Transcripts For CSPAN Natl 20240703

Good afternoon, everybody. I have a couple of things at the top before i turn it over to the admiral rated as the conflict between israel and hamas continues resident biden has made it a top ready to ensure palestinians receive humanitarian aid. Something we have actively engaged on hooting calls in egypt and calls with netanyahu. We are glad to see the first convoys of humanitarian assistance over the weekend, cross the border into gaza and reach palestinians in need. And were grateful for partners involved in these efforts. It is important to keep rafah crossing in operation and aid flowing without diversion from hamas. Humanitarian assistance remains a critical and urgent need for palestinians in gaza. We know we know and we understand this, that much more is needed and this will remain a priority, a priority for us in the days and weeks ahead. I also wanted to say a few words about the supplemental request that we detailed to all of you on friday under President Bidens leadership. We have rallied a Global Response to putins invasion of ukraine and provided aid to israel following hamas barbaric terrorist attack. We need, we need, we now need congress to provide Additional Resources that will advance our National Security and support allies, our allies and partners in their fight against tyrants and terrorists. The supplemental the president put forward invests in American Defense Industrial Base to ensure our military readiness, strengthen the American Economy and create american jobs support israel as it protects itself against hamas helps ukraine defend against putins brutal invasion, provides humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians devastated by putins invasion. And hamass horrific attacks strengthens security and stability in the indo pacific provides alternatives to corrosive financing by prc. The prc strengthens Border Security and fights the flow of fentanyl. The world is watching and the American People expect their leaders to come together and deliver on these priorities. We will continue to work with members of both parties to address these needs in a bipartisan agreement in the weeks ahead. And with that, uh admiral john kirby from the National Security council is here to answer any questions that you have on israel and any other foreign related items. Good afternoon, everybody. Uh just to briefly recap events of the past few days. I thought it would be good to kind of catch up here after the weekend on friday. I think you all know we successfully secured the release of two americans that have been taken hostage by hamas during that horrific terrorist assault on the seventh of october and the president had chance to speak with them and with their families, as he told other families that he met in tel aviv, family members of others who have, who have been taken hostage. We have no higher priority than the safety of americans that are being held around the world and were going to continue around the clock to see if we can get them home with their families where they belong. It is literally an hour by hour effort here at the white house and at the state department to find out where these folks are and to try to make the effort to get them out and get them back. Of course, first convoys over the weekend of humanitarian assistance across that border and was able to reach palestinians in need. And as she also said, were going to continue those efforts going forward. Its important that the aid be sustainable and thats what were focused on. And of course, throughout the weekend, the president received briefings from his National Security team on all the latest developments. And yesterday, as you know, he convened calls with Prime Minister netanyahu, his holiness pope francis. And then of course, with the leaders of canada, france, germany, italy and the united kingdom. Im sure you all saw the joint statement from all those leaders that they released last night. I wont reiterate it, but you can hopefully take away from that a real clear consistency and unanimity for israels right to defend itself against terrorism while of course, adhering to International Humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians. Now, weve also seen over the course of the last few days, actually, the course of the last week, but certainly over the last couple of days of the weekend, an uptick in rocket and drone attacks by iranian backed proxy groups against military bases, housing us personnel in iraq and syria. And we are deeply concerned about the potential for any significant escalation of these attacks in the days ahead. At the direction of President Biden, the secretary of defense has ordered the military to take steps to prepare for this to ensure that were postured appropriately both in terms of being able to defend our forces and respond decisively as needed. The secretary of defense has directed two Carrier Strike groups to the region and we are now sending more air defenses to us air bases in the region. Now, we know these groups are supported by the irgc and the regime. We know iran continues to support hamas and hezbollah. And we know that iran is closely monitoring these events and in some cases, actively facilitating these attacks and spurring on others who may want to exploit the conflict for their own good or for that of iran. We know irans goal is to maintain some level of deniability here. But were not going to allow them to do that. We also are not going to allow any threat to our interests in the region to go unchallenged. We demonstrated last we demonstrated last week that we have and we use the military capable available to us to protect and defend those interests and those capabilities are getting bigger and better every day. As President Biden has said our message to any hostile actors seeking to escalate or widen this conflict is very simple. Dont do it. That will take some questions. Um john, is it your view that the israelis should begin their gaza offensive whenever they feel ready. Its our view that the Israeli Defense forces, steve need to decide for themselves how theyre going to conduct operations. Were not in the business of, of dictating terms to them and were certainly not going to be in the business here from the white house of previewing any, any future operations one way or the other that would be inappropriate that iran is actively facilitating these attacks. What are you seeing . What, what exactly are they doing . Their support for these . Iran backed proxies is no secret. Its pretty open and theyve tried to make, theyve made no secret of it funding resourcing in terms of providing the, the rockets and the uh and the munitions that they Fire Training for some of these guys. There is a, there is a connection between these, these groups and the i rgc, a very direct connection. We have reported that the administration has been urging israel