Inside the Biden Administration’s Thinking on Israel

A conversation with White House spokesman John Kirby.

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Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council John Kirby speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House October 12, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The White House is warning urgent military aid to Israel could face delays amid Republican infighting that has crippled the House of Representatives, leaving the chamber without a speaker and halting all legislative business.

In an interview with The Dispatch, John Kirby—President Joe Biden’s chief spokesman for national security matters—said Israel could require a fresh resupply of munitions from the United States in a matter of “weeks” as the Jewish state undertakes military operations to neutralize Hamas. Kirby said this auxiliary aid package requires congressional authorization, which is why House Republicans’ struggle to elect a speaker and get the chamber back to work is concerning the White House.

“The speakership is incredibly important because without a speaker of the House, you can’t bring new legislation to the floor, you can’t schedule votes, and of course, that’s what we’re going to need here,” Kirby said in a telephone interview late Friday. “Supplemental funding is going to require legislation, so obviously, a speaker’s important.”

Israel receives billions of dollars in U.S. aid annually. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    LBernard

    Excellent interview. This is the first time I've heard a Biden official clearly state diplomacy isn't working with Iran. More importantly, this is the first time I've heard a Biden official say they are willing to use non-diplomatic options.

    Thank you for this reporting, Mr Drucker and everyone else at The Dispatch.

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  2. Mitchell Stoutin

    Agreed with some of the comments: I appreciate this. The questions were well chosen and elicited informative responses. It does the work the headline promises: I feel like I know more, if not about what’s actually going on, about the administration’s views and priorities.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Aylene Wright

    Okay, this is opposite of a common TD request, to provide transcripts of podcasts, especially those with VIP guests. But in this case, I wish there was an audio version of this interview.

    I actually must confess I skipped reading this yesterday because I assumed the interview would come out in audio as a Dispatch Politics episode, only to find that the recorded interview was actually one of... Doug Burgum??

    Maybe Kirby's people declined a request for a recorded interview, but I was a tad surprised by that.

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  4. Joe1776

    Kirby talked about sanctions. Here on the Dispatch I have read that Biden has substantially loosened sanctions against Iran regarding oil and they remain loose leading to substantial money for Iran. Are they going to tighten those sanctions back to the level of the prior administration?
    https://thedispatch.com/article/lax-sanctions-enforcement-has-yielded-a-windfall-for-iran/

    On fungibility it seems that the fact that Iran has been using any extra money for terrorism for a long time is even more reason not to let them have more. It is not a reason to keep giving them access to funds.



    Kirby: "All I can tell you is as we are speaking right now, we don’t have specific evidence that links them to those specific attacks."
    Well there are statements from Hamas saying Iran helped. Iran has not spoken out and directly said they are lying. They have just made general vague denials.

    Drucker: "But the House has been without a speaker since October 4, when a group of renegade Republicans forced a vote that stripped the gavel from Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California."
    A handful of republicans and all of the house democrats. I am not saying republicans should expect any favors from the Democrats but to the extent he is going to start blaming parties for a failure to promote bipartisan projects let's get the full context. I commend Kirby for not pointing fingers on that issue.

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  5. Rossknode

    Really good interview

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  6. Phillyex1

    I stopped reading after he didn’t answer the first four questions.

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  7. Danato84

    Good questions and, for the most part, clear answers from Kirby. Nice to see the Dispatch get this kind of access.

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  8. Scianti7

    Thank you

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  9. James Lemaux

    Props and respect to the Dispatch for scoring this interview, and for treating it with the dignity that the office of the President deserves. While I may not be a huge fan of Biden, it does help both the classical liberal movement (I don’t think we qualify as “conservatives” any more) and the nation as a whole to have more interviews and conversations like this. It also helps build trust across the political philosophical gaps.

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  10. Avatar photo
    Francesca

    Informative interview

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