At the State Department, a brawl actually broke out between spokesman Matthew Miller and a number of reporters over the Israeli siege of Gaza during yesterday’s State Department briefing. One reporter noted that President Joe Biden said that Israel should abide by international law. “Does that, in your view, mean that Israel must end its cutoff of water, electricity, food, and medicine to the people in Gaza?” he asked. “I will say that, as the President made clear, Israel has suffered from a brutal terrorist attack. Israel has the right to defend itself,” Miller said in response. “It has the right to take action against the terrorists who launched this brutal attack and killed Israeli civilians and killed American civilians, killed mothers and children and babies, and kidnapped children.... As the President made clear, we always encourage all of our allies and partners to act in strict accordance with international law. That is what democracies do. And I would just point out that of course is not what Hamas did.…”
The gist of the back-and-forth that followed was that the reporter repeatedly asked Miller if the U.S. was calling on Israel to cease cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies to Gaza, to which Miller repeatedly avoided the question by replying only that Israel has the right to defend itself. Miller refused to confirm the Palestinian death toll or even recognize the 75 years of Israeli brutality against the Palestinians. He refused to consider whether or not the Palestinians had any legitimate grievances against Israel.
