(AGENPARL) – mer 07 dicembre 2022 You are subscribed to Collected Releases for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
12/06/2022 07:56 PM EST
Ned Price, Department Spokesperson
Washington, D.C.
1:58 p.m. EST
MR PRICE: Good afternoon. Good to see everyone; it’s been a very long time. Welcome to our 1:45 p.m. briefing. I know it may feel like a 2:00 briefing, but this is in fact a 1:45 briefing. We have a couple things at the top, and we are starting a little bit earlier today because Secretary Blinken does have a press availability with our Australian allies, along with Secretary Austin.
[] But first, yesterday, President Putin signed into law legislation that further criminalizes the sharing of information about LGBTQI+ persons.
The law is another serious blow to freedom of expression in Russia, and a continuation of the Kremlin’s broader, long-running crackdown against marginalized persons, dissenting voices, civil society and independent media that it has intensified, as it has failed to achieve its objectives in its unconscionable war against Ukraine.
The law pushes LGBTQI+ persons further to the margins of Russian society, fueling and amplifying the prejudice, discrimination, violence and stigma they face. The legislation is a clear attempt by the Kremlin to distract from its own failures by scapegoating vulnerable communities and creating phantom enemies.
We stand in solidarity with LGBTQI+ persons in Russia and around the world who seek to exercise the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes that all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights.
[] And next and finally, yesterday, we announced the appointment of Kelly M. Fay Rodriguez as the department’s []Special Representative for International Labor Affairs. This administration reflects the administration’s commitment to empowering workers and to promoting the essential role labor plays in building economies, sustaining democracy, and protecting human rights around the world. Ms. Fay Rodriguez will lead the Department’s global engagement to advance internationally recognized labor rights to leverage foreign policy tools for the benefit of American workers.
Prior to joining the department, Ms. Fay Rodriguez served as Trade and Labor Oversight Counsel for the U.S. House of Representative’s Ways and Means Committee, and also held positions at the AFL-CIO and the Solidarity Center. Secretary Blinken and the entire department welcome Ms. Fay Rodriguez to her new role.
With that, happy to take questions.
QUESTION: Thanks. I apologize for being a little late, so I’ll – because of that, I’ll defer —
MR PRICE: How courteous.
QUESTION: — to my colleagues.
MR PRICE: Humeyra.
QUESTION: Hi, Ned, so I want to ask you about some of the strikes in recent days targeting Russian air fields, basically penetrating hundreds of kilometers deep into Russian air space. What is the U.S. view on these strikes? I’m asking because the U.S. obviously provides a lot of weapon systems to Ukraine, and these were apparently drones, Soviet-made drones – but would Washington be comfortable with Ukraine using any of the weapons that it provided to hit targets well inside Russian territory?
[]MR PRICE: Humeyra, a couple of things. First, I am not aware that anyone has officially claimed responsibility for the explosions that have taken place inside of Russia apparently over recent days. So, I can’t speak to what you’re pointing to specifically, but I’ll make a couple broader points. Since and even before the start of Russia’s illegal, brazen invasion of Ukraine on February 24th of this year, the United States has provided our Ukrainian partners with precisely what they need to defend themselves, to defend their sovereignty, to defend their independence, to defend their territorial integrity. And the nature of that defensive security assistance has evolved over time.
In the earliest days, it was to help Ukraine fortify itself for the forthcoming and then the – what was at the time – the present battle of Kyiv, as Russia’s brutal invasion went on and the nature and the location of the battle changed, we provided and we are providing Ukraine with precisely what it needs to take on that battle, to defend against Russian aggression in the east, in the north, in the Donbas – precisely where the battle has been more recently. Using this security assistance, the Ukrainians have demonstrated their effectiveness, they have demonstrated their grit, their determination to wrest back the territory that Russia has illegally seized from Ukrainian authorities. We are providing Ukraine with precisely what it needs to achieve those goals.
QUESTION: But what about inside Russian territory?
MR PRICE: We have not provided Ukraine with weapons that it is to use inside of Russia. We have been very clear that these are defensive supplies. We are – the President said very clearly sometime ago, we are not enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We are not encouraging Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. Everything we are doing, everything the world is doing to support Ukraine is in support of Ukraine’s independence, its sovereignty, its territorial integrity.