to delay a Ground Invasion. Can you tell us whether other countries are making the same request . Is there a co ordinated effort . The nga wont speak for other nations and what communications they might be having with israel . I can tell you, we have since the beginning of the conflict in the early hours, maintain a level of communication with our israeli counterparts to ascertain their intentions, their strategy, their aims to see what their answers are to the kinds of tough questions that any military ought to be asking before you launch any kind of a major operation. Have you thought through the branches . Have you thought through the sequels . Have you thought through the unintended consequences . And so we are in active conversation with them about that. Weve seen a number of leaders travel to israel or commit to traveling to israel. Of course, the president himself. Is it your understanding that there would not be a Ground Invasion as long as there is a head of state in the country . That is a question for israeli officials to speak to mj again. I just dont want to be in the position where i am speaking for the Israeli Defense forces. And another quick topic. Why is it that people currently are not able to leave gaza right now . Do you have sort of an explanation as to why that humanitarian corridor for people to exit gaza. Why that isnt open is the obstacle hamas . Is it the egyptians . I think theres a lot of factors going into why theres no exit out. Were glad that stuffs going in as karim briefed you all, but we still want to see safe passage out and particularly for the several 100 american citizens that we know are in gaza and want to leave and ambassador satterfield is on the ground working this very, very hard. But theres a number of factors and i think security, certainly egyptian officials have spoken to this. I mean, theres, you know, theyve got legitimate security concerns and again, we just need to work through that. Can you tell us the latest on the status of hostages and the work to try to release additional hostages . Do you see a category of those being held who might be sort of the next available to be released if that were to take place . Can you give us a sense of what picture looks like . I wish i could, kelly, i really do. And these are all Great Questions but unfortunately, where we are right now in the process makes it impossible for us to publicly detail the efforts that are going on. We are grateful for all the help we got and we got help getting those two americans out the mother and daughter and were glad that uh that theyre ok and theyre, you know, going to be reunited with the families and, and come back home, but theres a bunch of others that arent now a small group. We still, we still think are americans. And then there are dozens and dozens from other countries and obviously israel as well. And theres just a lot of effort going on, a lot of conversations and discussions with partners in the region. And i think its just best if we dont that we have more show. Specificity on the number of americans. Its floated from a handful to as many as 10, anything more on that. I want to be careful here because the numbers, as you rightly said, have fluctuated since the last time i talked to you. Certainly. Now were glad to know that the number is less than less down by two, obviously. Um but we still have about 10 unaccounted for americans and its not exactly clear to us where those 10 people are. So i would still categorize it as about a handful. But, and i know thats not the specificity you want, but thats really as, as detailed as i think i should get today. One last issue there is a dual national from maryland young man who went to serve the id f who was killed in action. Can you speak to that situation if the president has reached the family or has any intention to to that there . Well, certainly offer our deepest condolences to the family. Thats, thats news. No, no, mom and dad ever want to get. Um, i dont have any communication to, to speak to one way or the other. But again, our, our, our thoughts and prayers go to the family. Sure. Post hamas gaza, if that were to happen, is there anything that you can share on what conversations the us is having on what that post hamas gaza would look like . Men who would run things . Thats going to be uh a conversation that uh is israeli officials, you know, need to start having amongst themselves. And um i think again without speaking for them, i dont think im going too far to say that the focus right now is on going after hamas where they are in gaza, getting humanitarian assistance in getting people out. Thats where our focus is. And i know the focus of our israeli counterparts is certainly on prosecuting these operations against hamas. The issue of governance in gaza certainly is not unimportant, but i, i wouldnt speak for the israelis in terms of how deeply theyre diving down into what that, what that needs to look like. We have had, we have talked to the israelis again about their aims and strategy and that includes some of the long term issues that, that are out ahead of them. But i think you can understand appropriately right now that the focus is on the operational picture. Can you say if saudi arabia has provided a list of requests for what it would like to see for those talks to start again between saudi arabia and israel . Im not tracking or aware of a specific threat. Now, youre talking post october 7th, im not aware of some sort of new list or homework assignment that theyve submitted. We still believe that those talks are important. We still want to pursue normalization. We understand that both in israel and of course, in riyadh, theres a different focus right now. We get that, but we still believe theres great value in pursuing normalization and we have every intention of keeping that going. Thank you. What kind of humanitarian aid would the us like to see reaching the palestinians before israel launches a Ground Invasion . Lets, can i bifurcate that question because i dont, im not going to sit here and assume that theres gonna be some sort of a Ground Invasion. And im certainly not going to speak to hypothetical timing if theres gonna be, lets just talk about humanitarian assistance at large. And you heard karen, we are getting food, water medicine in to gaza. Not enough. I mean, theres been, i think what three convoys, some little less than 60 trucks. Thats a good start. But it is just a start. We want to see it, keep going. And i think over the coming days youre going to continue to see convoys of trucks getting in. But its also, you know, fuel was also an issue. You need fuel to run the Power Generators in hospitals, you need fuel to run the pumps and in the desalination uh facilities so that people can drink fresh healthy water. So fuel is another thing that we are working on, whether or not there is a Ground Invasion. Do you view