US Looking To Hold In-Person Meeting With Israel: John Kirby

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby stated on Sunday that the United States is seeking to arrange an in-person meeting in the “next week or so” following a virtual meeting earlier this week.

“We had a virtual meeting last week. We expect to have an in-person meeting with Israeli counterparts in the next week or so. We’re still narrowing down the schedule,” Kirby stated in an interview with CBS News‘s “Face the Nation.”

Kirby commented on the plan for the upcoming meeting, stating, “We hope to be able to present in more detail our thinking, some of our alternatives, and the kinds of things that we want them to learn from our own experiences about how to conduct operations of this nature.”

When Israeli officials canceled their planned delegation to the US, Kirby expressed the White House’s perplexity over that decision. He clarified that the White House’s abstention from the UN resolution didn’t signify a shift in policy, emphasizing it was nonbinding and wouldn’t impact Israel’s ability to counter Hamas. Kirby reiterated that the decision reflected consistency with existing policy and emphasized the US’s authority to determine its stance. He suggested that the perception of a policy change was unnecessary and implied that the Israeli prime minister’s office was creating unnecessary divisions.

“The prime minister’s office seems to be indicating through public statements that we somehow changed here. We haven’t, and we get to decide what our policy is. It seems like the prime minister’s office is choosing to create a perception of daylight here when they don’t need to do that,” he was quoted as saying.

The meeting follows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to cancel the initial plan for an Israeli delegation to visit the U.S. to discuss the operation in Rafah with counterparts.

Netanyahu canceled the delegation after the U.S. chose to abstain from a UN Security Council resolution urging a Gaza cease-fire during Ramadan, aiming for a “lasting sustainable” cessation of hostilities. The resolution also called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.”

Meanwhile, Kirby also expressed growing frustration within the Biden administration regarding the conduct of the Israeli military in its wartime operations. During an interview on ABC News‘s “This Week,” Kirby acknowledged statements from President Biden and other cabinet officials, indicating a gradual shift in perspective on Israel’s actions in Gaza, which has been under Hamas rule since 2007.

“So we have been increasingly frustrated. And again, that was a core message that the President delivered to Prime Minister Netanyahu in their phone call this… past week… that they’ve got to do more, they’ve got to make changes,” he said.

Biden cautioned that the U.S. policy regarding the conflict would hinge on Israel’s capability to enhance the protection of civilians and humanitarian workers, particularly in the aftermath of the deaths of WCK workers. This represented a significant shift in stance from Biden and his administration since the outbreak of the conflict last October, which was triggered by a surprise attack from Hamas resulting in the deaths of nearly 1,200 individuals.