QUESTION: Can I just – so you said not encouraging Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. Do you oppose Ukraine striking beyond its borders?
MR PRICE: We are providing Ukraine with what it needs to use on its sovereign territory, on Ukrainian soil, to take on Russian aggressors – Russian aggressors that have crossed over the border, that have attempted to, in some cases, illegally annex territory, that in some cases – where in some cases Russian forces are illegally occupying Ukrainian territory. We are providing our Ukrainian partners with what they need to take on that very threat.
QUESTION: Ned, I’m sure you have seen the media reports that U.S. modified HIMARS before providing them to Ukraine to prevent them from using long-range attacks. Is that the case?
MR PRICE: I’m just not in a position to speak to that. I would refer you to the Department of Defense, if they can offer any more details. But, again, the broader point is that we are providing our Ukrainian partners with precisely what they need to take on the threat that they are facing on their sovereign territory, on their sovereign, independent, Ukrainian soil. And the Ukrainians time and again from February 24th until even recent hours have demonstrated their effectiveness, have demonstrated their determination to use this security assistance to good effect. And we’re seeing the results of that every single day.
QUESTION: Thanks so much. And to follow up on the Secretary’s statement early this morning on “phony off-ramp,” while we appreciate the point, but timing of it is also very interesting because the latest off-ramp – off-ramper comes to our mind is President Macron. I don’t know – how do you view President Macron’s point on that, which, according to Ukrainians sort of justifies Russian attack in the first place. They were talking about sort of security guarantee. And also, is that how you view a quote/unquote, “frozen conflict” moving forward? Thank you.
MR PRICE: So, the Secretary had an opportunity to discuss an aspect of this last night. And the point the Secretary made last night is one that you’ve heard from him, you’ve heard from other leaders, foreign leaders as well, in recent days. Essentially, we want peace. The Ukrainians want peace. The transatlantic community wants peace. What we don’t want is a pause. Because if we have a pause instead of peace, we know that President Putin will use that pause to retool, to refit, to regroup, and to – in all likelihood, go back into Ukraine with renewed vengeance. And that is not in the interests of a just peace. It is certainly not in the interests of a durable peace.
When it comes to this idea of a just peace, we have heard very clearly President Zelenskyy outline his vision for a just peace. He did so in some detail during the G20. He appeared by video conference, spoke to the other parties of the G20, and went into some detail. We believe in this idea of a just peace. President Macron, for his part, was of course in Washington just last week for the state visit; and we heard very clearly President Macron, standing right next to President Biden at the White House, also embrace the idea of a just peace.
We are, as are the Ukrainians, committed to doing everything we can to support Ukraine as it attempts to end this aggression. But if this aggression is going to be ended in a way that is durable, it has to be just. And in order for it to be just, it in some ways also has to be durable.
So, we’re looking at all of this, but as we do, we’re seeing very clearly that even as President Zelenskyy outlines his vision for a just peace, we’re seeing this split-screen phenomenon. We are seeing missiles, bombs, mortars, shells – continue to rain down on Ukraine. And in fact, what was especially jarring is what we saw during the G20. Almost simultaneously to President Zelenskyy’s address to the countries of the G20, we saw renewed and especially horrific Russian attacks once again targeting energy infrastructure, what are essentially civilian targets.
The Russian – the ongoing Russian effort, an effort that has been ongoing since October: to turn off the lights, to shut off the water, to weaponize winter, as we’ve heard from our European allies, to essentially starve Ukrainians into submission; that is why when president – excuse me, when Secretary Blinken was in Bucharest last week at NATO, we spoke of our emphasis now – our concurrent emphasis – not only on the security assistance we’ve already talked about, but on the contributions that we are making to Ukraine’s electricity grid. He announced more than $53 million in what is essentially immediate relief for Ukraine’s electricity grid – transformers, circuit breakers, vehicles, and other critical equipment – through both DOE and USAID stocks.
And putting all of this together, we have two primary criteria in mind. One is what the Ukrainians need, and we heard directly from Foreign Minister Kuleba in Bucharest, last week – the G7+ did – regarding what those needs are; and two, what we’re able to get to Ukraine not next year, not next month, although those two terms may be synonymous this month, but what we can get there within days. And that equipment is very much on the way. So that’s our focus now.
Camilla.
