'Do They Have A Right To Freedom?': Reporter Grills State Dept Spox On Palestinian Resistance

3 months ago

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel was asked about Palestinian self-determination.

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Transcript

00:00Yeah, let me just – a couple of things I'm trying to understand here.

00:04You keep referring to Israel's right to defend itself and the groups like Hezbollah

00:08and others, Asmaland group, Afraxi groups, and so on.

00:11Don't you think you strip the people of the region of their right to fight for their

00:17occupied territories?

00:19After all, Israel occupies parts of Lebanon, occupies the Golan Heights.

00:22That is an occupied Syrian territory, occupies the West Bank, indeed occupies Gaza.

00:27You keep saying that Israel has the right to defend itself.

00:30What about the people of the region that have suffered for, what, decades now, maybe close

00:35to 60 years under occupation?

00:36Do they have a right to freedom, the right to defend a military occupation?

00:41Let's unpack that for a second, Said.

00:44What we're talking about – let's just use Hamas for example – is a – we're

00:49talking about a terrorist group, a terrorist group that has time and time and time and

00:53time again made clear that integral to their mission statement is the destruction of the

01:00State of Israel.

01:01They have said, not hyperbole, that if they are able to, they would repeat October 7th

01:08over and over and over again if they can.

01:11And so just let me be very clear about this.

01:13When we talk about the Palestinian people, when we talk about what is in the best interest

01:16of the Palestinian people, actions that we think that are reflective of the will of the

01:21Palestinian people, I do not believe, this administration does not believe, this Secretary,

01:26this President does not believe that Hamas is acting in the will, in the interest of

01:32the Palestinian people.

01:34Do – if you – is the question do the Palestinian people deserve equal measures of dignity and

01:39justice?

01:40Absolutely.

01:41That is exactly why we have so fervently championed a two-state solution, one that would give

01:47equal measures of dignity and justice to the Palestinian people, one that would give

01:51the Palestinian people their own state next to an Israeli state as well.

01:58So that's what we're talking about, Said.

02:00I do not believe, and this administration does not believe, that these terrorist groups

02:04are acting in the interest of whether it be the Palestinian people or the Lebanese people

02:09in the context of Hezbollah either.

02:13So do you believe that the Palestinians have an equal measure to live free of military

02:18occupation?

02:19Of course we do, Said, and that is exactly why we have so strongly and fervently talked

02:24about the need for a two-state solution, because there is a need for equal measures of dignity

02:31and justice for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

02:33And when we have seen action, Said, when we have seen action that is inconsistent with

02:38whether that be in Gaza, whether that be in the West Bank or elsewhere, we have drawn

02:43attention to it and will continue to do so.

02:46But this administration does not believe that terrorist groups like Hamas or Hezbollah are

02:51acting in the interest of the Palestinian or the Lebanese people, respectively.

'Do They Have A Right To Freedom?': Reporter Grills State Dept Spox On Palestinian Resistance

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