My Right Word: State Department Spokesperson Flubs It

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

State Department Spokesperson Flubs It

First, John Kirby at a State Department Press Conference:-

QUESTION: There’s a great deal of fear and trepidation on the potential ambassador nominee to Israel by the president-elect, because of his position on Jerusalem, his position on settlements, and so on. You have any comment on that?

MR KIRBY: Well, I’m not going to comment about individuals that the president-elect is or may be designating for various positions in his administration. Those are his decisions. We respect that. And there’s a process of confirmation that each of these individuals or most of them will have to go through and we respect that process as well, I mean, so the positions that these individuals take are really for the president and his team – president-elect, I’m sorry, and his team to speak to.

Nothing has changed about our views here in terms of the tensions in the region and our policies with respect to Israel, so, I mean, all that we’ve said about the viability and the belief in a two-state solution remain, about the – about our concerns over Jerusalem, all that remains. Our deep concern over settlement and settlement activity also remain, but I can’t speak for what policy decisions with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian tensions are going to be taken by the next administration.

QUESTION: Would you counsel against any departure from long-held practices regarding --

MR KIRBY: I think we’re going to leave – I think we’re going to leave our counsel and advice to the transition team private and between us and the transition team.

And then his words to Andrea Mitchell here at 8:45 or so:

“Our policy is entirely consistent with that longstanding view about settlements, and to the degree also, not just the illegality of them, but that they are not helping us get to a two-state solution, and everybody says that they want to get to a two-state solution,” Kirby said.