Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this week, arriving on Thursday to meet with senior leadership there, a State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The spokesperson said the trip was in its early stages and could not immediately say if Blinken will travel to other countries as the U.S. works to discourage regional powers from entering the war and contributing to a broader conflict.
What You Need To Know
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Israel this week, arriving on Thursday to meet with senior leadership there, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller
- The spokesperson said the trip was in its early stages and could not immediately say if Blinken will travel to other countries as the U.S. works to discourage regional powers from entering the war and contributing to a broader conflict
- The announcement of Blinken’s trip came minutes after President Joe Biden revealed that 14 Americans are confirmed dead in the war and at least 20 U.S. citizens are missing. Miller could not say if the dead and missing were Israeli-Americans, Palestinian-Americans or otherwise
- Miller continued to insist the U.S. has no intelligence that Iran played a specific role in orchestrating Hamas’ attack
“He of course wants to hear from the leaders of Israel. Hear from them directly about the situation they’re facing. Hear from them directly about what they need and how we can best support them,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing. “And then to send a message to the government of Israel and the people of Israel that we’re there to support them as they fight against these brutal terrorist attacks and to talk about what additional assistance we can provide them.”
The announcement of Blinken’s trip came minutes after President Joe Biden revealed that 14 Americans are confirmed dead in the war and at least 20 U.S. citizens are missing. Miller could not say if the dead and missing were Israeli-Americans, Palestinian-Americans or otherwise.
The secretary of state has been on the phone with other countries in the Middle East over the last few days, letting it be known the U.S. would welcome any assistance in securing the release of any Americans among the hundreds taken hostage by Hamas.
“He has delivered a message consistently with everyone in the region. If there’s anything you can do to send a message to those who are holding hostages, whether they be American citizens or whether they be others, that you should send the message to Hamas and they need to release those hostages immediately,” Miller said. “We do believe that there are partners in the region who are playing a productive role here and want to help secure the release of hostages. But in terms of details of those efforts, I’m not going to talk about them publicly.”
As Blinken reaches out to top diplomats around the Middle East, Miller said the U.S. government is offering experts in hostage negotiations and recovery to the Israeli government if needed.
While there has been much speculation and some reporting on Iran’s involvement in the planning of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel’s southern border on Saturday, Miller continued to insist the U.S. has no intelligence that the country played a specific role in orchestrating the incursion beyond its longstanding financial and military support to the terrorist group.
And as Republicans and other critics have pointed to $6 billion in Iranian assets the U.S. unfroze as part of a prisoner swap as potential funding for Hamas, Miller held the Biden administration’s line that the fund remain in a Qatari bank unspent and will be monitored by Treasury Department officials to ensure they are only spent on humanitarian needs. Critics have argued that money is fungible and having access to the $6 billion, once frozen by sanctions, frees up other Iranian resources to fund terrorist organizations like Hamas.
“There is just no evidence that is accurate,” Miller said. “Iran has funded terrorism before these accounts were established during the Trump administration. They have funded terrorism after these accounts were established in the Trump administration. They will no doubt continue to fund terrorism in the future.”
“With respect to this money, it cannot be used for anything but humanitarian purposes. We have strict oversight. We have strict visibility and if we see it being used for anything else, we can shut it down immediately,” he added.
