Former State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has said that Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, an admission that comes after he spent his time in the Biden administration providing cover for Israeli atrocities in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Miller made the comments on a Sky News podcast when asked if he thought Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. “I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes,” he said.
From the podium at the State Department, Miller repeatedly claimed that there wasn’t enough proof to conclude that Israel was committing war crimes despite the overwhelming evidence, and justified continued US support for the slaughter of Palestinians.
“At the podium, you’re not expressing your personal opinion, you’re expressing the conclusions of the United States government. The United States government had not concluded they have committed war crimes,” Miller said.
Miller admitted that he believed Israel committed war crimes while he was in the State Department, but “qualified” his answer, claiming it wasn’t clear whether it was Israeli state policy to commit war crimes or if they had been committed only by individual members of the military.
But Miller also admitted there hasn’t been any accountability for the war crimes committed by the Israeli military. “We have not yet seen them hold sufficient numbers of the military accountable, and I think it’s an open question whether they’re going to,” he said.
Unlike Miller, many State Department officials in the Biden administration resigned over the US’s support for Israel’s genocidal war. One of those officials, Hala Rharrit, the former Arabic language spokeswoman for the State Department, said Miller was a liar, pointing to him blaming Hamas for the lack of a ceasefire deal when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly the obstacle to a deal.
“As to Matthew Miller, I’m going to be unequivocal: He’s lying. And I know, I realize it’s quite a forceful thing for me to say, but as a former diplomat, I can assure that,” Rharrit said in October 2024.
Miller had also been called out by journalists for frequently appearing to be smiling when discussing the situation in Gaza during press briefings. He also once made a joke and laughed about Israel failing to meet a US request to allow for aid into Gaza.