humanitarian aid getting there first as important . Whether or not theres a Ground Invasion . We believe that humanitarian assistance flowing to the people of gaza is critically important and it needs to go as soon as possible and as much as possible. Where does the president stand on this . Because there was some confusion over the weekend about whether or not he had said that yes, he does want israel to wait until humanity humanitarian assistance can get to the palestinians before any invasion. We have been, we have been Crystal Clear with our partners in the region including israel that we want to see humanitarian assistance flow. Theres been no change to our posture on that at all. But as i said, i think to steves question, were not dictating military terms to the Israeli Defense forces. They have a right and a responsibility to go after these terrorists and they certainly are going to do it in a way that they choose that they believe is appropriate to the threat. Were definitely going to support them in terms of providing the capabilities for them to continue to prosecute Hamas Terrorists. In fact, Security Assistance has continued to flow over the course of the weekend and it will, but were not dictating terms to them. So, thank you. So the un secretary general, the European Union Foreign Policy chief and several International Leaders are calling for a humanitarian ceasefire. Will we see the United States calling for a humanitarian force . What we want right now is make sure israel has the tools it needs to defend itself and to go after hamas and that humanitarian assistance keeps flowing. Now. Its started and its a good thing. We want to keep it going and keep it sustainable. Thats what were focused on. So you mentioned this joint statement yesterday where President Biden and several westernized asked israel to protect civilians, but the death toll in gaza is rising sharply. Does it look to you that israel is abiding by International Law . Are they listening to your advice . Were not going to parcel out each and every event that happens on the battlefield, especially since were not there. I can just tell you that there hasnt been a conversation that weve had with israeli counterparts and weve had them at all levels where we arent talking about, not just what they want to do but how they want to do it. John, two fridays ago, i reported that the us was urging israel to delay the Ground Invasion a day after the officials here issued statements to other outlets denying that was the case in the days week. Plus since other outlets have started to report the same information that i had. But today, youre not confirming any of those reports. My question is, arent you at all concerned that if the us is not clear with the public about what we are asking or suggesting to israel that they do here, that thats going to complicate getting this aid package through congress. I mean, you guys are asking for more than 105 billion which a portion of this goes toward israel. Are you concerned that not being clear with folks about what the us is advising israel to do will hamper support in congress for this aid. Weve been very clear and consistent about our support for israel and their ability to defend themselves. Jackie, weve been very clear and consistent about the fact that were going to keep providing Security Assistance so that they can do that. Weve been clear and consistent about the need for humanitarian assistance to flow and clear and consistent about our desire to get people out of gaza as well as to get our hostages home . I think weve been very clear and consistent throughout and that includes with members of congress and yes, we are going to need congressional support to continue to support israel. Weve got enough appropriations available to us for a while longer, how long is that while its going to depend on the expenditure rate and the kinds of operations that theyre conducting. So we desperately need congress to act on the supplemental request. Youve been asking tough questions of the israelis about their strategy here. Are you liking the answers that theyre giving you . No, im not going to talk about the details of the conversations that were having. Again, these have been clear and consistent conversations again, making sure that they have what they need and that they and that they are thinking through that we are asking them what their answers are to the kinds of questions that any military ought to be asking itself as it conducts operations. On the aid portion how for , instance, are you going to convince people that this is not going to get into hamas hands . When for instance, you know, we. Saw fraud with covid relief money in the u. S. And we are now talking about securing understanding with hamas, a terror group, about how humanitarian aid should be used and how can you convince people that that would be a worthwhile endeavor . We certainly share concerns about any diversion of humanitarian assistance for hamas purposes. I mean, for instance, fuel is a good example, you know that we know that they need fuel to be able to electrify and power up their tunnels. For instance, you know, keep the lights on we understand that were not blind to the potential concerns here over diversion, which is why ambassador satterfield is on the ground. His whole purpose is to make sure that that humanitarian assistance can get the Palestinian People. We have seen no indications as of today that any of the trucks that kim talked about, any of the material in those trucks have been diverted to hamas or been absconded by hamas that in fact, every indication that we have is that it has in fact gone to the Palestinian People who are in desperate need for it. I would remind folks that we have trusted partners on the ground, humanitarian aid organizations and of course, the Un Relief Agency is on the ground and they very much are taking, uh, uh, a personal stake, a professional, personal stake in making sure that that aid is getting, uh, where its needed and were, and were going to watch it. Obviously, were going to watch this closely. We, we dont want to see hamas benefit any more than anybody else does. Just following on that. How does the us go about knowing that it is getting to whos supposed to aid, is getting to who its supposed to get to and not hamas isnt taking a bit off the top. And then second, could you confirm that the president has, um, sent, uh, Lieutenant General james glynn and some other folks, um, to, um, advise show the israelis. Im gonna write these down because im gonna probably forget. But on your first question, uh as i said, were working with trusted partners on the ground, including the un. Thats the way we, we do it in so many countries around the world where we dont have a footprint. We dont have any regions of the world. We just, we dont have a footprint. I mean, were not on the ground to personally inspect these things, but