Latest news with #Trump100
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Hamas and Israel respond to former Biden official who said Israel 'without a doubt' committed war crimes in Gaza
Hamas and the Israeli government have responded to an interview on Sky News in which a former official in the Biden White House said Israel had "without a doubt" committed war crimes in Gaza. A statement from Hamas said comments by Matt Miller, who as State Department Spokesman articulated the views of the US government, amounted to a "significant admission that condemns the occupation and exposes its crimes". On the Trump 100 podcast, Mr Miller was asked if he agreed with the view that actions in amounted to genocide. "I don't think it's a genocide, but I think, I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes," Mr Miller said. In a written statement, Hamas said Mr Miller's words reveal that he was, quote, "not allowed to speak the truth while in office and was forced to adhere to the US government's official narrative regarding the occupation's practices". "This exposes the deep political complicity of US administrations with the occupation and their criminal cover-up of its brutal violations," it added. And the proscribed terror group said his words "reveal attempts by successive US administrations to obscure the truth about this brutal war against innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip". A Hamas spokesperson said: "This admission does not only condemn the occupation but also holds Washington directly responsible as an active partner in the war crimes and genocide committed against our Palestinian people in Gaza, through funding, arming, providing political and diplomatic protection, along with spreading misleading media coverage." Sky News challenged Mr Miller on why he didn't speak up while in government, to which he said: "When you're at the podium, you're not expressing your personal opinion. "You're expressing the conclusions of the United States government. The United States government had not concluded that they committed war crimes, still have not concluded [that]." Pressed further on why he didn't offer such views while serving as State Department spokesman, Mr Miller told Trump100: "The State Department did release a report in the spring of last year where, look, there was a bunch of bureaucratic legalese language as the government always [uses] where they did say it's reasonable to assess that Israel has at times acted in violation of the laws of war, or something similar." He continued: "So the State department itself had concluded - they didn't phrase it in these terms - but I think I did it at the podium, a few times, conclude that it was likely that Israel had committed war crimes, but I do think it's almost certain that they have." Mr Miller offered a qualifying distinction between state-sanctioned war crimes and individual illegal acts by soldiers. "There are two ways to think about the commission of war crimes: One is if the state has pursued a policy to deliberately commit war crimes or is acting reckless in a way that aids and abets war crimes. "Is the [Israeli] state committing war crimes? That, I think, is an open question. I think what is almost certainly not an open question is that there have been individual incidents that have been war crimes where Israeli soldiers, members of the Israeli military, have committed war crimes." Sky News put Mr Miller's accusations to Israeli government spokesman David Mencer. "Of course, when there are claims like that, they need to be fairly investigated, but I can tell you that Israel upholds the highest levels of international law that is key in the strategy of releasing our hostages and destroying this terrorist organisation," he said. Read more: But to that, Mr Miller, out of office, now echoes a point repeatedly put to him by journalists while he was in office, at the podium: that Israeli investigations so often go nowhere. At the podium, he repeated phrases like "...we are asking the Israelis to investigate...", "...we are concerned by what we have seen...", "...we are waiting for the results of the Israeli investigation...". Now, Mr Miller says: "We do know that Israel has opened investigations, but look, we are many months into those investigations and we're not seeing Israeli soldiers held accountable. "We have not yet seen them hold sufficient numbers of the military accountable and I think it's an open question whether they are going to."
