State Department spokesman Matt Miller on Monday made a joke and laughed when pressed about Israel failing to meet US requests to allow more aid into Gaza as it’s imposing a starvation blockade on the northern part of the Strip.
The Biden administration sent a letter to Israeli officials on October 14 that gave them 30 days to allow more aid deliveries into Gaza, a move dismissed by a former State Department official as a public relations stunt since the deadline falls after the presidential election.
Since the letter was sent, the situation for Palestinians has only gotten worse, and October marked a record low in the number of aid trucks entering Gaza. The US letter said Israel should allow 350 aid trucks into Gaza per day, and Israel hasn’t gotten remotely close to that.
When asked about the aid levels, Miller acknowledged Israel has “failed” to meet US requests so far but said there was still time until the 30-day deadline and that the US wouldn’t give a “grade” to Israel just yet. “It’s not the end of the semester. You don’t give out – you don’t hand out grades in the middle,” he said while laughing.
Matt Lee, a reporter for The Associated Press, said in response, “I suspect that the levity is a little bit inappropriate.”
Miller then said the situation in Gaza has not been “good enough” for some time. “The situation has not improved sufficiently in the 21, 22 days, whatever it is since we sent that letter,” he said.
But the US has continued to provide weapons to Israel, ignoring foreign assistance laws that prohibit military aid to countries that intentionally block aid deliveries. In the letter sent to Israeli officials, the Biden administration said there may be “implications” under US foreign assistance laws if Israel failed to meet its requests, but there was no explicit threat to cut military aid.
Miller has refused to say if there would be any consequences for Israel at the end of the 30-day period. When asked again on Monday what the US might do, Miller said, “I don’t want to forecast in any way what it is that we’ll do at the end of those 30 days.”
