Not that this should surprise you, but both State Department spokesman Matt Miller and the National Security Council’s strategic communications director John Kirby insist that no genocide is taking place in Gaza and that South Africa’s filing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for violating the Genocide Convention is “not productive” and without merit. At the Jan. 3 State Department briefing, spokesman Matt Miller was asked point-blank whether State believes there is genocide taking place in Gaza, in light of South Africa’s filing at the ICJ, and also whether there’s concern that any State Department officials “might be roped into this prosecution?” To the latter, Miller said “no.”
After spouting his usual lying blather about how upset the U.S. is about the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, and how much it is trying to do to address it, Miller stated that, of course, genocide is a “heinous atrocity, one of the most heinous atrocities that any individual can commit. Those are allegations that should not be made lightly, and as it pertains to the United States, we are not seeing any acts that constitute genocide.” In a follow-up, the questioner asked, “Has the State Department determined that acts of genocide are not taking place?” Miller stammered and repeated, “We have not at this point seen acts that constitute genocide, no.”
Asked again whether there’s a State Department process that’s been completed to determine that fact, Miller replied, “That is a determination by the State Department that I just represented here at the podium.” Then asked whether “you are seeing … crimes against humanity or war crimes taking place?” he replied, “I don’t have any assessment to make on those.” The U.S. has no dialogue with South Africa presently, he replied to another reporter. As to whether the U.S. “objects to the fact that South Africa brought this” to the ICJ, he replied, “We don’t think it’s a productive step at this step [sic]—at this time.”
Speaking at yesterday’s White House briefing, John Kirby, the National Security Council strategic communications director, dug his hole deeper. Referring to South Africa’s filing at the ICJ and Israel’s charge that South Africa had committed “blood libel” with the case, a reporter asked, “Does Washington agree? And where does this put Washington and Pretoria in terms of their relations?” Kirby: “We find this submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”