00:02Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and greetings, Secretary Rubio.
00:06It is a pleasure to work with you when you were in your Senate capacity on a number of human rights issues related to China, Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong,
00:14and certainly the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which I think is a standard and a strategy I hope will spread to other countries to reject goods made by slave labor in China.
00:25Today, however, I want to wrestle a bit with another, what I consider to be a humanitarian tragedy, the conditions in Gaza.
00:36I very much supported Israel going after Hamas following October 7th, but we are now well over a year and a half into this,
00:46and there's a new phase of events, which I'll try to summarize.
00:50Six months ago, Finance Minister Smotrich said Israel should thin the population through voluntary migration.
00:58He also used the term encouraged migration.
01:02These terms are considered a euphemism for forced displacement,
01:07and the strategies of forced migration are food denial, the demolition of homes so that there's no place to return to,
01:17and driving people from one area in the Gaza Strip south to the southern side.
01:24Then there is a new plan called Operation Gideon's Chariot, a mass call-up of troops in Israel,
01:32and Netanyahu said a few days ago, he said, we're going to take over all the areas of the Gaza Strip.
01:39By the way, on that forced displacement or the demolition of homes, I want to put up a chart to accentuate the point.
01:45This is satellite images done by the New York Times that show before the war, the detailed homes, mass damage before the ceasefire,
01:57and then since the ceasefire, absolutely, the entire neighborhood turned to rubble.
02:03There's just basically nothing left that is habitable.
02:06So I wanted to just make the point that it's not some theory about the strategy.
02:13The strategy is being implemented and implemented very aggressively and effectively.
02:18But let me return to the issue of food denial.
02:23The Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that in February,
02:282,000 children were admitted for treatment of acute malnutrition.
02:33I was thinking about the strips that are used.
02:36They're called MUAC strips, mid-upper arm circumference.
02:42It's basically a measure of the bicep.
02:44And I saw them in, I went to areas that were under starvation in Africa, and I saw these being used.
02:49And you'd see a child, and you would think this child is just maybe two years old,
02:55and they'd be five years old, and their arms as thin as toothpicks.
02:58And I was struck when a U.N. health representative returned and said, and I quote,
03:05I've seen them in the wards, referring to the hospital wards, a child of five years old,
03:11and I thought he was two and a half.
03:15So Ulta said 2,000 children, acute malnutrition.
03:19That's a nice way of saying we're starving.
03:22In March, there were 36 children admitted for acute malnutrition.
03:27The denial of food began, the blockade began March 2nd,
03:31so the numbers are undoubtedly up much higher in April and now into May.
03:36The World Health Organization reported a couple days ago that 57 children had died from the effects of malnutrition.
03:44That blockade shows signs of being changed.
03:50Netanyahu has made some public comments.
03:53He said, we will not stand by, let's see, we cannot reach a point of starvation for practical and diplomatic reasons.
04:02He went on to say that mass starvation is a red line that could cost Israel support from the U.S.
04:06He didn't say it was a humanitarian problem, but support from the U.S.
04:09And yesterday, five trucks went in, and there's a plan to get up to 100 trucks,
04:15but five trucks is 1% of the amount needed for daily food supplements,
04:20and 100 trucks is still only 20%, an area that's already extremely hungry.
04:26This has led Canada, France, and Britain to say we cannot stand by
04:30while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions.
04:35The level of human suffering is intolerable.
04:39So I guess my question here is the U.S. is a very close ally to Israel,
04:45both in military, security support, certainly in economic support.
04:50Is the administration conveying to the Netanyahu government
04:54that encouraging migration through food denial is an unacceptable strategy?
04:59Well, let me say I won't discuss, obviously, for many different reasons,
05:04what we share with our partners and allies,
05:07but I will walk you through some of the steps you've rightly outlined,
05:11what has happened over the last...
05:12It's not too long a speech, because I'm really trying to get where our administration is standing.
05:16Well, I'm still trying to get the center out of me, so I still talk longer than I should,
05:19so I'll be more brief.
05:20I'm going to have to reclaim some time, but go ahead.
05:22Try to keep it very...
05:23No, well, you want me to answer?
05:24I do want you to answer, but hopefully answering the question is pretty simple.