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Former US official ‘without a doubt' over Israel's Gaza war crimes
Israel has committed war crimes in Gaza, according to a former spokesman for the United States Department of State. Matthew Miller told the Sky News Trump100 podcast on Monday that he is 'without a doubt' certain that Israel has committed war crimes in the conduct of its military offensive in the Palestinian enclave. Miller, who until this year regularly defended the pro-Israeli policies of then-President Joe Biden, however, stressed that he did not believe genocide was being carried out. But he suggested that there was tension within the administration over the US failure to put more pressure on Israel. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, at least 54,381 Palestinians have been killed and 124,054 wounded. Almost all of the enclave's 2.3 million people have been displaced, while an Israeli blockade threatens famine. During his time with the State Department, Miller repeatedly clashed with journalists who questioned the US response to Israel's handling of Gaza, including repeated bombings of medical facilities and refugee camps sheltering Palestinian civilians, as well as the continued US military aid to Israel and possible violations of international law. In one incident last November, Miller was rebuked for laughing during a question about Israel blocking aid to stressed in the interview that, as spokesman, he was not advocating his own opinion but expressing the official stance of Biden's administration. 'You are a spokesperson for the president, the administration, and you espouse the positions of the administration,' he said. 'And when you're not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions.' Asked about his experience handling the issue, Miller said there were 'small and big' disagreements within the Biden administration over how to deal with Israel. 'There were disagreements all along the way about how to handle policy. Some of those were big disagreements, some of those were little disagreements,' he said. In particular, he hinted at tensions between Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Although the former official said he does not believe Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza, he admitted that 'there probably was' more that the US could have done to pressure Israel to stop the war and prevent the killing of 'thousands of … innocent civilians who didn't want this war'.
Roya News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Roya News
Too little, too late: Public fury as former US official shifts stance on "Israel's" actions in Gaza
Former US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has come under fire after admitting that he believes that the Israeli Occupation has "without a doubt" committed war crimes in Gaza — a sharp departure from his previous public stance while serving in government during the Biden administration. Appearing on the Trump 100 podcast by Sky News on Monday, Miller, now speaking as a private citizen, stated, 'I don't believe it's genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes.' His comments have fueled fierce reactions across social media, with many accusing him of attempting to distance himself from the very policies he once defended. Miller, who held the spokesperson role from 2023 until the end of President Joe Biden's term, repeatedly echoed the administration's line of support for "Israel" during its military campaign in Gaza. Now out of office, he claims he is finally free to share his personal perspective. 'You are a spokesperson for the president, the administration, and you espouse the positions of the administration. And when you're not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions,' he explained during the podcast. Although Miller stopped short of labeling "Israel's" military operation as genocide, he emphasized that 'individual incidents' by "Israeli" soldiers constitute war crimes and criticized "Israel" for failing to hold those individuals accountable. He acknowledged there were 'disagreements all along the way' within the US government about how to respond to "Israel's" war in Gaza. His remarks have been met with widespread skepticism and outrage, especially from Palestinians, activists, and critics who followed his time in office. Many point to his past behavior during press briefings — where he frequently brushed off questions about civilian deaths and deflected accusations of war crimes — as evidence of complicity. One such moment, which went viral, featured journalist Sam Husseini confronting Miller for 'smirking' while discussing the rising death toll in Gaza. That incident has resurfaced as critics accuse him of attempting to rehabilitate his image now that public sentiment has shifted. Here are some online reactions: Matthew Miller without a doubt belongs in jail for the rest of his life. — Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) June 2, 2025 "The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him." - Nuremberg Principle IV. Miller is a war criminal! — Sunny Singh (@ProfSunnySingh) June 2, 2025 you directly helped cover for those war crimes so we could keep sending more munitions to do new crimes with! — hasanabi (@hasanthehun) June 2, 2025 We will also never forgive and forget you, and you will always be remembered as the smirker of the Gaza Genocide. You also must be held accountable. — Abubaker Abed (@AbubakerAbedW) June 2, 2025 He did not confess out of the good of his heart but because where he went he was looked at like the face of a genocide. Now that the shiny office is gone. He wants to gain back his respect amongst normal people. Shame — Saeed Khan (@saeedk247365) June 3, 2025 If Israel's guilty of war crimes—and they are—then so is the U.S. You don't bankroll, arm, and shield atrocities on the world stage and walk away with clean hands. It's not just complicity; it's co-authorship. — JT (@escapeeJT) June 2, 2025 Are we talking about the same guy who used to come every day to defend Israel in front of journalists as if his life depended on it? The only explanation is that he, like all the former unconditional supporters of Israel, is now trying to cover his tracks. — Hicham from Montréal (@MontrealHicham) June 2, 2025
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Biden State Department Spokesman Now Says Israel Is Committing War Crimes
Former State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says that he personally believes Israel has been committing war crimes against the Palestinian people — including during his tenure in the Biden administration, where, as a major voice of U.S. foreign policy, he daily defended Israel's flattening of Gaza to the American public. Speaking to Sky News' Mark Stone on the 'Trump 100' podcast, Miller said on Monday that it is 'without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes' in the territory. When Stone asked if he held this belief while serving as spokesperson, he said yes. 'Look, one of the things about being a spokesperson is you're not a spokesperson for yourself. You're a spokesperson for the president, the administration — and you espouse the positions of the administration,' Miller said. 'And when you're not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions.' The ex-State Department official said he believes Israeli soldiers committed war crimes in individual instances rather than as part of a wider policy of systematically erasing the Palestinian people, as muchof the international community has now accused the Israeli government. 'We were expecting it coming,' Hamid Bendaas, spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian nonprofit IMEU Policy Project, told HuffPost of Miller's admission. 'But I think this is the first foray of that — of Biden admin officials being like, 'Oh yeah, we were hard on Israel, we weren't super pro-Israel,' after saying for over a year that they were the most pro-Israel administration of all time, and a lot of the reporting since then obviously backing it up.' 'But [Miller] is saying that he's speaking about covering war crimes, right? It's not even covering up Biden's age or stuff like that,' Bendaas continued. 'But covering up a war crime that you know happened, and saying that doesn't happen because you're following orders? That's basically what he's saying he did. It's just a different thing.' United Nations officials,human rights groups and some world leaders have described Israel's actions as genocidal, a term Miller rejected. Still, his comments on Monday represent a huge pivot from the statements he made every day on behalf of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken while heclashed with reporters who tried to push himon the U.S. role in unconditionally supporting and arming an Israeli offensive that has now reached its nineteenth month. 'It has to be said that Miller is also guilty of, at minimum, facilitating these war crimes,' progressive strategist Rania Batrice posted on X. 'Matthew Miller, almost daily, not only lied to the public and the press, he did it in a shitty condescending way, in an attempt to mislead the public.' Though Miller insisted that he believed Israeli war crimes were individual acts, the State Department was aware that the Israeli government was committing possible war crimes. Experts within the U.S. government concluded last year that Israel was intentionally blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza — a major development that would legally require the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to Israel. Blinken rejected the findings and delivered a report to Congress without that information, leading report author Stacy Gilbert to resign in protest. Gilbert was one of many Biden appointees who, unlike Miller, resigned over the administration's unconditional support for Israel in its bombing campaign. Biden resignee and A New Policy co-founder Josh Paul told HuffPost, 'The Biden Administration's wanton lawbreaking when it came to what was happening in Gaza was no less a scandal than Watergate, and in the context of its human impact, probably a greater one.' Miller is the latest in a growing number of voices changing their tune and speaking out against Israel's military campaign, the plight of Palestinians and the humanitarian crisis plaguing Gaza. The former spokesperson said that he wished the Biden administration did more to pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire deal after May 2024, when documentation of the military's indiscriminate violence against civilians became nearly impossible to ignore. 'I'm happy to be punitive to Matt Miller, but we also want to see more people be doing what Matt Miller is doing in a way, because it's a sign that they are recognizing that public opinion has shifted pretty rapidly on this,' Bendaas said. 'And especially on the Democratic side, it's just extremely unpopular to be pro-Israel in the way that Democrats have been for the last few decades.' At Least 31 Palestinians Killed After Israeli Forces Strike Gaza Aid Hub 'Freedom Flotilla' Tries Again To Break Israel's Blockade On Gaza 'Indiscriminate, Unrestrained, Brutal': Former Israeli PM Calls Gaza Assault 'War Crimes'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Biden State Department Spokesman Now Says Israel Is Committing War Crimes
