in the days immediately after. There were advisors to the prime minister that came out and said that publicly. Number two, the Secretary discussed this directly with the prime minister himself on Tuesday when we were in Israel, and the prime minister reaffirmed his support for the proposal. So it’s simply not true. QUESTION: In an official statement, did he support it in — MR MILLER: In a direct conversation with — QUESTION: Okay. MR MILLER: Hold on. But in a direct conversation with the Secretary that the Secretary relayed publicly. But Said, again, there are officials from the Israeli Government — QUESTION: Right. MR MILLER: — who have come out and said that as well. QUESTION: Okay. But then clear it for us, because at least I am confused on the issue of the first phase and the second phase and so on. It seems that the Israelis in all their statements, they focus on the first phase but not on the transitional second phase and on, let’s say, allowing all the stuff that is in the second phase and the third phase. So could you explain to us where – is this the sticking point, for instance, between the Palestinians and the Israelis? MR MILLER: So I’m not going to get into what the – the various sticking points are in the proposal. When it comes to statements made by the Israeli Government, I’m just going to look at what the Israeli Government has done. QUESTION: Right. MR MILLER: And it is – that is that they put forward this proposal that the President outlined 13 days ago that would lead to an immediate ceasefire, that would lead to an extended ceasefire as negotiations moved from phase one to phase two, and that ultimately could bring about an end to the war. And one of the points that the Secretary was getting to yesterday, it’s really important that in that proposal that the President outlined that the ceasefire doesn’t end in six weeks. There’s a six-week ceasefire that continues when negotiations continue. And so Hamas could have agreed to that proposal. It didn’t lock them in long term. There’s an agreement there would be continued negotiations at the end of six – at the end of six weeks. Those negotiations actually start in 16 days. And the ceasefire continued. But at least we would have had a ceasefire. At least we would have had a halt to the suffering, and Hamas didn’t do that. Instead, they dragged it out for 12 days. And now there’ll be continued haggling and a delay in the ceasefire, and that’s what we were disappointed in. But as I said, we are committed to continue to work on this because it is so vitally important to the people in the region. QUESTION: Okay. Just a couple of follow-ups. There’s a – there’s been a UN report detailing Israeli war crimes during the first month the war. Have you seen their report? MR MILLER: We are – we saw that the report was released today, and we’re reviewing it now. QUESTION: And – okay. So you don’t have any comment on that? MR MILLER: Other than that we are looking at it and reviewing it. QUESTION: Okay. And lastly on last Saturday’s raid. Now, there has been more than 276 Palestinians were killed in Deir al-Balah, so – and I know that the U.S. Government, the Western governments congratulated Israel on releasing – freeing four hostages, but then we had 276 Palestinian civilians – mainly civilians – and 600 others wounded. How do you – how do you respond to this kind of enormous death toll? MR MILLER: So the Secretary actually spoke to this the last couple of days while he was in the region, and I’ll just echo what he said, which is our condolences go out to any innocent civilian that was killed or injured in this operation. We don’t want to see any civilian die in this operation. That’s one of the reasons why we’re pushing for a ceasefire, is to stop the suffering that is happening every day in Gaza. If you look at the circumstances of this raid, there are a couple of things that are clear. Number one, Israel has a right – as any country does – to try and rescue hostages that were taken. Hostages never should have been taken in the first place. They shouldn’t have been held for more than eight months. They should’ve been released a long time ago. They should be released today. But any country would have the right to try and rescue hostages that are being held by a terrorist organization. That’s the first thing. The second thing that’s clear is that in the course of executing that raid there was an intense firefight between Israel and Hamas. I think that’s important to note that it wasn’t just Israeli soldiers firing as they executed that raid. It was Hamas firing at them, and of course there was a crossfire of what apparently by all accounts was a very intense firefight between Israel and Hamas. And as a result of that very intense firefight, it seems like more than 200 people died. And that is an immense human tragedy. But that is why we’re working so hard to get a ceasefire, to stop that kind of human tragedy – both for Palestinian people and for the hostages that continue to be held and for the families of hostages who continue to worry about the safety of their loved ones. That’s why we’re going to continue to try and push and get that ceasefire as soon as possible. QUESTION: So do you think that Israel adhered to the laws of war in this particular incident? MR MILLER: I do not – I cannot give you an assessment of that, but not having looked at all of the details and knowing all of the facts on the ground. As I said, they have a right to rescue hostages. We want to see them comply with the laws of war. In this case, there was a very intense firefight. They took fire from Hamas on their way after retrieving one of the sets of hostages, and that led to this really horrific human tragedy. QUESTION: Thank you. QUESTION: According to the UN — MR MILLER: Go ahead. Go ahead. Michel, go ahead next, and then we’ll come — QUESTION: I have one on Gaza and a couple more on Lebanon. First, did the Secretary ask Qatar to close Hamas office in Doha and expel its leaders from Doha to put more pressure on Hamas? MR MILLER: I’m just not going to speak to private diplomatic conversations. QUESTION: But is it a step that you are considering? MR MILLER: Again, I’m not going to speak to private diplomatic conversations at all. I will say that Qatar has been an extraordinary partner in this regard. The prime minister – Prime Minister Al Thani – has worked tirelessly to try to secure a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages. The United States is incredibly grateful for the work that they have done and the work that they continue to do to get all of the hostages home and to secure a ceasefire that would benefit the Palestinian people and the people of Israel. QUESTION: President Biden and Secretary Blinken were expecting a ceasefire to calm the front between Hizballah and Israel. Since Hamas didn’t agree on the U.S. proposal, what are your expectations now? MR MILLER: So we’re going to continue to work to try to advance calm in the north of Israel and achieve a diplomatic resolution that would allow the tens of thousands of Israelis who have been displaced from their homes and the tens of thousands of Lebanese who have been displaced from their homes to return home. We continue to believe that a diplomatic resolution is the best way to – I’m sorry, that a ceasefire in Gaza is the best way to achieve that diplomatic resolution. You heard the Secretary say that while he was in the region. It’s one of the reasons why we are pursuing it so aggressively. And this is something that we discussed in every meeting the Secretary had while he was in – with partners in the region. QUESTION: And what is this diplomatic resolution and who’s working on it, and we don’t see any activities? MR MILLER: Oh, there has – so I would tell you that – I just said the Secretary discussed it in every one of his meetings with partners in the region. There’s a lot of intense diplomacy going on. Now, we don’t often find it productive to have those conversations in public, but there are a number of very intense diplomatic engagements both in this building and at the White House to try to — QUESTION: What is — MR MILLER: Hold on, no, let me just – to try to achieve a diplomatic resolution. There’s been some reporting about the details. I can’t – I’m not going to speak to them here. But I think some of the potential ways you would solve this are well-known. But it remains the case that it is very difficult to achieve that diplomatic resolution while there is ongoing conflict in Gaza. And we’ve seen Hizballah continue to take really aggressive strikes across the border. You saw fires break out in northern Israel yesterday as we saw last week as a result of strikes that Hizballah took. It remains an extremely concerning situation that we’re trying to resolve. But again, the – a ceasefire in Gaza would be the best way, in our assessment, to advance a meaningful resolution in the north of Isael along that border. QUESTION: And finally, the Lebanese army leader is in town. Did anyone from the department see him? MR MILLER: Let me – let me take that back and get back with you. QUESTION: Thank you. MR MILLER: And Janne, go ahead. I’ll come to you, Guita. QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you, Matt. I have a couple of questions. First question: What do you think of the incident in which American professors, I mean, were stabbed by a Chinese man in China? Has the State Department diplomatically conveyed its complaint to China? MR MILLER: So the Department of State and our embassies and consulates abroad have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas. We are aware of the stabbing of three U.S. citizens and two other individuals in Jilin City in China on June 10th. We are providing all appropriate consular assistance. The U.S. consulate general – Shenyang’s consul general visited the U.S. citizen victims on June 12th, and a consular official – consular officers also visited on June 11th. We are in touch with local authorities and are closely monitoring the situation. QUESTION: On North Korea, North Korea continues to send dangerous trash balloons to South Korea, and the North Korean army invaded the military demarcation line. It is known that this act was under the direction of North Korea’s biological and chemical unit. As you know, the two – 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea. Do you assess this as a