we do have trusted partners on the ground, including the un and some of these aid organizations who will report what theyre seeing and where theyre taking this material and and whos getting it. So well stay in close touch with them. We all share the same desire that hamas not be able to divert any of this stuff for their own purposes. We all share that and its not just the United States. You said, how is the United States going to monitor the whole International Community has a stake here in making sure that the people of gaza get this food, water medicine and um and other vital needs met. Um on your second question, what i can tell you is that um that there are uh a few um relevant military officers with experience, the kinds of experience that uh that uh that we believe is, is appropriate to the sorts of operations that that israel is conducting and may conduct in the future to go over there to share some perspectives from their own experience and to ask the hard questions, the same hard questions that weve been asking of our israeli counterparts since the beginning. A few, a few. Thank you, admiral israel has repeatedly said that its top priority is destroying hamas. So what is americas top priority . Are the two countries on the same page . I think President Biden made that clear when we were over there is to make sure that israel has the tools and the capacity and the capabilities to go after Hamas Terrorists and to make sure humanitarian assistance flows in and to make sure we can get innocent civilians who want to leave gaza out including american citizens. Could you just outline how this would complicate getting the remaining hostages out and how it would impact american strategy again . I just dont think its wise for me to get up here and do a bunch of speculating and hypothesizing about operations that havent happened yet. Well let the israelis speak for themselves and for what operations theyre going to conduct. All i can tell you is were going to make sure that they have what they need to do it and that the humanitarian assistance keeps flowing. Are there any show less text differences because you outlined three Top Priorities for america . And israel has repeatedly said the top priority is destroying hamas. So how can you achieve all of the priorities from america. At the same time, israel gets their top priority. We agree that the top priority has got to be going after hamas. Theres no, theres no daylight here. We also think its important for humanitarian assistance to flow and for our hostages to get home with their families and were working all three of those things. Thank you. Have you been tracking new reporting coming out that hamas and the red cross are working together to exchange another 50 israeli and dual citizenship hostages. Is there anything you can say about that . No, i cannot. And then another question on iran, some officials have expressed concern over escalation, particularly with iran and irans foreign minister warned, quote, anything would be possible at any moment and the region will get out of control. So, have you seen any indication that iran is preparing to further expand this conflict . More so than we have already seen . I touched a little bit on that in my opening statement, we know that theyre supporting these groups. We know theyve supported hamas and hezbollah. We know theyre monitoring these events very, very closely and in some cases urging on some of these groups. And thats why i made it clear the president wants, does not want to see this conflict widen. We have added additional military capability into the region to deter any such action and we will act appropriately to protect and defend our National Security security interests in the region. You saw that just last week when a guided missile destroyer shot down missiles and drones that were potentially on their way into israel, we take those responsibilities seriously and anybody else in the region ought to be paying attention to that. Do you have an update on whether iran was directly involved in the october 7th attack on israel . Some israeli Officials Say that they have evidence but they have not presented any yet. I would say were in the same place we were. We know theres complicity here by iran as i just said, they have been supporting hamas for years but a couple of decades and hamas wouldnt be able to function or exist without iran. But i cant stand here before you and say that weve seen a particular piece of intelligence that that shows that they were participating in witting of directing what happened on october 7th. But again, nobodys doubting nobodys walking away from the fact that iran does bad things with bad people in that part of the world. How does the white house he chinas role in the israel Hamas Conflict and whats your reaction to china sending six warships to the middle east . Ill let china speak for their Foreign Policy in the region and, and they take, as ive seen them call for both sides to ratchet down the violence. Weve been clear about where we are and were on israels side here. Israel needs this support to go after Hamas Terrorists thats not going to change. And ill let them speak to their naval maneuvers and where theyre putting their ships,. I know of no particular conversations weve had bilaterally with other country thus far. John, speaking of the americans in gaza, some are being told that by the state department, by the administration to go to the border, we were told on saturday, they were told to go to the border, but they obviously could not leave. Are you still advising americans to go to the border . And you know, whats the hold up there . You have to talk to the state department. I cant speak for the communication that theyre having with american citizens there. What i can tell you is that we are working in this very, very hard to get them out of gaza again, through that, through rafah and ambassador satterfield literally is working this as you and i are speaking right now. And so we obviously, if we want to get him out, we want to have them available as close by as possible so that that can be affected in a very efficient way. But as for what specific messages the state department is sending today. And monday, youd have to talk to them about what President Biden said on friday at the fundraiser. He talked about the hamas attack being carried out to disrupt the normalization efforts between israel and saudi arabia. Can you talk more about what he meant by that . Is that the administrations position . We certainly cant discount the fact that that could have been, that could have been a goal here. I mean, look, hamas wants to wipe israel off the map. They simply just want to kill as many israelis as they can. That was the purpose of october 7th, uh, to just take life. Um, and it is perfectly possible that, uh, that there were other geopolitical goals here as the president , uh, alluded