White House Spokesman John Kirby Spars With Fox News' Reporter Over Claim Joe Biden Wants to Have it 'Both Ways' on Israel
John Kirby and Peter Doocy had a tense exchange over Joe Biden's support for Israel.
White House spokesman John Kirby sparred with Fox News' Peter Doocy over the Biden administration's position on Israel, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Kirby dismissed Doocy's argument that Joe Biden wants to have it "both ways" regarding the Jewish state's ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Kirby dismissed Doocy's claim that Biden wants to have it 'both ways' on Israel.
The tense exchange between Kirby and Doocy followed an announcement from the Biden administration calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
On Thursday, the president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke for the first time since an IDF airstrike claimed the lives of seven World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid workers, sparking global outrage.
Doocy questioned the president's previous statement on 'unwavering' support for Israel after October 7.
During the phone call, the president "made clear" that Israel needed to change its military strategy to protect innocent civilians and aid workers or the U.S. would be forced to make policy changes regarding assistance to Israel, though changes were not specified.
Doocy questioned Kirby on U.S. support for Israel during Thursday's press briefing.
"On October 7, President Biden said, ‘My support for Israel is rock solid and unwavering.’ That is not true anymore, correct?" Doocy asked.
Kirby quipped back, "No, It is true."
The Fox News reporter pressed, "How is his support unwavering, but you’re also reconsidering policy choices?"
Biden called for a cease fire in Gaza after seven humanitarian aid workers were killed in an IDF airstrike.
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Kirby replied, "Both can be true."
"They cannot be true! They’re completely different things," Doocy fired back. "He is wavering. How is he not wavering?"
"No, no. I’m sorry. Ah, come on Peter. Come on. Come on now," Kirby responded. "As I said, and as it said in that readout, we made clear, and he made it clear to the prime minister, that our support for Israel’s self-defense remains ironclad. They face a range of threats and the United States isn’t going to walk away from helping Israel defend itself."
Kirby pushed back on Doocy's claims and said the U.S. can both support Israel and call for a cease fire.
The White House spokesman continued, "That said, you can say all that, and you can act on that, and you can believe that — and the president does — and still believe that the manner in which they’re defending themselves against the Hamas threat needs to change."
"And that is the conversation that we had today. But both things are true. Our support is ironclad and consistent. It’s not gonna stop, it’s not gonna…waiver. Will there perhaps be some policy changes we might have to make if we don’t see policy changes out of Israel? Yes."
Again, Doocy was seemingly unconvinced with Kirby's answer — and doubled down on his claim that the president wanted to have it "both ways."
"How is it unwavering? It sounds like you guys are trying to have it both ways here," Doocy asked, to which Kirby flatly replied, "No."
Doocy added, "'We support Israel, but we’re going to make all these changes cause we don’t support Israel.'" Kirby refused to give in, saying, "I didn’t say we were gonna make changes. I said we have to see how Israel responds."
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