WHAT?! VOA Reporter Suggests U.S. Is ‘On the Wrong Side of History’ by Backing Israel

Curtis Houck
November 14th, 2023 10:23 AM

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Almost on a daily basis at the White House press briefing, reporters from the taxpayer-funded outlets NPR, PBS, and Voice of America remind us why they deserve to be defunded. On Monday, VOA correspondent Patsy Widakuswara asked National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan if President Biden’s “concerned” that America’s “on the wrong side of history” by supporting Israel, adding the U.S. is “losing” credibility by supporting the Jewish state.

Widakusawara had plenty of help on the anti-Israel front with The Hill opening lobbying for Israel to be declared war criminals by the U.S. and a reporter from a Saudi-funded network accusing the U.S. and Israel of peddling “misinformation”.

Widakusawara couched her question in reporting that, while meeting with President Biden, Indonesia’s president would “be bringing the resolution from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which includes a demand for immediate ceasefire and rejection of Israel’s justification that its actions in Gaza is self-defense.”

Based on this resolution from a group of Islamic countries siding with the animalistic terrorists in Hamas, she argued, “clearly, on the international stage, President Biden is losing ground on this issue.”

She then asked the “history” question: “We see this at the U.N. everyday. My question is: Is he ever at all concerned that he may be on the wrong side of history here? And how does he plan to engage with President Widodo on this issue?”

Unlike if John Kirby had been up there, Sullivan offered a mealy-mouthed answer about Biden “looking forward to engaging with President Widodo across the full range of issues in the bilateral relationship and regional and global issues,” including those where “they...have different perspectives.”

Moments earlier, Nadia Bilbassy-Charters of the Saudi-funded Alarabiya touted another letter of far-left government employees “accus[ing] the Biden administration of spreading misinformation” with the October 7 death toll having been revised down to roughly 1,200 from 1,400.

Insisting she’s “not taking away from what happened on October 7”, she fretted there’s a double standard with the U.S. refusing to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health’s numbers before implying the U.S. has lied to protect Israel:

So, accurate information is vital, especially fighting anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia. So, does the White House have credibility when it comes to information and accurate information? Can we rely on you when you’re podium and tell us certain information and statements?

Sullivan denied this, saying he “categorically reject[s] the notion that we’re pedaling any misinformation.”

The Hill’s Niall Stanage came next and implied the U.S. should join the U.N. in saying Israel’s war against Gaza is a war crime (click “expand”):

STANAGE: You said today, as you’ve said a number of times, about the importance of the laws of war being upheld. Israel has killed around 11,000 Palestinians. Around two-thirds of those are women and children. The situation in the hospitals is dour. Israel’s has dropped an astronomical amount of ordinance in very built up areas. Is Israel and your review abiding by the laws of war. And, if it is, how do you come to that conclusion?

SULLIVAN: Well, as I said Yesterday, I, Jake Sullivan, standing here, am not in a position of judge and jury to make that determination. It’s a legal determination. What I can do is state for you the clear policy of the Biden administration, which we have been unequivocal about from the beginning of this conflict, and that is that even though Hamas is using civilians as human shields, is burrowing into civilian areas with its rocket emplacements that they were continuing to launch every single day at civilian areas in Israel, that puts an added burden on the IDF, but it does not lessen their responsibility to act in ways that separate terrorists from civilians and does everything in their power to protect civilian lives. 

STANAGE: But does —

SULLIVAN: That is, that was the case that remains the case today. That is the message that we’ve said publicly and we communicate to our Israeli counterparts privately and we do that on a daily basis.

STANAGE: — I just had to be clear, though. The administration’s view is that the IDF is doing that?

SULLIVAN: What I’ve told you is that I am not in a position to give you a legal determination to your question. I am not a position to it. What I’m in a position to do is to state the U.S. government position on how Israeli operations should be conducted and that is what I have done. That is what I continue to do. That is what I can do from this podium.

Fox Business’s Hillary Vaughn had tough questions, but not from the left as she noted “San Francisco has cleaned up their streets ahead of President Biden and President Xi’s meeting” as a lead-in to ask Sullivan whether Biden’s “embarrassed that an American city needs to go through a total makeover to be presentable for his out of town guests?”

Sullivan had the gall to say Biden’s “incredibly proud of the record that the United States will bring as host to this summit” in a “premier destination.”

Vaughn pressed again, asking about comments from California Governor Gavin Newsom admitting San Francisco’s streets were cleaned of drugs, homelessness, and human waste so as to impress Chinese dictator Xi Jinping: “Does President Biden agree it’s more important to impress the leader of China than the American people that live in San Francisco and pay taxes every day?”

Sullivan played dumb, claiming to “completely reject the premise of your question” and was unaware of “what the context of what Governor Newsom said”.

During Jean-Pierre’s portion of the briefing, crime was suddenly a hot topic among liberal journalists in the front row with the AP’s Zeke Miller, CBS’s Nancy Cordes, and NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell deeply concerned about rising crime in Washington D.C. since it’s now enveloped the Secret Service detail of President Biden’s granddaughter Naomi. Fox’s Mark Meredith was also on the case, but that was less of a surprise.

Jean-Pierre had plenty to say, including the gall to blame Republicans, not Democrats (who control nearly all major cities, including D.C.) for the surging crime.

Near the tail end of the briefing, Reagan Reese with our friends at the Daily Caller finally got a question in and brought up the Democratic Party’s split on support for Israel.

Jean-Pierre welcomed the fact that some Democrats hate Israel, arguing “there’s going to be various range of agreements and disagreements and — and that’s the way it is”. As part of her answer, Jean-Pierre pronounced “tyranny” as “tironny” (click “expand”):

REESE: Some Democrats, particularly in and around The Squad, have openly disagreed with the President for being too supportive of Israel. There’s also been some grassroots groups that backed the President and are now indicating that this could be a deal breaker for them. Is the President worried that this will continue to be a wedge issue within the party? And why can’t he get his fellow Democrats on the same page on this issue?

JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, you know, in our party, there’s going to be various range of agreements and disagreements and — and that’s the way it is — right — and in particular in the Democratic Party. The president’s going to continue to be clear about this. You heard it at the top when — when Jake Sullivan was giving an update on the Middle East where the President stands. The President has been very clear and when it comes to Israel and what we saw in October 7, Israel has the right to defend itself. They have the right to defend itself. And so, we’re going to support Israel in doing that. Obviously, there is the rule of law — right — that — that Jake talked about that we believe that should be followed. And — and, you know, we’re going to — to continue to be steadfast in what we believe and what — how we see this moving forward and making sure — we just talked about the supplemental — the national security supplemental in making sure Israel has what it’s need [sic], Ukraine has what it’s need [sic]. Let’s not forget they’re dealing with terrorism and tirony [sic]. That’s what they’re dealing with. They’re dealing with an organization like Hamas, who is a terrorist organization, who had said — and Jake talked about this, a leader from the Hamas organization said that they would want to see in October 7 happen over and over and over and over again, and that’s what Israel is dealing with.

To see the relevant transcript from the November 13 briefing, click here.

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