Does Biden Believe Netanyahu Is ‘Acting In Good Faith?’: Reporter Grills Kirby On Ceasefire Deal

2 months ago

During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby was asked about the implications of the death of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and the hostages in Gaza.

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Transcript

00:00You said there's a team in the region from the U.S.

00:03You've said there are interested counterparts to speak to.

00:08Who are they, and why would they show up to these talks,

00:14given that the guy who was heading the talks for Hamas is now dead?

00:19What reason do they have to poke their heads up above ground?

00:22And then I have a second one.

00:24As I also said, it's too soon to know what these reports are going to mean for the ceasefire deal.

00:29What we do know is we have a team in the region.

00:31What we do know is we want to keep having these conversations,

00:34and we believe they're still worth having.

00:36We also haven't seen any indications at 2.07 on Wednesday afternoon here, the 31st of July,

00:43that the process has been completely torpedoed and it ain't worth pursuing.

00:48So we're going to keep pursuing it.

00:50On the process being torpedoed completely or otherwise,

00:55my colleagues and I have spoken to family members of hostages who are still being held,

01:00and the view among many of them is that Netanyahu and his government do not want to deal,

01:07and Netanyahu in particular does not want to deal because if there is a deal and the war ends,

01:13his government collapses and he possibly continues on trial for corruption and goes to prison.

01:20Does the President still believe that the prime minister is acting in good faith here?

01:26Based on the constructive conversations that we had with the prime minister last week,

01:30we still believe that this is a worthy endeavor.

01:33We still believe that the gaps can be narrowed, the details can be fleshed out, and a deal can be had.

01:38Now again, it's too soon to know what these recent events over the last 24, 48 hours are going to do to the process.

01:44I don't want to sound overly sanguine here,

01:48but we still believe the deal on the table is worth pursuing and the hostages need to come home,

01:53and we're not going to stop trying to work on that.

01:57Those conversations, all of them took place before the events of the last few days.

02:04Is the President open to changing his view based on what has happened?

02:10I've never known President Biden to ever not be willing to look at things with a fresh set of eyes.

02:17And as I said earlier, it's just too soon to know with the reports coming out of the region

02:23what kind of impact there's going to be on the ceasefire deal.

02:25What I can tell you he hasn't changed his mind on is that we want to get the deal, that we want to pursue it,

02:31that the deal on the table is a good one, both sides ought to accept it,

02:34they ought to sit down in earnest and hash through these details that have to be fleshed out

02:39and close the gaps that we believe can be closed, and let's move forward, let's get phase one in place.

02:45He hasn't changed his mind on that, not at all.

Does Biden Believe Netanyahu Is ‘Acting In Good Faith?’: Reporter Grills Kirby On Ceasefire Deal

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