to because normalization between israel and saudi arabia, you can see that that would not be in the interest of terrorist groups like hamas, hamas. It certainly wouldnt be in the interest of their backer in tehran. Do you think that the reason why i cant specify specifically with the top reason im not in the minds of the terrorists, but the president was certainly laying out a very real potential factor behind what they did. Yeah, thanks. The president has spoken a lot about, um, you know, the work hes done in building a coalition behind behind ukraine and supporting ukraine. Are there any concerns that us support for israel and, you know, as civilian casualties rise in gaza, is there any concern that that could undermine support for the us stance in ukraine with countries in the global south, for example, brazil in asia and africa who, you know, might be in terms of their, their views on the supporting. Both right now, both countries is important to President Biden. Thats why we submitted a supplemental funding request last week. Um its important that both get the support that they need, not just from the United States, but from the International Community. And uh and were, were dedicated to that outcome. Were gonna stay dedicated to that, to that effort. Yes. Uh im going to ask you about if there are concern in the administration in regards to this funding that you guys requested for congress. Even the fact that some of the leadership of the Republican Caucus is saying that they would like to approve only a package for israel and a separate package for ukraine. Now, ill let the members of Congress Speak for themselves in terms of how they want to move this supplemental request forward. We submitted together because we believe all of it is important. Every dollar that we ask for for the supplemental funding is of an urgent nature and we urge congress to move on all of it as quickly as possible. Thank you with regards to american hostages. You noted that there were conversations and discussions with partners in the region and on friday after those two americans were thankfully free. The president thanked the israelis and qataris for their partnership in this work. Are the israelis or qataris negotiating with hamas on our behalf . And would the United States ever negotiate with hamas . Im not going to go any more detail about the discussions and the negotiations to get those americans home. If i were to do that for you today, i might actually put at risk opportunities to get more people out and im just not going to do that. Theres been an uptick on the right among some republicans who have called for students or foreign nationals who are demonstrating in some of these pro palestine demonstrations or, you know, allegedly pro hamas demonstrations to have their student visas pulled or face deportation. What is the administrations remark, response to those kinds of remarks . That kind of rhetoric . I would just, i would just tell you, you dont have to agree with every sentiment that is expressed in a free country like this to, to stand by the, the, the, the First Amendment and the idea of peaceful protest. Ill leave it at that. Can you talk about the degree to which uh, uh the, your efforts to get the supplemental funding and work on the crisis are complicated by the fact that we still dont have a speaker after all these days. Uh it would certainly be helpful to have a speaker of the house, um, uh, procedure. Thats, uh, thats how you get new legislation to the floor. Ill let the House Republicans speak to their process and what theyre doing. We know that there is significant bipartisan support for continuing to support ukraine and continuing to support israel both chambers. By the way, we know theres a lot of bipartisan support there. The president is urging congress to act as soon as possible. Thank you, mr john. Weve seen that the Prime Minister benin netanyahu in his last trip to northern israel is threatening the whole lebanon if hezbollah enters the war from the north front, you know, very well that the lebanese people has no power over writing hezbollahs decision. If he wants to enter or not, why want to pay the whole price . If a Militia Group like hezbollah, dont listen to us, dont listen to the government unless were asking a civil war, unless we are asking for the Lebanese Army to interfere and stop hezbollah from doing so. So why we need to pay the whole price based on hezbollahs action . I didnt understand the exact question. As lebanese not pro hezbollah, why do we need to pay the price of hezbollah and to the war . Is going to bring to the stone age . And do you think were all happy to see that happening in our home . We know that hezbollah does not speak for the lebanese people that brought the vast majority of the people of lebanon. We know that any more than hamas doesnt speak for the aspirations of the vast majority of the palestinians living in gaza. We have said from the very beginning, we dont want to see any actor try to take advantage of the situation to widen or deepen the conflict. And that certainly includes hezbollah. And thats why the president has added additional military forces to the region and more forces will be coming in days and weeks ahead to try to deter any actor from widening or deepening this conflict. I understand the question. I dont think at this stage, its helpful to speculate about something that hasnt happened and hopefully will not happen. What i can tell you is we know we have significant National Security interests in the region and were going to work to protect and defend those interests with additional military capability in any actor who is beginning to think about entering in and widening or deep in this conflict ought to take a look at how seriously we are taking our responsibilities. So i think more military and so can we understand what is the Job Description for these two ships . Is only to supply military aid for israel also could be impossible to enter the war if anything had break in that region. Just a bit of information regarding that matter. First of all, its not two ships, its two Carrier Strike groups. Theres a lot of ships in the strike group, i can speak from experience on that one. You got the Gerald R Ford strike group thats in the eastern mediterranean. You saw secretary of defense uh austin announce that the Eisenhower Strike Group which is still crossing the atlantic right now, uh will operate for a time in the med and then shes going to go on through and into the Central Command area of responsibility, the, the middle east of the gulf region. They are there for two purposes and im going to say it again. Youre probably sick of me saying this, but its true. One is to deter any other actor from widening, deepening this conflict. And two is to make sure that we are ready, poised and able to protect and defend our National Security interests in the region writ large. Thats what theyre there for in. In regards to the emergency supplemental. Youve spoken before about the emergency need for funding for ukraine. I was wondering if you can talk about what you see about the urgency for funding israel. Why that portion of the aid that you are requesting is so necessary right now because if were, if we dont get relief, john, uh we could potentially have a lapse in our ability to provide those kinds of munitions to israel, we have existing appropriations Funds Available to continue to support israel for a time for a short time. Again, i cant be perfectly specific because a lot of it depends on the pace of their operations and what theyre going through. We also need to make sure we have appropriations to replenish dod stocks. We have National Security interests around the world as well that we have to meet and weve provided an awful lot out of our inventory. We need to be able to replenish that. Uh but its, its, its vitally important. And then uh just to put a fine point on this, i mean, the, the, the figure we asked for, which is like, you know, more than 14 billion was directly after consultations with our israeli counterparts. We didnt pull, i know were out of thin air. It absolutely was a result of the conversations that we had with the israelis about the kinds of needs that they have for as long as they think they might need them on the hostages. A spokesperson for hamas has suggested that hamas would release all of the hostages that are in gaza right now in exchange for a cease fire. Do you view that as a credible offer . We can take anything that hamas says with a huge grain of salt . We dont take anything that they say at face value. Heres an idea and its just an idea, ill throw out there, they can release them all. Now, just take, just let them go now because these people didnt do anything wrong. Theyre just innocent civilians being caught up in this conflict. Let them go. Now, now i recognize thats not going to happen, which is why were going to keep working with our partners in the region to do what we can to get them released. Thank you very much. Can you confirm reports suggesting that the Chinese Foreign minister wang yi is planning to visit washington this week. And i was wondering if you can tell, tell us the objective of this meeting with the chinese. Theres been some discussions about uh some some some potential meeting uh with uh with wang yi uh maybe as soon as uh as this week. But i think the state department will have more to say about that later today. Also on the philippine incident with china, what message is the white house sending to china about the incident yesterday that happened between china and the vessel collusion incident that the philippines and china. What message are we sending to china . What do you say to china about this conflict . Uh well, so youre calling it a conflict. Im not aware of a collision, so ill have to go back to the team and get some more information. But just broadly speaking, weve been very clear about the intimidating coercive and frankly, in some cases, reckless behavior by the air and Maritime Forces as well as their so called coast guard. In terms of bullying the navies and coast guards and Fishing Vessels of neighboring states. Weve been very clear thats unacceptable, it needs to stop. But i cant tell you about this specific event because this is the first ive heard of it. John, you were talking in addition to the um kerry strike groups that there would be more forces in the days and weeks ahead. Can you outline what you were talking about what that might look like . Um, all right, i want to know how that would be consistent with the president s promise back in 2019 that hes getting out of the forever war. If youre adding more troops this looks like the exact opposite. The whole reason were sending that stuff over there is to prevent any widening or deepening of this particular war. Its all about deterrence. And you heard the secretary of defense talk, its not just about naval forces. Were adding some air Defense Systems and some aircraft squadrons to the region as well. Its all about preventing war, its all about preventing it. Thank you. There is no doubt that the us is known for human rights values around the world. Dont you think the us has delayed this time as far as human rights are preserved . What is happening in palestine since day one . No, i couldnt disagree more with you, sir. Not at all. I mean, from, from the very beginning, early hours of this conflict, we made clear, not just to our israeli counterparts but to the American People and people around the world that we, we take the respect for innocent life seriously. And we have been talking about the law of war since the beginning. You can go back to the first statement that the president made after the attacks of october 7 and see it right there. Its been a part and parcel of every conversation that weve had and we have been working hard. We have been spearheading the efforts to get that humanitarian assistance in. It came those first truck convoys that karine talked about came after President Biden spoke to Prime Minister netanyahu in tel aviv and then to president sisi on the phone coming home on air force one on wednesday night to get that stuff moving. And within a couple of days i had some road repairs. I had to do it started flowing. No, sir. We have been working the issue of human and civil rights and protection for innocent life since the very beginning. The rallies that happened in some of those countries which are the allies of the United States. Some of these rallies were in very huge numbers. Dont you think President Biden need to play a role towards peace . Instead of saying that he could handle two wars at a time . Does that give a good impression to fight two wars at a time . Instead of working towards peaceful things from the beginning of this administration . We have been working for a more integrated cooper, a peaceful, stable and prosperous middle east and im not going to reiterate for you the list of accomplishments, but theyre all there. Im happy to send you an email with them. We have been working hard on trying to get the middle east to be a more stable, prosperous region thats not going to change. Now, obviously, you know, these attacks on october 7th were horrific and the israelis have a right and a responsibility to respond to those attacks. I think everybody understands that. And so we also understand that the focus of countries in the region, particularly israel is going to be on that. Its our focus too, but that doesnt mean were going to give up. It doesnt mean were just going to walk away from it. Still believe in the promise of a two state solution and were still going to continue to work for that. We still believe as a matter of fact, key to eventually getting a two state solution is normalization between israel and saudi arabia. And were still going to work on that as well. Why is the president not focusing in these last couple of weeks on his agenda . That was basically for a two nation. I feel like the last two weeks, this war has lowered what the president was aiming to, to bring normalization through two states. And that i just told you, sir, theres no change in our desire to see a two state solution. Theres absolutely no change in our efforts to try to get normalization between israel and saudi arabia as a stepping stone to it a two state solution, but were not blind to reality right now. Israel is fighting to defend itself against Hamas Terrorists and were trying to help them do that. Right now, the focus of the region is on whats going on. And right now, the president s focus appropriately, sir, is on trying to prevent and widen and deepen this conflict to deter a larger war so that we can get back to the table and we can move forward on those key diplomatic steps. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Try to keep john as long as we can, but uh the president is going to be starting his event pretty soon. If folks have any other additional questions, im happy to take them go on them on the state visit. Was there any thought of postponing because of the war in the middle east and just more broadly, is there any concern that such a celebration come off a little tone deaf concerning all the suffering both in israel and gaza . I appreciate the question and obviously weve seen some of these reportings. Look, we believe that there is no more important time now to have the this state visit with our uh with the with the australians and to demonstrate of course, our strength and partnership and alliances, right . As we continue to have conversations with our partners have conversations with our allies, right . As we are continuing to see the invasion that continues in ukraine, right . So having these conversations with one of our allies like australia is incredibly important. And so thats what youre going to see youre going to see two leaders come together, continuing to talk about the partnership that theyre hoping to uh to continue to push forward. And so look, it doesnt stop the work that the president has continued to do, whether its these diplomatic conversations, these important bilateral visits or whether its domestic issues here right here in this country. And so the president as he has been doing is going to continue do the work of the president to do the work of the commander in chief. And this is no different. One more real quick. U aw expanded its strike today. Is it time for Gene Sperling and acting secretary . So to be on the ground in detroit . Well, as you know, theyve been, they have been to detroit in the past couple of weeks, they have been closely engaged with uaw and the big three that that continues, obviously, theyre not part of the negotiation. Theyre offering any assistance that the big three or u aw may need. Look, we, we believe the president believes that collective bargaining is incredibly important for those sides to come together and continue to have those negotiations continue to have those conversations and we are here to assist in any way. And we have been, we have been doing that but again, collective bargaining so that there is, you know, hopefully that there is a win, win uh agreement. Uh and if its done in good faith, we have seen it in the past two years under this Administration Work out in different scenarios. And so thats what were hoping that continues. Go ahead. Was the president briefed on samantha wall. The leader of a synagogue in detroit was so obviously, um our hearts go out uh to uh to the family uh to the families there. Its a devastating, devastating um um uh news story. The president obviously is, is just like everyone else is paying close attention and saw those reports. I dont have anything else to add. Obviously, the investigation continues. And we are willing to assist it anyway. What is the level of concern about antisemitism in light of everything going on with israel russian mark . We have not seen Credible Threats. His questions about Credible Threats and so i just want to make sure the that is out there read muslims and those perceived to be muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate fueled attacks. And certainly President Biden understands that many of our muslim, arab, arab americans and palestinian american loved ones and neighbors are worried about the hate being directed at their communities. And that is something you heard the president speak to in his uh address last thursday. The president directed his team to prioritize prevention and disruption of emerging threats that could harm the jewish, muslim and arab american or other communities. And that is something that the president has sought to do. Since day one as you know the president ran on protecting communities but bringing people together, protecting the soul of the nation. That is something of the president take seriously. Were going to continue to denounce any sort of hate towards any american here. And so thats what were going to continue to be steadfast on again. He has advised his homeland Security Team to make sure they are on top of this read are there specific dims youre hoping to get out of the australian meeting this week or is it more of a consultation . So well have more on the agenda for the meeting. I certainly dont want to get ahead of the deliverables that will come out on wednesday, but certainly well have more to share. And obviously we tend to have these background calls at nsc leads. And so well have some more in depth on the priorities and the agenda and what were looking to do. Thank you. I know john kirby addressed the protests on College Campuses and i appreciate that. The president respects First Amendment rights to protest, but does the president view anti israel protests and sentiment on College Campuses as anti semitism . So, look, im not going to get into whats happening across the country at different universities, not going to get into the specifics as the admiral said the First Amendment. Right. Right. Thats what something peaceful protest is really part of, part of our democracy, being able for folks to express feelings. Im not going to get into any uh specifics on that. The president has been very clear in wanting to make sure that jewish americans, muslims are protected. That is what he believes in that they have the right to live their lives and feel protection to feel like theyre able to be part of a community. The president have been very, very clear on denouncing any type of violence. And so as it relates to peaceful protesting, people have the right to do that, but were just not going to get into blow by blows of whats going on across the country. The president has been very clear. The president said silence is complicity so theres anti semitic letters being sent by students or protests, sentiment, of course the president is against antisemitism. This is a president that youve heard me say wants to protect communities, whether it is the jewish community, Arab American Community the palestinian , community. This is someone who is going to speak out against anti semitism, of course, but youre asking me, you were kind of conflating the two. You were asking me about protest and you were asking me about this question. I hear you and we are going to do announce antisemitism. At the same time people have the right to peacefully protest read but we in this administration are going to always denounce anti semitism, any form of hate, any form of hate, whether its against the jewish community, right . Antisemitism against the muslim community, our American Community or the palestine. We are going to denounce any form of hate that comes towards those communities as it relates to protest, peaceful protest. People have the right to do that. This administration is going to be worse for him denouncing antisemitism. A new Harvard Harris poll just came out which showed that a slim majority, 51 of 18 to 24 year olds in the United States think that the violence in israel can be justified by the grievance of palestinians. I know that youve been unequivocal in saying that the president is going to denounce anti semitism and he has, and he has is there anything in particular that the administration is planning to do to take this argument to those College Students or the those younger generations who seem to be open to the idea that there are two sides to this thing . I dont have anything to lay out on any specific conversations or outreach that the president is going to do to students. As you know, we have an office of Public Engagement here. We have other offices here at the white house that is constantly engaging with communities, including the young community. I just dont have anything specific to your question on the president s schedule to do that. I have not called on jackie. Go ahead way in the back. When it comes to different wars admiral kirby made it clear, deterrence. Send these strike groups to the mediterranean so that no one else gets involved. But it seems like our deterrence in russia did not work our deterrence with north Korea Building up its stockpile didnt work. Now here in the middle east, our deterrence hasnt worked. What are we doing to make our deterrents actually have teeth . I mean, look, i would look in ukraine specifically as you mentioned with russia, remember the first days of that, of that war or of that invasion, russia was supposed to take down and take over and it was because of what this president was able to do to bring together more than 50 nations, allies and partners and continue to provide the assistance that ukraine has to fight off whats going on in their country. It has been impressive. Youve all reported how impressive that the ukrainian people have been. And so that is going to continue, that is continued to support to ukraine. Thats why we put forth the supplemental, the supplemental request last week to hopefully to continue to give those Security Assistance to ukraine. And look as we, as it relates to israel, the admirals spoke to that on what were trying to make sure that israel has what it needs to defend itself and were going to continue and lets not forget the humanitarian aid that has to go into gaza and that is something. Remember the president and admiral said this, the president went to israel had the conversation with the Prime Minister, also had conversation with president sisi and look what hes been able to do. Weve seen multiple convoys go in and provide the humanitarian aid. Look, we are going to continue , of course the president is going to make sure that we are there for earners and allies, that will continue to that will not end and that is what youre seeing the president do every day. I understand youre saying that hes rallied the troops and brought allies together and that all makes sense. But i guess again, the origin of my question was why arent we doing a better job preventing these wars in the first place . The admiral spoke to this when he talked about the middle east, our goal has been a prosperous and peaceful middle east read he literally went into speaking about what the goal has been and what were going to continue to do, make sure that there is peace, right . Make sure that we bring our allies and partners together, that doesnt stop. But at the same time, right, if russia is going to invade ukraine may have to be there for ukraine. Trying to take over sovereignty, democracy, we have to be there. If we have to be there for israel as they, as they fight fighting off a terrorist organization, right . Innocent people are being killed and so the president is going to be there for that. And so look, it doesnt stop us, deter us from what were trying to do more broadly in having to metaconversations read australia is coming, were going to continue the conversation on how we are going to help ukraine and continue to be partners and allies. But look, were going to do the job that is at hand. Thats what the president is focused on. Thank you. We havent really in this briefing and weve been mainly covering Foreign Policy, the president s event that he has coming up, which is on a domestic investment part of his agenda. Does the president see any frustration in the fact that so much of the attention is on Foreign Policy, the domestic agenda is less in the news on a daytoday basis, particularly with the middle east or is that the reality of where the world is . I mean, it is the reality of where we are and whats being reported by all of you, right . Its just the reality of where we are, look, but it doesnt stop the president , like you said for today, right, making announcements thats important to the American People, right . The American People want us to see them delivering, whether its the economy, whether its health care, whatever issues that, that is important to them, its the part the president s gonna make a big announcement in a couple of minutes that has gotten great coverage on what he is trying to do and be announcing today and you know, it does not stop the president from doing the job he has to do every day and youve seen him do that whether it is Foreign Policy, domestic issues, he tries to hit that every day. User the president talking about it every day. Incredibly important issues that are top of mind for americans that the president is not going to stop talking about and as you know the president has multiple things to do all at once and that is what you will see him do today, wednesday when he welcomes the australian Prime Minister and thats what you saw him do last week. Not just that, had presentations with the president of egypt, making sure we are getting humanitarian aid to gaza. 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