QUESTION: There was a video of President Putin driving a Mercedes across the bridge connecting to Crimea. That bridge is very important to him; Crimea is very dear to him. Does the U.S. think that that – a peace would be more elusive if the – if Ukraine starts to edge towards – or beyond, sorry, the February 24th boundaries and towards Crimea? Is there any kind of pause for thought there about whether that is something that’s pushing it too far in terms of Putin’s reaction?
MR PRICE: Well, in terms of President Putin’s field trips, not going to comment on those beyond making the point that it’s clear he is not able to achieve a victory on the battlefield. And in its place, he is looking for a victory in the messaging space when it comes to propaganda. That’s clearly what that was, nothing more.
Your question regarding the ultimate goals of Ukraine’s efforts to retake its territory – you’ve heard this from us before; you’ve heard this from us consistently. It is ultimately going to be up to the Ukrainians to decide what their objectives are. Now, right now the battle that is being waged is in the south, it’s in the east, it’s been in the Donbas. That is what Secretary Blinken referred to last night. We are providing Ukraine with what it needs to take on the battle, where it is right now. But ultimately, questions of Ukraine’s determination to retake territory that has been captured since February 24th – or even prior to February 24th, if you go back to 2014 – those are questions for the Ukrainian Government, as the democratically elected representative of the Ukrainian people.
QUESTION: Just to follow up on that, could you just clarify Secretary Blinken’s comments last night? I mean, he said, among other things, that the focus of the U.S. is to help Ukraine take back territory that’s been seized from it since February 24. Kind of just to follow up kind of on the —
MR PRICE: Precisely what I – precisely what I just outlined to Camilla. He was – he was making the point that we are at every step – we have provided Ukraine with precisely what it needs to take on the battle that it is facing in that very moment. In this moment, the battle right now is in the south, it’s in the east, and we are – and in territory that Russia that has attempted to illegally seize or control since February 24th. He was responding to a question about the contours of the battlefield right now. Ultimately, the contours of that battlefield going forward, that’s going to be a question for the Ukrainian Government.
QUESTION: So, it’s not that the U.S. is (inaudible) in terms of Crimea or other parts of the Donbas the ultimate goal? I mean, you guys – would you help Ukraine if that’s what they wanted, to recapture those lands? Is the U.S. willing to —
MR PRICE: We are going to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes – as long as it takes for Ukraine to regain its sovereignty, its independence, its territorial integrity. But the exact dynamics of that, that’s going to be up to the Ukrainian people.
QUESTION: Sorry, Ned, before we leave this subject – but I mean, you talked about his drive over this bridge as a field trip, right? But it’s not really – it wasn’t really a field trip. I mean, do you – do you really – is that really the view of the administration, that this was some kind of lark?
MR PRICE: I wasn’t promulgating official policy by calling it a field trip. I was —
QUESTION: Because presumably you think that he would still need a passport to get into Crimea, correct? Right?
MR PRICE: Matt, my point was – and maybe you are missing the forest for the trees, which —
QUESTION: Maybe. I just – you’re the one who, like, said it was a field trip, and it’s not for you to comment on President Putin’s field trip.
MR PRICE: I —
QUESTION: What other trips, travels —
MR PRICE: Matt, I have – I have been on high school trips where – field trips where passports have been required, so I’m not sure that this line of questioning is all that productive. But —
QUESTION: Well, no, I’m just wondering. I mean, do you really think that it’s something that is so beneath your notice? I mean, it seemed like a pretty significant thing. This is a bridge that was damaged not so long ago, and he’s gone over it to restate – re-stake the Russian claim on Crimea. So —
MR PRICE: My point was that there is not a whole lot of substance there. This clearly was a messaging tactic, a propaganda tactic, and one that —
QUESTION: Okay.
MR PRICE: — probably didn’t convey much deeper substance.
QUESTION: All right. So – and then the other thing – well, yes, when you went on high school field trips – you’re from Texas, right? So going from Texas to Mexico is —
MR PRICE: Nearby options.
QUESTION: — not exactly the same as going from Moscow to Sevastopol or wherever.
But anyway, related, do you have any comment on the closure by Latvian authorities of TV Rain, a television outlet that the Secretary and other senior U.S. officials have done interviews with since the beginning of the year?
