A senior official in the administration of former US President Joe Biden admitted yesterday that Israel has undoubtedly “committed” war crimes “in the Gaza Strip, but he linked these crimes to personal abuses and not to a state’s orientation, he said.
This came in unprecedented statements made by Matthew Miller, a spokesman for the US State Department during the Biden administration, in an interview with the Bodcast “Sky News”, which was reported by Hebrew media, including the newspaper “Israel Hume” and “Times of Israel”.
20 months ago, Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and 3 months ago, a systematic starvation began and prevented all international institutions from introducing supplies.
“There is no doubt that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza,” Miller said, adding that “Israeli soldiers committed in the Strip a act that is not in line with international law, but they were not submitted to trial.”
When asked whether there was genocide in Gaza, where Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians since October 2023 and caused the risk of starvation, Miller said he “does not believe that it constitutes a genocide, but he expressed his certainty about war crimes.”
The duty of reservation
But Miller distinguished between the state’s methodological policies and individual military actions, noting that the Israeli soldiers committed war crimes in specific incidents, and not as part of a deliberate government policy.
The former spokesman admitted his former position, explaining that he could not express his personal opinions from the platform.
“When you are on the platform, you are not expressing your personal opinion. You express the conclusions of the United States government,” Miller said.
He pointed out that the United States government has not officially concluded that Israel committed war crimes, and criticized the Israeli accountability measures, saying, “We have not seen them holding sufficient number of military personnel.”
He concluded his speech by saying that “the question is whether they (the government of Israel) will do so one day.”
Miller, who occupied his position until the end of Biden, was the official voice of US foreign policy, and as part of his duties, he was asked to clarify the positions of the American administration towards Israel, Gaza and Ukraine.
With American support, since October 20, 2023, Israel has committed genocide crimes in Gaza, which left more than 179,000 among a martyr and a wounded of the Palestinians, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing.
Source : Israeli press + Anatolia Agency