Matthew Miller, the former spokesperson of the US State Department who spent months defending Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza, has acknowledged that the Israeli military has “without a doubt” committed war crimes in the Palestinian territory.
Miller told the Sky News Trump100 podcast on Monday, however, that he did not believe genocide was being carried out in Gaza.
“I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it is – without a doubt – true that Israel has committed war crimes,” Miller said.
The ex-spokesperson served as one of the public faces of former President Joe Biden’s staunch support for Israel as it killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and flattened much of the enclave.
United Nations experts and leading rights groups have accused Israel of genocidal acts – an effort to destroy the Palestinian people in full or in part.
No US restrictions
Miller’s comments raise questions on why the Biden administration continued to arm Israel despite US laws that restrict military aid to countries that commit violations of human rights and international law.
The former US president’s aides repeatedly certified that they could not conclude that Israel was violating the laws of war or restricting humanitarian aid to Palestinians, despite the ample evidence documenting Israeli abuses.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 54,381 Palestinians have been killed and 124,054 wounded. Almost all of the enclave’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, while an Israeli blockade threatens famine.
During his time with the State Department, Miller regularly clashed with journalists who questioned the US response to Israel’s handling of Gaza, including bombings of medical facilities and camps sheltering Palestinian civilians.
In one incident last November, Miller was rebuked for laughing during a question about Israel blocking aid to Gaza. US law specifically prohibits security assistance for states that restrict US-backed humanitarian aid in conflict zones.
When asked about particular atrocities, including – for example – the killing of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab last year, Miller would often say the the US officials brought up the incident with their Israeli counterparts, who are investigating.
The spokesperson would then keep invoking these alleged contacts and probes – sometimes months after the incident – to dismiss questions about suspected war crimes by Israel.
Expressing official stance
On the Sky News podcast, Miller appeared to criticise his own pattern of answering questions when he served as spokesperson. “We do know that Israel has opened investigations. But, look, we are many months into those investigations. And we’re not seeing Israeli soldiers held accountable,” he said.
Miller stressed in the interview on Monday that, as spokesman, he was not advocating his own opinion but expressing the official stance of Biden’s administration.
“You are a spokesperson for the president, the administration, and you espouse the positions of the administration,” he said. “And when you’re not in the administration, you can just give your own opinions.”
Asked about his experience handling the issue, Miller said there were “small and big” disagreements within the Biden administration over how to deal with Israel.
“There were disagreements all along the way about how to handle policy. Some of those were big disagreements, some of those were little disagreements,” he said.
In particular, he hinted at tensions between Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
He admitted that “there probably was” more that the US could have done to pressure Israel to stop the war and prevent the killing of “thousands of … innocent civilians who didn’t want this war”.
Hamas seeks actions
On Tuesday, the Palestinian group Hamas said Miller’s comments further confirm Israel’s crimes and underscores Washington’s “direct responsibility as a true partner” in the genocide against Palestinians.
“We call on the international community and international judicial institutions to turn these dangerous confessions into investigations and immediate legal action,” Hamas said in a statement.
Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director at DAWN, a US-based advocacy group, said it was “outrageous” that Miller waited until he was out of office to admit that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza.
“US officials who know atrocities are being committed and continue defending them from behind the podium are not neutral, they are complicit. Miller’s silence while in government helped Israel with its genocide. He has Palestinian blood on his hands,” Jarrar told Al Jazeera in an email.
“Anyone guilty of aiding and abetting genocide should be held accountable by the International Criminal Court or other international mechanisms.”