[]MR PRICE: So, when it comes to our NATO Ally Latvia, Latvia has demonstrated impressive leadership in supporting Ukraine and strengthening European security as a member of the NATO Alliance. Latvia, for its part, is also hosting a number of exiled Russian journalists who are working from Latvian soil to provide Russian audiences with what they would otherwise lack; and that is truthful, independent information about the toll, the scale, the scope of Russia’s brutality inside Ukraine.
We think it’s important that Russian audiences inside Russia have access to this type of information broadly. When it comes to the matter between the Latvian Government and Dozhd, I would refer you to the Government of Latvia to – for more information on their action.
QUESTION: Well, but you just said you thought that Russian audiences inside Russia deserve access to this – the kind of information that this channel has put out. But you have no opinion on whether or not – or on the Latvian authorities’ decision to close it?
MR PRICE: I would have to refer you to the Government of Latvia to explain the basis for the action that they have taken. We are in dialogue with the Government of Latvia. We’re in dialogue with Dozhd, with TV Rain, as well. As you note, several senior officials, including in this building, including myself, have gone on TV Rain. We believe as a general matter that the people – the Russian people inside of Russia do deserve, do need access to independent media, but when it comes to a matter – this matter between TV Rain, Dozhd, and the Government of Latvia, I would need to refer you to the Government of Latvia.
QUESTION: Well, when you say you’re in dialogue with the Government of Latvia, about this decision and potentially reversing it?
MR PRICE: Again, we are I think —
QUESTION: It’s not unheard of for the U.S. Government to take issue with media regulations that have been propagated by NATO Allies.
MR PRICE: Before – understood.
QUESTION: I remember very well, Poland —
MR PRICE: Understood. And before – typically, as a general matter, in terms of sequence, before we lobby a government to overturn a decision, it’s incumbent on us to understand fully the basis of that decision, the nature of that decision. So, of course, we have a close relationship with our ally Latvia, and we’re engaging with them directly.
QUESTION: So, you’re not at that point yet; is that what you’re saying?
MR PRICE: No. That’s right.
QUESTION: Okay. Thank you.
MR PRICE: Anything else on Russia-Ukraine, before I move on? Yes.
QUESTION: Yeah. Just on that earlier exchange, one more follow-up. Do I understand clearly? Are you saying that the U.S. draws no distinction between post-February 24th territory and pre-February 24th territory? In other words, the only boundaries that matter are the ones from – I guess it would be February 2014?
[]MR PRICE: The distinction we draw with all of these questions is that it’s a question for the Ukrainian Government. It’s not a question for the U.S. Government. The point I was making before is that we are tailoring the security assistance that we are providing at any particular moment on the timeline to the battle that our Ukrainian partners are facing at that particular moment.
So right now, over the past several months, as Ukraine has won the battle of Kyiv, as Ukraine has wrested back territory that the Russians had illegally taken from them, the battle has been in the south, it’s been in the east, it’s been in the Donbas. We are providing our Ukrainian partners with what they need to seize back that territory.
QUESTION: And one more on Ukraine. You talked about essentially equipment and hardware to help restore the infrastructure and the electricity. But looking at the humanitarian problem a little more broadly, as we’re going into the cold winter, are you anticipating, as some aid groups are, a big spike in refugee flows? And do you think that there’s sufficient humanitarian aid and infrastructure to support that right now? If not, what are the plans?
MR PRICE: We’re, of course, concerned about that possibility. And we’re concerned about that possibility because the Russians seem to be taking concerted aim at the Ukrainian people – going after the type of infrastructure that is indispensable for their survival, especially during winter. So, we are doing everything we can to mitigate the potential impacts of this brutal, this barbaric assault on Ukrainian infrastructure, this effort to weaponize winter; this effort to freeze, to starve, to dehydrate the Ukrainian people into submission.
We’re confident that effort won’t work because of what we are doing, and we’ve spoken to the steps that we’ve announced in recent days, including the more than $53 million that Secretary Blinken announced in Bucharest. But, perhaps even more importantly, we are setting up a process with our allies and partners that is not dissimilar from the Ramstein process that our colleagues at the Department of Defense have been running in terms of security assistance.
Our goal – and we saw another meeting of this last week in Bucharest – is to regularly convene allies and partners both from Europe and more broadly from around the world to come together to provide Ukraine not only with security assistance, which is what the original Ramstein process is doing, but with the type of assistance Ukraine needs with its energy, with its energy infrastructure, with its electricity grid; what it needs to keep the lights on, what it needs to keep the water running, to keep its people warm, to keep its people alive over the cold winter months.