Former State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller says that he personally believes Israel has been committing war crimes against the Palestinian people — including during his tenure in the Biden administration, where, as a major voice of U.S. foreign policy, he daily defended Israel's flattening of Gaza to the American public. Speaking to Sky News' Mark Stone on the 'Trump 100' podcast, Miller said on Monday that it is 'without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes' in the territory. When Stone asked if he held this belief while serving as spokesperson, he said yes. 'Look, one of the things about being a spokesperson is you're not a spokesperson for yourself. You're a spokesperson for the president, the administration — and you espouse the positions of the administration,' Miller said. 'And when you're not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions.' The ex-State Department official said he believes Israeli soldiers committed war crimes in individual instances rather than as part of a wider policy of systematically erasing the Palestinian people, as muchof the international community has now accused the Israeli government. 'We were expecting it coming,' Hamid Bendaas, spokesperson for the pro-Palestinian nonprofit IMEU Policy Project, told HuffPost of Miller's admission. 'But I think this is the first foray of that — of Biden admin officials being like, 'Oh yeah, we were hard on Israel, we weren't super pro-Israel,' after saying for over a year that they were the most pro-Israel administration of all time, and a lot of the reporting since then obviously backing it up.' 'But [Miller] is saying that he's speaking about covering war crimes, right? It's not even covering up Biden's age or stuff like that,' Bendaas continued. 'But covering up a war crime that you know happened, and saying that doesn't happen because you're following orders? That's basically what he's saying he did. It's just a different thing.' United Nations officials,human rights groups and some world leaders have described Israel's actions as genocidal, a term Miller rejected. Still, his comments on Monday represent a huge pivot from the statements he made every day on behalf of former Secretary of State Antony Blinken while heclashed with reporters who tried to push himon the U.S. role in unconditionally supporting and arming an Israeli offensive that has now reached its nineteenth month. 'It has to be said that Miller is also guilty of, at minimum, facilitating these war crimes,' progressive strategist Rania Batrice posted on X. 'Matthew Miller, almost daily, not only lied to the public and the press, he did it in a shitty condescending way, in an attempt to mislead the public.' Though Miller insisted that he believed Israeli war crimes were individual acts, the State Department was aware that the Israeli government was committing possible war crimes. Experts within the U.S. government concluded last year that Israel was intentionally blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza — a major development that would legally require the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to Israel. Blinken rejected the findings and delivered a report to Congress without that information, leading report author Stacy Gilbert to resign in protest. Gilbert was one of many Biden appointees who, unlike Miller, resigned over the administration's unconditional support for Israel in its bombing campaign. Biden resignee and A New Policy co-founder Josh Paul told HuffPost, 'The Biden Administration's wanton lawbreaking when it came to what was happening in Gaza was no less a scandal than Watergate, and in the context of its human impact, probably a greater one.' Miller is the latest in a growing number of voices changing their tune and speaking out against Israel's military campaign, the plight of Palestinians and the humanitarian crisis plaguing Gaza. The former spokesperson said that he wished the Biden administration did more to pressure Israel to accept a ceasefire deal after May 2024, when documentation of the military's indiscriminate violence against civilians became nearly impossible to ignore. 'I'm happy to be punitive to Matt Miller, but we also want to see more people be doing what Matt Miller is doing in a way, because it's a sign that they are recognizing that public opinion has shifted pretty rapidly on this,' Bendaas said. 'And especially on the Democratic side, it's just extremely unpopular to be pro-Israel in the way that Democrats have been for the last few decades.' At Least 31 Palestinians Killed After Israeli Forces Strike Gaza Aid Hub 'Freedom Flotilla' Tries Again To Break Israel's Blockade On Gaza 'Indiscriminate, Unrestrained, Brutal': Former Israeli PM Calls Gaza Assault 'War Crimes'
