Associated Press reporter Matt Lee left a State Department official stammering Thursday over the IDF’s destruction of a university in Gaza.
The Israeli army destroyed Al-Israa University, the last university in Gaza, as the nation continues to wage war against Hamas, according to The National. Footage posted by Nicola Perugini, an associate professor, shows the university exploding.
The Israeli military just blew up the University of Palestine in Gaza City with 315 mines. All the universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. We need a full academic boycott. pic.twitter.com/nNStUTBc9e
— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) January 17, 2024
Lee pressed State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on the details of the demolition.
“It looks like they control demolition. It looks like what we do here in this country when we’re taking down an old hotel or stadium. And you have nothing to say? You have nothing to say about this, I mean, to do that kind of an explosion, you need to be in there, you have to put the explosives down and it takes a lot of planning and preparation to do and if there is a threat from this particular facility, they wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Lee said.
“So, I have seen the video. I can tell you that it is something that we are raising with the governor of Israel as we often do when we see—” Miller began.
“Well, raising as what?” Lee interjected.
“To ask questions and find out what the underlying situation is as we often do when we see reports of this nature, but I’m not able to characterize the actual facts on the ground before hearing that response,” Miller said. (RELATED: ‘Disingenuous To The Extreme’: Reporter Leaves Biden Spox Stammering To Explain Iran Money Transfer)
“Yeah, but you saw the video,” Lee said.
“I did see the video, I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know—” he stammered.
“It looks like a bridge being imploded or something,” Lee continued.
The State Department official said he is unaware of what the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) placed underneath the building to cause the explosion. Lee continued to press if the destruction of the university was “troubling” to the State Department.
“We are always troubled by any degradation of any civilian structure in Gaza, but without knowing the actual underlying circumstances, I’m a little hesitant—I think for reasons that should be understandable—to pass definitive judgment on it from this podium,” Miller answered.
The IDF has reportedly destroyed over 350 schools in Gaza and its public library, according to The National.
Watch Lee clash with Miller over Iran using unfrozen funds to sponsor the terrorist group Hamas:
Watch another testy exchange between Lee and Miller: