During a State Department press briefing spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked about German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's comments about Israel's conduct in Gaza.
00:00I want to come back to Gaza specifically because tomorrow the Germany's foreign minister is going to be here and meeting with the secretary.
00:08And Germany's government has kind of shifted quite a lot in the last few days on their position of support for Israel.
00:16They've been, you know, alongside the U.S., one of the main backers of Israel in this war.
00:20And now they're saying, you know, the chancellor saying that the war in Gaza is no longer justified by the need to fight Hamas.
00:29So it seems like that whatever coalition was left of countries, including the U.S., backing Israel seems to be getting smaller.
00:37Are you concerned that, you know, there's even less international support for Israel?
00:41Does that influence the way that the U.S. is thinking about this, that, you know, one of the main European countries backing Israel is backing that?
00:49Well, again, Chancellor Mertz noting that Israel's actions can no longer be justified.
00:54The fact of the matter is, is that Hamas has put the people in Gaza in this situation by launching that attack on October 7th and by continuing to hold hostages, including the bodies of four Americans, and continue, of course, to maintain their weapons.
01:09So when we think about actions that can no longer be justified, I think we should adjust ourselves and look at what put us in this position in the first place.
01:17Regarding the U.K., Canada, France, and any number of others that took disappointing steps last week, unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, in this case, is unproductive and obstructs ongoing U.S. efforts towards peace in the region.
01:31And I think that there's a clear line that has been drawn by President Trump, which, again, definitely disturbs the status quo, which is that there has to be peace, not just for six months, not because there's been a deal made for a year, that this has to be enduring.
01:49The entire framework has to change.
01:51He's not kidding.
01:52He's not kidding, because otherwise, in five years or sooner, someone will be in your position, someone else will definitely be in my position, having the same conversation.
02:04We can't allow that to continue.
02:05That is President Trump's understanding and vision of the change that needs to occur.
02:09And the fact is, is that the status quo does seem to be perhaps the easier thing to maintain, but it's not the one that's going to save lives.
