'Are We On The Wrong Side Of History': Dick Durbin Questions Rubio About Gaza Humanitarian Crisis

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At Tuesday's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) questioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Transcript

00:00Senator Durbin.

00:02Thank you, Senator Graham.

00:03Let me personally thank you for your leadership on this subcommittee.

00:06We may disagree on some things and some projects,

00:09but I believe you've been honest and working with us in the past,

00:14and I look forward to that continuing.

00:16Mr. Secretary, it's good to see you.

00:1899 to nothing.

00:20That's a pretty good score coming out of the Senate.

00:23I'd like to ask you about Gaza, if I can.

00:26They anticipate a famine is underway in Gaza.

00:32In the next few days, they anticipate 14,000 infants and children will die.

00:40Israel has decided to change its policy to release baby food into Gaza.

00:47I just have to ask you, as you must see the same pictures I do,

00:52you can't escape them, of these kids with pencil-thin arms,

00:56with ribs you can count, spiddly legs, wide eyes,

01:02who are just on the cusp of death because of the policy of Israel in dealing with Hamas.

01:09Now, let me make it clear for the record.

01:11I support Israel.

01:13I believe what happened October 7th was an act of terrorism,

01:16unforgivable act of terrorism.

01:18They have a right to defend themselves, period.

01:20Number two, I believe Hamas is a terrorist organization.

01:23I do not believe that every Palestinian in Gaza territory is a member of Hamas

01:29or sympathetic with that band of terrorists, but many of them are.

01:34So today, three countries, France, United Kingdom, and Canada,

01:39made a statement, which I'd like to summarize.

01:42You probably know this already.

01:44They said the resumption of aid into Gaza by Israel, wholly inadequate.

01:49The United Kingdom paused free trade talks with Israel

01:53and sanctioned Israeli settlers.

01:57And then this statement, joint message by these three countries,

02:01allies of the United States.

02:03If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive

02:06and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid,

02:09we will take further concrete action in response.

02:12Mr. Secretary, are we on the wrong side of history

02:15in watching this unfold and not responding as these three countries have?

02:20Well, we're not prepared to respond the way these three countries have,

02:23but we are prepared to say as we have,

02:25and I think the Israelis in their statements today acknowledged

02:27have engaged with our Israeli partners over the weekend

02:30and the last few days about the need to resume humanitarian aid.

02:34We anticipate that those flows will increase over the next few days and weeks.

02:40It's important that that be achieved.

02:42I actually had an opportunity when I was in Rome on Sunday or Saturday

02:46to see Cindy McCain, as you know, is involved with the World Food Program,

02:50discuss their distribution systems.

02:51She outlined for me exactly how they would distribute food

02:54and how the program would work if it were to be restarted.

02:57So suffice it to say that we support 100% the fact

03:01that there can be no future in Gaza for the people of Gaza

03:04as long as Hamas is around.

03:07And by the way, in your comments that you made,

03:09I know many of you have noticed,

03:10there's been a growing number of anti-Hamas protests and demonstrations as well.

03:15So there are people there that understand that this is a root cause of it.

03:18That said, you have this acute, immediate challenge

03:23of food and aid not reaching people,

03:25and you have existing distribution systems that could get them there

03:28and continue to work, even though I've been here in hearings all day,

03:33but continue to work with our Israeli partners to,

03:36and as I think they've acknowledged in the statement today

03:38that they've heard from us, to allow more aid in

03:41because I believe they can achieve their objective of defeating Hamas

03:45while still allowing aid to enter in sufficient quantities.

03:49I agree with you.

03:51I think what you just said should be our policy,

03:53but I don't think we should use these people, these Palestinians,

03:57particularly these children, as just a casualty of war.

04:01This is a designed attack by Israel into Gaza.

04:05This is a designed decision by Israel not to provide humanitarian aid,

04:09food, medicine, water.

04:12And we provide quite a bit of money to Israel for its own defense

04:15and for other purposes.

04:16Shouldn't we be more forthcoming to speak about this humanitarian crisis?

04:22Yeah, I think there's two things that Israel has expressed,

04:25and I don't want to speak for them because they speak often on this topic.

04:28The first is their complaints that humanitarian aid is often stolen

04:32and siphoned off by Hamas elements.

04:33Well, it has.

04:34There's no doubt that that has happened.

04:35That said, the question is whether it has to be –

04:39the question is, is there a way to reliably reach as many people as possible

04:43and prevent the humanitarian crisis you're describing

04:48while not enriching Hamas or providing Hamas relief?

04:51And we believe there is a way to do it,

04:53and we want to be supportive of that way to do it.

04:56And we've encouraged them to do it in that way,

04:57and we think we've made progress.

04:58Did you ask Cindy McCain whether Hamas was diverting food supplies from the people in Gaza?

05:04We didn't discuss that.

05:05We talked mostly about –

05:06I wanted to get a description of what the distribution points look like.

05:10How can you get assistance to the most number of people as quickly as possible

05:13in an orderly way based on where they live and where they are in different parts of Gaza?

05:17Is this an emergency humanitarian situation in your view?

05:21Yeah, I mean, ultimately, I think we all see the same images.

05:24The question that I had in my mind in meeting with her and discussing is,

05:27do we have the mechanisms in place to quickly start

05:29if, in fact, an agreement could be reached to allow humanitarian aid to flow

05:33did we have the mechanics in place to allow the World Food Program

05:38and their contractors to go in and immediately begin to provide it?

05:41And she assured me that they do, that they could,

05:43because one of the arguments or one of the concerns that existed is

05:45that the organizations that could do the distribution

05:48were not on the ground or were not capable of starting so quickly.

05:51She assured us that they were.

05:53If we have this in place, what are we waiting for?

05:55These children are dying.

05:56Well, it's my understanding – again, I've been here all day,

05:58but it's my understanding that starting yesterday

06:00and moving through the next few days, aid will increasingly flow in.

06:04And hopefully that will allow these programs to work.

06:06I certainly hope so, too.

06:07Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

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