Kirby hits reporter with reality check for asking if Biden will apologize for telling the truth about war, not believing Hamas

John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, shut down a reporter on Thursday for asking if President Joe Biden will apologize for not believing Hamas.

What did Biden say?

On Wednesday, a reporter asked Biden if he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ignoring his message to minimize civilian casualties in Gaza.

In response, Biden said he cannot trust the numbers coming from Gaza because they are disseminated by the Gaza Ministry of Health, which Hamas controls. They are, in effect, terrorist propaganda.

"What they say to me is I have no notion that the Palestinians are telling the truth about how many people are killed. I'm sure innocents have been killed, and it's the price of waging a war," Biden said. "But I have no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using."

What happened with Kirby?

At the White House press briefing, Raquel Krähenbühl of Globo News asked Kirby if Biden will apologize for his remarks. The question cited outrage from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Krähenbühl asked:

Don't you think it is insensitive? There [is] very harsh criticism about it. For example, the Council of American-Islamic Relations said it was deeply disturbed and called on the president to apologize. Would the president apologize, and does he regret saying something like that?

But Kirby made it clear Biden will not apologize for not believing Hamas or for telling the truth about war. Then Kirby offered the media a stunning moment of moral clarity.

"No," Kirby responded.

"What's harsh is the way Hamas is using people as human shields. What's harsh is taking a couple of hundred hostages and leaving families anxious, waiting, and worrying to figure out where their loved ones are. What's harsh is dropping in on a music festival and slaughtering a bunch of young people just trying to enjoy an afternoon," he said.

"That's what's harsh, and being honest about the fact that there have been civilian casualties — and that there likely will be more — is being honest, because that's what war is. It's brutal. It's ugly. It's messy," he continued. "I've said that before. President also said that yesterday. Doesn't mean we have to like it. And it doesn't mean that we're dismissing any one of those casualties — each and every one is a tragedy in its own right."

Kirby, moreover, revealed that the U.S. government is helping Israel minimize civilian casualties but highlighted how Hamas is making that difficult.

"It would be helpful if Hamas would let [Gazan civilians] leave," he pointed out. "We know that there are thousands waiting to leave Gaza writ large, and Hamas is preventing them from doing it. That is what is harsh."

10/26/23: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, Lael Brainard, and John Kirbywww.youtube.com

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