justifiable response to South Korea’s resumption of loudspeakers broadcast against North Korea at the military demarcation line? MR MILLER: No, we continue to call on North Korea to halt these activities, and we’ll just reaffirm that our commitment to our South Korean allies is ironclad. QUESTION: Thank you. Yeah, go ahead, Guita, then I’ll – yeah, go ahead. QUESTION: Yeah. MR MILLER: Then I’ll come to you, Guita. QUESTION: I’m sorry, but since we left the region — MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: — I’m allowing myself to go in another region altogether. The Secretary had a very unusual phone call yesterday to – well, it appeared unusual because I don’t think – I don’t know exactly; it must have been years the last time that he called the president of Gambia. And is it safe to assume that in that call – and maybe that was the reason for the call – he spoke to this controversial law that could possibly be voted on in June in Gambia regarding reversing a ban on female genital mutilations. MR MILLER: So I don’t have any details to outline about that call other than what we put – what we issued in the public readout last night. QUESTION: Yeah. MR MILLER: But we have made quite clear that those practices are horrific. We oppose them all across the world, and we would be incredibly concerned about any country taking steps to reverse bans on female genital manipulation. QUESTION: Okay, but you can confirm that the Secretary raised or at least the issue was talked about in that call? MR MILLER: No, I can’t – I don’t have any further readout to give other than what we put in the public readout. QUESTION: Okay. Thank you. MR MILLER: Guita, sorry. And I’m sorry for skipping you after I said I would come to you next. QUESTION: That’s all right – that’s all right. MR MILLER: I’d try to blame Leon, but that was on me. That was on me. (Laughter.) QUESTION: I have a couple of questions on the release of the French citizen Louis Arnaud from Iran. I was wondering if the U.S. was aware or involved in the French talks with Tehran on his release, whether the French, at all – if you weren’t involved, if they – well, did they consult with the Biden administration? And do you know if they – if the Islamic Republic got anything in return? MR MILLER: So I would let the Government of France speak to any specific questions about the release of what, after all, is a United States citizen. I will say – I’m sorry, a French citizen. I will say that we, of course, celebrate the release of French national Louis Arnaud. We are in frequent contact with our allies and partners, and that, of course, includes France, whose citizens are being unjustly held in Iran. As you know, there have been Americans over time who have been wrongfully detained in Iran, and we have worked incredibly hard and been successful in returning those Americans home. And so we often offer what expertise we can about those situations to our allies and partners who have had their own citizens being unjustly detained. Unfortunately, the Iranian regime continues to unjustly detain additional French citizens and many other countries’ citizens to use them as political leverage. There’s no justification for this. They should all be released immediately, and I would just – as I do every time we discuss this particular matter – remind every U.S. citizen that Iran is a Level 4 country. We have a Travel Advisory making clear that American citizens should not travel to Iran for any reason, ever, because, among other reasons, they risk being unlawfully, unjustly detained, and we will reiterate that advice to Americans. QUESTION: Are you aware if any U.S. citizen or green card holder are still in jail in Iran? MR MILLER: I – there may be Americans who are still imprisoned in Iran. There are none that we have assessed to be wrongfully detained. QUESTION: All right. And one last question. Now, given the situation in the – in Gaza Strip, the war going on, uptick in Hizballah’s attacks on Israel, and the early elections that Iran is to hold soon, do you think there – the release of the French citizen is – could be – maybe an attempt by Tehran to show a better picture of itself with all of these going on? MR MILLER: I don’t want to speak to what their motivations are but if they wanted to show a better picture of themselves, they should stop detaining people unlawfully and unjustly in the first place. And they should stop their support for terrorism. They should stop their pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. They should stop all of the destabilizing actions they take across the board. That would present a better picture of the Iranian Government more so than releasing citizens that they never should have taken in the first place. QUESTION: Thank you. QUESTION: Can I ask a question on immigration, when I’ve got a chance? MR MILLER: You can go now. QUESTION: Okay. The House report is saying that the President was – first, of course, I want to say shout-out to Elizabeth, who’s among us here. She’s an old — MR MILLER: Welcome Elizabeth. Always glad to have you in the briefing room. QUESTION: Yeah, I wanted to ask — MR MILLER: Do you want – if you want to come up and sub