John Kirby, the White House national security communications advisor, told reporters at a briefing on Thursday that the primary agenda item in the meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was achieving a ceasefire-for-hostages deal that could lead to the end of the Gaza conflict.
“We’ll be discussing how deeply and how strongly the president feels that we’ve got to get this hostage deal in place so we can get a ceasefire,” Kirby said. “There are gaps that remain.”
“We believe that they are of a nature that they can be closed and that we can achieve a deal,” Kirby added. “It’s going to require, as it always does, some leadership, some compromise and an effort to get there.”
Kirby, who wore a “bring them home” dog tag given to him by the father of one of the U.S. hostages in Gaza, said that the sides at this point were “haggling” over “details” and that some areas of negotiation between Israel and Hamas had been successfully resolved since Biden announced the ceasefire framework in May.
Kirby did not respond directly to Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday but was asked repeatedly for the White House’s perspective on the points the Israeli prime minister raised in his hour-long speech, including whether the protesters outside the Capitol were “useful idiots” for Iran.
“That’s not a phrase we would use,” Kirby said. “We know that Iran certainly has tried to meddle here. They’ve tried to sow discord. They’ve obviously contributed to some funding of some protesters.”
The U.S. director of national intelligence released an assessment earlier this month that Iran is trying to gain influence over the anti-Israel protest movement and has in some instances even funded protesters.
Asked whether he would describe Wednesday’s violent protest near the Capitol as “pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas or anti-Israel,” Kirby said it was “a little bit of all those things.”
He also rejected the premise of a question about the prosecutors of the International Criminal Court labeling Netanyahu a “war criminal” and whether his presence in the White House undermined Biden’s credibility and moral authority on the world stage.
“We don’t find the ICC’s finding to be relevant or appropriate in this case,” Kirby said. “We don’t find him to be a war criminal. He’s an ally and a partner and a friend.”
