Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview published by The New York Times on Saturday that he’s not worried that the world might view him as a genocide supporter for his role in supporting Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Blinken was asked, “Do you, Secretary Blinken, worry that perhaps you have been presiding over what the world will see as a genocide?”
He replied, “No. It’s not, first of all. Second, as to how the world sees it, I can’t fully answer to that. But everyone has to look at the facts and draw their own conclusions from those facts.”
The interview comes after several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have concluded Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a conclusion rejected by Blinken’s state department.
Blinken claimed to be concerned about the massive civilian casualties in Gaza but also defended US support for the slaughter, which he called Israel’s “just defense” from the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. “We have been, and we remain fundamentally committed to Israel’s defense,” he said.
The secretary of state also defended the Biden administration’s actions related to the proxy war in Ukraine, which he framed as a success even though there’s no path to a Ukrainian military victory and hundreds of thousands have died in the conflict.
When asked if it was time to end the war, Blinken said the decision was up to Ukraine. “These are decisions for Ukrainians to make. They have to decide where their future is and how they want to get there,” he said.
However, in the early days of the war, the US and its allies discouraged Ukraine from signing a peace deal with Russia, and now Kyiv stands to lose much more territory than if it reached an agreement in 2022.