in, you’re welcome to. QUESTION: She was behind that podium a number of times. MR MILLER: I know. She was quite eloquent. QUESTION: So, yeah. All right. So — MR MILLER: The briefing room misses such eloquence. QUESTION: The House report says that the President basically, you know, buckled to political pressure, political climate pressure in taking the executive order on the border. Is that the feeling? Is the United States by allowing 2,500 people – only 2,500 people — MR MILLER: So Said, I’m just going to stop you here. But no, I do not agree with that characterization. But I’m not going to speak to it in any further detail because those are matters that are beyond the remit here at the State Department. They relate to matters under the jurisdiction, of course, of the White House, the Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies, and I would defer. QUESTION: But there has been also an immense call – MR MILLER: I just defer to them for comment. Go ahead. QUESTION: Thank you. MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: Two brief questions if you’d indulge me. The first, on Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that he is transferring $35 million in tax revenue that Israel collected on behalf of the PA to victims – to Israeli victims of terrorism. Last week you said these funds were Palestinian and should be released to the PA. QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to Mr. Smotrich’s action? Is it appropriate? MR MILLER: They are not appropriate. We have made quite clear to the Government of Israel that these funds belong to the Palestinian people. They should be transferred to the Palestinian Authority immediately. They should not have been held. They should not be delayed. And in saying this, we make this case, first of all, because, as I said, the money belongs to the Palestinian people and it’s important that the Palestinian people have the ability to access their funds to fund their government, to pursue other activities as they deem fit. But also, the case that we have made to Israel is that this kind of decision is extraordinarily self-defeating. It doesn’t just hurt the Palestinian people; it hurts Israel’s interests as well. The Palestinian Authority has taken – has worked incredibly hard to maintain calm, to maintain stability in the West Bank over the years, especially since October 7th. And this kind of action by the Israeli Government risks destabilizing the West Bank and further harming Israel’s own security. We think it’s an extraordinarily wrong-headed decision by that minister. QUESTION: And then in the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces have been carrying out a raid on the Jenin Refugee Camp for over 12 hours today, bulldozing buildings and roads, and preventing civilians from entering or leaving the city’s government hospital. That was confirmed by the city’s governor to Anadolu. Does the administration have concerns about the raid? Should civilians be allowed unimpeded access to the government hospital? MR MILLER: So I don’t want to speak to the details of that raid only because it’s ongoing and we’re only now gathering facts about it, or I should say we’re still gathering facts about it. I will just say, as we have always said, as a general principle, Israel, of course, has the right to carry out legitimate counterterrorism activities, but they need to do so in a way that is consistent with international humanitarian law. They need to do so in a way that minimizes any harm to civilians, and that’s what we expect of them whenever they carry out these types of operations. QUESTION: Thanks, Matt. MR MILLER: Yeah. QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. The last briefing I asked you a question about some individuals within the PMF and also the Iraqi militia groups who were engaging in destabilized and violent activities, and you voiced concern that – that Washington is concerned that there are some individuals within the PMF are not responsive to the Iraqi commander in chief. And later the Iraqi foreign ministry pushed a statement and said the U.S. State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller information is not accurate. Do you have anything to say? MR MILLER: No. I don’t have any further response beyond what I said last week. QUESTION: Was the information accurate? MR MILLER: No, I don’t have any — QUESTION: No, no, no, your information, was it — MR MILLER: Was accurate, correct. QUESTION: (Inaudible.) And then what’s your takeaway when the Iraqi foreign minister says that those individuals that you think that they are not responsive to the Iraqi commander in chief and they say that they are responsive to the Iraqi commander in chief and they are engaging in the violent activities — MR MILLER: I just don’t have any further comment on this than what I said last week, so — QUESTION: Thank you. MR MILLER: Go ahead. QUESTION: Thank you. A new report released yesterday by Human Rights Watch talked about the white phosphorous attacks in Lebanon, and they said that in their investigation, Human Rights Watch verified the use of white phosphorous munition by Israeli military at least on 17 municipalities across south Lebanon