Foreign Minister Kuleba, as I mentioned before, gave a fairly detailed presentation to members of the G7+ to begin to outline those initial needs. We are going to continue with an iterative conversation with the Ukrainians, which will in turn inform the decisions that this grouping of countries will make in terms of what they’re able and what they have available to provide to the Ukrainians.
Anything else on Russia-Ukraine? All right.
QUESTION: NATO?
MR PRICE: Said. NATO?
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR PRICE: I’ll take a NATO. Sure.
QUESTION: Today Finland, as you know, celebrates 105 years of its independence. And one of the things that they have on the agenda is to join NATO. The U.S. is making efforts, I think, along with other countries to support that application, along with Sweden as well. Is there any update on that?
[]MR PRICE: We are, indeed, making efforts. In fact, we have made efforts – not only the Executive Branch but now our colleagues in the Legislative Branch some number of weeks ago have done what the United States is required to do to see Finland and Sweden join the NATO Alliance, the strongest defensive alliance in history. We are continuing to have conversations, but more importantly the Fins, the Swedes, Secretary General Stoltenberg – they are having conversations with their Turkish counterparts, as Turkey continues to be in conversation with Finland, with Sweden on elements of the tripartite memorandum that those countries signed in June – in Madrid this past year, regarding the accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO.
We remain confident that Finland and Sweden will before long be NATO members, be the 31st and the 32nd members of NATO. We’re, of course, supporting their candidacy and supporting their accession process in every which way we can. And I suspect you’ll hear more about this when Finland and Sweden will be here at the department on Thursday.
Let me go back to Said, and then I’ll move on.
QUESTION: Thank you. Moving on to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But first I want to congratulate (inaudible) and the Moroccan team for a well-deserved win, the first Arab country to ever make it this far.
MR PRICE: Absolutely.
QUESTION: So with that, I want to ask you about an editorial, actually, in Haaretz, and it said – under the title of “Minister of Occupation,” and it talks about Bezalel Smotrich becoming really responsible for the lives and the daily lives of Palestinians under occupation. Does that concern you in any way if he ever assumes that position, which he is likely to?
[]MR PRICE: Said, I imagine you saw the remarks, the address that Secretary Blinken delivered on Sunday before the J Street audience. He spoke about this in some level of detail. First, this government formation process is ongoing. The coalition government is not fully formed, nor is it in place, so it’s premature for us to weigh in on the specifics, but there are several broader points that the Secretary made in those remarks. We will gauge, as he said, the government by the policies it pursues rather than individual personalities. This is a point we have made around the world when it comes to democratic elections. We judge people not on how they campaign, but on how they govern. And, of course, this government is not yet fully formed. It’s not yet in place.
Our relationship with Israel is rock-solid; it is multifaceted; it is based, of course, on interest. But it has always – it has also always been predicated on values. This has been true since 1948. Look at the very identity of Israel and the reason for its creation in the aftermath of World War II. We’ll continue to pursue those deepest values, the values that have always, in some form or fashion, undergirded our partnership with Israel – democracy, freedom, human rights, rule of law, equality; the idea that all people, regardless of who they are, should have the opportunity to reach their full potential. That’s precisely what the Secretary said at J Street.
We’ve also heard the words from Benjamin Netanyahu, who, by just about all accounts, will before too long be the next prime minister in Israel. We took note of his commitment to form a government that will work for the benefit of all residents of Israel. We certainly welcome that, and we expect the new government to continue to work with us to advance the shared values that have always been at the heart of our relationship.
QUESTION: So, it wouldn’t bother you at all if, let’s say, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich actually do assume these positions, despite the fact that most of active American Jewish organizations and so on have really counseled against such a thing, that that would be okay with you? I mean, what we have seen in the past couple weeks is really an uptick of Israeli aggression against the Palestinians. We see war crimes being committed on – in front of everybody. So that would not bother the United States of America, despite the fact that these guys have such a long rap sheet?
MR PRICE: Said, whether it – whether the question is government formation or any other hypothetical, we just don’t entertain those types of questions. It doesn’t do us any good to comment on something that may or may not come to pass. When it comes to governments that haven’t been formed, I’ve been asked this question from this podium for any number of democratic countries around the world – how, whether, will we work with various individuals around the world – and our answer’s always the same. We are going to judge a government on how it governs, once it is in place – on the policies that it pursues.