05:29Does the U.S. consider this an acceptable strategy of encouraging migration?
05:32Well, I would say that we were pleased to see that aid is starting to flow in again.
05:37I understand your point that it's not in sufficient amounts,
05:39but we were pleased to see that decision was made.
05:41I understand another hundred trucks are behind that and maybe more in the next few days.
05:45I'll also tell you that I met in Rome two days ago, three days ago,
05:48with a World Food Program to walk through some of the ideas and plans they had for distribution.
05:53on the ground, and ultimately the answer here is for this to end,
05:57hopefully with the elimination of Hamas,
05:59because the people of Gaza deserve a more prosperous, peaceful future,
06:02which they'll never have as long as Hamas exists.
06:06Well, thank you.
06:07That was brief and well done.
06:09So then the second part of this is the systematic destruction of remaining homes
06:16as a way to make it impossible for people to stay in Gaza.
06:20Does the U.S. discourage that?
06:22Is it discouraging the Netanyahu government from continuing that strategy?
06:26Well, we don't view that that's their strategy.
06:28We understand that they are targeting elements of Hamas,
06:30is what they have claimed and said to us and to the world,
06:32that they believe that they need to root out the remaining elements of Hamas,
06:35who, by the way, have been an impediment to multiple ceasefires
06:38that I know have been negotiated and even agreed upon by Hamas external
06:42and then vetoed by Hamas internal.
06:45Is the U.S., it sounds like then, therefore, we're not concerned about that
06:51or you characterize it differently.
06:53There has been reports of the administration working behind the scenes
06:57to develop a plan to help deport Gazans to Libya.
07:01Have you been involved in any discussions related to deporting people from Gaza,
07:05Palestinians in Gaza, to Libya?
07:07No, there's no deportation.
07:08What we have talked to some nations about is if someone voluntarily and willingly says,
07:13I want to go somewhere else for some period of time because I'm sick,
07:16because my children need to go to school or what have you,
07:19are there countries in the region willing to accept them for some period of time?
07:22But those will be voluntary decisions by individuals.
07:25Well, if there are voluntary decisions because there is no clean water,
07:29there is no food, and bombing is all around you,
07:33is that really a voluntary decision?
07:34Well, ultimately, that's the point, right?
07:36And that is you don't want people trapped there.
07:38They may want to come back.
07:39They may want to live there in the future, but right now they can't.
07:41And if there's some nation willing to accept them in the interim period,
07:44yes, we've asked countries preliminarily whether they would be open to accepting people,
07:49not as a permanent situation, but as a bridge towards reconstruction.
07:53Does that include Libya?
07:55I'm not aware of Libya.
07:58I will just summarize since my time is up.
08:02I think the U.S. has a moral responsibility to fiercely convey to the Netanyahu government
08:10that using food as an instrument of war is unacceptable.
08:14It's a violation of international humanitarian law.
08:18It's mass punishment.
08:21We have now children who are dying,
08:23and while Netanyahu has said he doesn't want to see mass starvation,
08:27he's drawing the line at mass starvation,
08:30but we're seeing real starvation right now.
08:32And I think we owe it to our connection and our close relationship to Israel
08:38to powerfully convey the importance of not just five trucks a day like yesterday
08:44or 100 trucks a day, but enough food to end the starvation.
08:48Is that a policy you can get behind?
08:50To ultimately rebuild and provide people a future in Gaza?
08:55To get behind enough trucks to end this starvation?
08:58Yeah, we've made that point.
08:59Look, I think ultimately,
09:01I don't think you would have seen the events of the last couple days
09:05without our engagement and the engagement of others.
09:07Israel remains a strong ally.
09:08We're supportive.
09:09We understand why for their security Hamas cannot exist.
09:12We are also very happy to see that they have allowed aid to begin to flow,
09:15and we hope that that will continue.
09:17Concluding comment, Mr. Chairman, thank you for your tolerance.
09:20It's an important topic.
09:22Netanyahu did say he was responding to remarks and pressure from American politicians.
09:28I assume that's the administration saying that we, the America, cannot accept mass starvation,
09:34but I would encourage you to push not for five or 100 trucks,
09:37but enough food to end the fact that children are starving and adults are starving,
09:43innocents are starving, our close relationship.