since October 7th. Have you seen these reports, and do you have any comment on that? MR MILLER: I have seen the report. We are reviewing it. I don’t have a specific comment. As I said last week and as we’ve said for some time, there are appropriate military uses for white phosphorous. They can be used for screening and other activities, but as with any military tactic, any military technique, they need to be used in full compliance with humanitarian law. They cannot be used to target civilian populations. QUESTION: Okay, and one more: According to Palestinian Authority numbers, in eight month, Israel has killed one or both parents of at least 17,000 children in Gaza. You always talk about the day after the conflict ends. How can this work in favor of peace and the future between both Palestinians and Israelis with all these killings and traumas and wounds? MR MILLER: Those deaths are a tragedy. Every civilian death is a tragedy, and, of course, the death of children is especially horrific. And I would commend everyone who wants to see how we approach this issue to look at the Secretary’s comments in Doha yesterday at a press conference, where he talked about the impact of this war on children and the impact of this war on families and the effect that dehumanization has and when you hear, when you see people on either side of the conflict stop seeing people on the other side as human beings and what that can lead to and why it is so incumbent upon us to break that cycle of violence and to get a ceasefire and turn that ceasefire into something more enduring. No doubt it will be hard to repair those emotional bonds after such horrific suffering, but it’s why the work is more urgent than ever to see that the cycle of violence that has existed between the Israeli and Palestine – Palestinian people for decades is broken and that we get enduring peace and stability. QUESTION: I mean, is there a strategy in – for the future? How can they coexist and live in peace if there is all this killing? There are, like, 17,000 who lost either one of their parents or they don’t have limbs. So how they can coexist after – in the future? MR MILLER: So the way to answer that is that the Israeli people aren’t going anywhere and the Palestinian people aren’t going anywhere. They are going to both be there, and so they can either continue to live in a cycle of violence or they can live in peace. And that is why we have constantly said that the extremist voices on both sides of this conflict who want to see a conflict that goes on forever and a conflict that isn’t resolved aren’t speaking in the – on behalf – aren’t speaking in the interests of the Israeli people and aren’t speaking in the interests of the Palestinian people. And it’s a very good question. It is a question that has plagued this region for decades. As I said, it’s a conflict that didn’t start yesterday and has been going on for some time, but it’s why we’re working so hard to take the ceasefire that has been proposed and make it meaningful and try to finally break this cycle and get enduring peace so we don’t have this continued conflict that goes on for four, five, six more decades. Leon, did you – I thought somebody in the front row raised their hand. Sorry. QUESTION: On Syria, I wanted to follow up on some of my colleagues’ reporting. They were just in some of the detention camps in northeastern Syria where ISIS fighters and their families are being held, and I wanted to specifically ask about Hoda Muthana and her son. She said she’s concerned for his future given that he is seven, approaching the age where they separate boys from their families. Why not repatriate this seven-year-old boy to the United States? MR MILLER: Let me take that back. I don’t have a specific answer. I’ve been traveling, as you know. I got back around mid-morning today. Let me take it back to get you a specific answer. As you know, we have repatriated a number of American citizens; continues to be a priority to repatriate American citizens and encourage other foreign governments to repatriate their citizens. I don’t have anything I can say about that specific case from (inaudible). QUESTION: He is the grandson of an American (inaudible). MR MILLER: As I said, I just don’t – I don’t have any specific response today. Go ahead, Jalil. QUESTION: Thank very much, Matt. There is a Cricket World Cup is being played in America for the first time, and Pakistani team lost to the U.S. MR MILLER: I saw that. QUESTION: It’s just like the U.S. team – basketball team – losing to Pakistan. (Laughter.) Any correlation you see between the two? MR MILLER: Has that – I don’t think that’s happened, Jalil. QUESTION: Do you think that’s normal? Because the Pakistani team, they are trained by a military. The chairman is a former CNN employee who is the interior minister as well. Like, anything you see in Pakistan’s situation and their cricket, like, or no? Because I know you like sports. MR MILLER: I — QUESTION: That’s why I want to take a little lighter note. MR MILLER: I often get in trouble when I start – trying to comment on things beyond my limited area of expertise. And I would say Pakistan’s cricket team is certainly in that