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Key Points
- A former US state department spokesperson has said it’s “without a doubt true” that Israel has committed war crimes.
- Matthew Miller has acknowledged he didn’t use similar language while in the role, between 2023 and 2025.
- “When you’re at the podium, you’re not expressing your personal opinion,” Miller said.
“We have made clear that we do not believe the ICC has jurisdiction in this case and oppose their investigation,” Miller said in May.
Matthew Miller frequently clashed with journalists in his time as US state department spokesperson. Source: Getty / Anadolu
But on Tuesday, Miller conceded he personally believed Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza, but defended not using such language in his time as spokesperson.
Asked by Sky News podcast host Mark Stone if he believed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, Miller replied: “I don’t think it’s a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes.”
Miller said he believed it was an “open question” as to whether the Israeli government itself had deliberately pursued a policy to commission war crimes, but it was “almost certainly not” an open question that Israeli soldiers had committed individual war crimes.
Israel started its offensive in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, with around 250 people taken as hostages into Gaza.