QUESTION: And you believe that the Israeli Government has been governing fairly to fulfill the statement that you say, that the Secretary said the other day, that they want equal opportunities for Palestinians and Israelis? Do you feel that the Israeli Government has thus far done so?
MR PRICE: I would point you what the Secretary said. It is certainly the case that the Palestinian people don’t feel that they have equal measures of democracy, of security, of freedom, of dignity. That is undeniable. There are any number of challenges, and the Secretary gave a 22-minute set of remarks on Sunday. He barely – was able to barely scratch the surface of where we are in terms of a two-state solution, so I won’t even attempt to go into it here. But beyond saying that there are a number of challenges, these are challenges that we seek to address, in partnership with Israel, with whichever government sits in Jerusalem. These are challenges that we seek to address with the Palestinian people, with the Palestinian Authority.
QUESTION: And lastly, I just want your comment on two incidents. One, as the whole world saw, an Israeli policeman shoots at point blank an unarmed Palestinian, and the second, that the Israeli army barred a rights group from entering Hebron. I wonder if you would comment on that.
MR PRICE: Well, with both of these, we are deeply concerned by the intensifying violence that we’ve seen in recent weeks in the West Bank. We re-emphasize the need for all parties to do everything in their power to de-escalate the situation. We believe that it’s vital that the parties themselves take urgent action to prevent the even greater loss of life within the West Bank, within Israel more broadly.
The recent period has seen a sharp and alarming increase in Palestinian and Israeli deaths and injuries, including those of numerous children. We continue to emphasize to both parties, to Israelis and to Palestinians – and we continue to emphasize to both of them again the point that is at the crux of our policy that Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to enjoy equal measures of safety, of security, of freedom, and of dignity as well.
QUESTION: Since we’re on this broader topic, do you have any comment on Al Jazeera taking the killing of Shireen Abu Alkeh or presenting it to the International Criminal Court?
MR PRICE: So, Matt, our position on this has been consistent in a couple respects. First, when it comes to the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, we have expressed both in person, we’ve expressed publicly, our deepest condolences to her family in the aftermath of her killing. She was a U.S. citizen. She was an intrepid reporter. Her journalism was known to audiences around the world. She was known to people in this building and to our officials in the region as well.
We’ve had a number of conversations with her family, with other stakeholders as well. We’ve also spoken at some length, regarding the circumstances of her killing. Of course, you know we’ve issued a statement on this in July.
When it comes to the ICC, we maintain our longstanding objections to the ICC’s investigation into the Palestinian situation and the – and the position the ICC should focus on its core mission, and that core mission of serving as a court of last resort in punishing and deterring atrocity crimes.
QUESTION: Okay. So. have you made any representations to the court? I notice that your war crimes envoy was there or at least made some comments talking about how you want to get back in or enhance the rather strained relationship that the U.S. has had with the ICC. Have you made – have you made this point to them, or have you made this point to Al Jazeera that you think that it’s inappropriate for them to take it to this forum?
MR PRICE: So, my understanding, Matt, is that this was a proposal that was floated with only – in recent hours, only today, by Al Jazeera. So, I don’t know that it has been a topic of discussion. I don’t know that it would be a topic of discussion unless we had representations from the ICC that they were going to take an opinion one way or another on this.
QUESTION: Well, she was an American citizen.
MR PRICE: Of course.
QUESTION: So, you have – there is – it’s not like you have no interest in it at all.
MR PRICE: Of course.
QUESTION: But you oppose it?
MR PRICE: We oppose it, in this case, for the reasons that we’ve consistently stated.
QUESTION: Ned, a follow-up?
QUESTION: And then two things that you mentioned. When you said that it’s undeniable that the Palestinians don’t feel that they have equal justice or opportunity, is it undeniable to you that that is the case, or is it only undeniable to you that they feel that way?
MR PRICE: It is undeniable that that is the case.
QUESTION: That that is the case, okay. And so, then when you said earlier, prior to that when you said that Prime Minister-designate Netanyahu ran on a campaign that said that his government would benefit – would work to the benefit of all residents of Israel, are you including Palestinian residents of the occupied West Bank as residents of Israel?