category. (Laughter.) QUESTION: Okay, just one last – on India, last week I commented and – Narendra Modi has won 340 seats. And I have been saying this since Mr. Kirby was here standing. And I used to tell him that Narendra Modi is trying to turn India into a Hindu state where other religions are not feeling secure. Out of 340 seats as a prime minister of a country for the first time, there’s not a single Muslim. Do you not — MR MILLER: I’m just not going to – I’m sorry — QUESTION: Like, do you not see India becoming — MR MILLER: I am just not going to comment other – on the Indian elections other than what we have said before, which is the electoral matters are matters for the Indian people to decide. We celebrate the election that happened in India; it was the largest exercise of electoral franchise in any country anytime in history. But for specific results of that election, it’s just not something we comment on. QUESTION: Thank you. MR MILLER: Go ahead. QUESTION: Thank you. QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. So on China, China’s the leading supplier of Russia’s weapon supply and a vital supplier of its economy. The Biden administration just announced new sanctions on Chinese companies that are supplying weapon with – materials to make weapons. So what’s the impact of these sanctions? What do you hope this – these sanctions could do? And then is the Biden administration considering further action on this? MR MILLER: We are considering further actions. Our hope is that companies engaged in rearming Russia’s defense industrial base and bolstering Russia’s defense industrial base so it can rearm the Russian military, that other companies will see these actions and think twice. We have made clear our concerns to the Chinese Government about the actions that Chinese companies have taken to help restock the Russian – the Russian defense industrial base, and have made clear that those actions are unacceptable. And countries in Europe have made clear the same thing. And you saw the action taken by the G7 yesterday, including actions that the United States took, and we will not hesitate to take further actions as appropriate. QUESTION: Thank you. MR MILLER: Go ahead. QUESTION: Thank you. On Iran’s reaction to the IAEA’s censure resolution last week, you’ve – probably have seen the reports on how Iran is retaliating and how it’s reacting to the resolution. And diplomats are saying that these actions are at the lower end of expectations and the escalation is not as big as many feared. Before, there were reports I know that U.S. categorically denied at all that U.S. is fearing that the Islamic Republic is going to react worse if you pass any resolution. So now we have a better idea of what Iran is doing, how they are retaliating. So what is your assessment of these reactions, and do you think that there is a reason why Islamic Republic is keeping this escalation very limited? MR MILLER: So I would just say that the actions contained in – or the actions that are outlined in the board of governors – or in the report that was released only further undermine Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful. It only reinforces the concerns expressed by the IAEA board of governors last week. If implemented, we will respond accordingly. QUESTION: Okay. And one more about – a few days ago, Jake Sullivan made a statement. He said that the President Biden is ready to confront any Iranian aggression and is trying to choke off its support to Hamas. Can you describe these efforts, what you’re doing to choke off Iranians’ support of Hamas? Do you have any tangible success in that regard? MR MILLER: So you have seen a number of actions taken by the U.S. Government, both at the State Department and at the Treasury Department, to try and restrict Hamas’s access to funds, and try to restrict those who transfer money to Hamas and who help Hamas obtain funding for its terrorism over the past – certainly since October 7th, but even before October 7th we’ve imposed a number of sanctions in that regard. That said, we are always looking at other actors who may be engaged in such behavior and will not hesitate to impose further sanctions as necessary. QUESTION: Matt? MR MILLER: Go ahead, Prem. Yeah. QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Welcome back. First question on the hostage operation last week that Said mentioned – of course the 274 killed, the 690 injured, the four hostages saved, and allegedly – Hamas alleges at least three hostages killed. I’m wondering – there seems to be some confusion as far as to what extent, if they did, the U.S. support this operation – if so, in terms of resources, troops. And beyond that, I’m wondering along with those question marks if the U.S. considered preemptively how such support could have contributed to such death or contributed to maybe an upending of the ceasefire negotiations. MR MILLER: So I would just say two things about that. Number one, without getting specifically into any operation, we have always made clear that we support the return of hostages and that we would share any information that we had that would help Israel locate or return its hostages. But that’s a general