A spirited exchange between an Associated Press reporter and spokesperson Victoria Nuland marked the U.S. State Department’s daily briefing Monday on the continued violence between Israel and Hamas. (Nov. 19)
MATTHEW LEE, AP REPORTER: You say that it would not be helpful for you to discuss any of your conversations that quiet diplomacy is the way to de-escalate that. Well, you have been doing your “quiet diplomacy” for almost a week. How’s it going so far?
VICTORIA NULAND, STATE DEPARTMENT: We are working hard with the parties that are working hard with…
LEE: Has it occurred to anybody that maybe being less quiet might get more results? Hrm? The squeaky wheel gets grease, that kind of thing?
NULAND: I’ll let the…
LEE: You’re being silent while people are dying left and right.
NULAND: Matt, we are being far from silent. The President has…
LEE: You’re not telling us anything about… when the Turks come out, when the leaders of Turkey come out and say that Israel is engaged in acts of terrorism and you refuse to say that you don’t agree with that or maybe you do agree with that, that’s being silent.