statement; I’m not going to speak with respect to this specific operation. But again, as I said about this operation, it is important to remember that there was a firefight between Israel and Hamas. And so when you assess the horrific civilian tragedy, that’s an important fact that I know a lot of people that talk about this often leave out, that it wasn’t just Israel going in shooting; that they were being shot at by Hamas fighters who, again, were holding hostages in a residential apartment building. And so when you look at the horrific death – and there are fair questions to ask about it – you also have to ask: Why are hostages being held in a residential apartment building that made that apartment building a target in the first place? They shouldn’t have been. Should never have been held there, shouldn’t have been taken – once they were taken, should have been released. They certainly shouldn’t have been held in a residential apartment building in a – in such a crowded area. QUESTION: And so to clarify, you won’t necessarily comment on the question of American troops or specific resources for this operation? MR MILLER: No. QUESTION: Okay. And then — MR MILLER: But – and I – but with respect to American troops, I don’t ever comment on that from here anyway. It’s not a matter for the State Department. QUESTION: And then on – or American personnel broadly, I should say. MR MILLER: Yeah. Yeah. QUESTION: On ceasefire negotiations, I know the administration, you have said today that Prime Minister Netanyahu has assured and reassured Israel’s support for the proposal. But he and other officials have said they will not stop until the aims of their war are fully achieved. And of course, they recently opposed an earlier version of that UN resolution that passed unanimously and supported the deal. And beyond that, there’s sort of this main contention point of whether this deal assures a permanent ceasefire. And to something you had said earlier, there’s the reported Hamas fear that they could accept the deal without reliable assurances for permanence, lose leverage conceivably, and then after the six weeks are — MR MILLER: By lose leverage, you mean turn over hostages. QUESTION: No, sure – and I mean that’s, of course, like, something that I think — MR MILLER: Yeah. Right. (Laughter.) Just to be clear what the leverage is, it’s hostages. QUESTION: Surely – surely. Absolutely. MR MILLER: Civilian hostages they are holding, yeah. QUESTION: Absolutely. Of course. Of course. But after that – and of course this is Hamas’s fear – Israel finds it another prerogative to continue attacking, and of course then lead to more civilian death, which is of course another concern that I’m sure we all have. So what’s the response to that sort of — MR MILLER: So again, first of all, civilians shouldn’t be held as leverage in the first place. That’s the first response, and that’s just a base fact. But number two, we – number two, as we’ve said before, there was going to be a negotiation to get from phase one to phase two. Why not start phase one and get a ceasefire and stop the suffering, and then you can debate those issues, you can negotiate them? There would be an intense negotiation where we have said, the President himself said, that we would push Israel in those negotiations in the same way that Egypt and Qatar would push Hamas to engage in good-faith negotiations. I guess I just fail to see what the harm is by getting the ceasefire, stopping the daily death toll, surging humanitarian assistance in to the Palestinian people, allowing Palestinians to return to their homes, and then have that negotiation while the ceasefire was ongoing. Now, Hamas has chosen to continue the negotiations now and not start a ceasefire, and we regret that they made that decision. We think we could have continued the negotiations while the ceasefire started, but that’s the decision they’ve made, and they’re ultimately accountable for that. QUESTION: And then just clarifying – I’m sorry, I’m sorry – just one clarity just on the fact of numerous Israeli officials saying that they’d rather not stop until they complete their aims of the war. Is there any response to that? MR MILLER: Again, Israel put this forward – put forward this proposal that the President laid out that gets you an immediate ceasefire. Yes, there was going to have to be hard negotiations about how to get from phase one to phase two, and that includes how you end the war and what the conditions are for ending the war. And Israel would I’m sure have demands in that, as Hamas would have demands. But what’s the harm in taking the ceasefire and stopping the daily death and having that discussion later? We fail to see what that harm would be. We think Hamas should have agreed, we should have a ceasefire now, and then we could have had those discussions, but at least the daily death toll would stop and there’d be humanitarian assistance surging in. Unfortunately, that’s not where we are. With that, it’s two o’clock. I do have to wrap for the day because I know the President is speaking soon, if not already. Thanks, everyone. (The briefing was concluded at 2:05 p.m.) # # #
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