'I Will Terminate This Interview': Trump Official Clashes With BBC Journalist Over Gaza
A senior official in Donald Trump’s government has said claims that Israel is blocking food from entering Gaza are “fake news” as he clashed with a BBC journalist.
Sebastian Gorka, the US president’s senior director for counter-terrorism, insisted that a “simply gargantuan amount of food” had entered the territory during the ongoing conflict.
He also repeatedly threatened to end the interview on Radio 4′s World At One as he was questioned by presenter Sarah Montague.
The clash came after Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told the BBC: “Starvation is spreading, people are exhausted, people are hungry.
“We can expect that in the coming weeks if no aid is coming in, that people will not die because of the bombardment, but they will die because of the lack of food. This is the weaponisation of humanitarian aid.”
But Gorka said: “I wouldn’t listen to anyone who represents UNRWA. UNRWA is utterly morally corrupt and politically. It’s workers have been found to be actually working with the terrorists and helping to kill innocent individuals simply because they are Jewish.
“If you look at the math of the simply gargantuan amount of food that Israel has allowed into Gaza, which would feed multiples of the residents who live there, you have to ask yourself ‘so where is that food really going?’
“So what’s happening in Gaza is the result of the mass slaughter of innocent men, women and children in the greatest loss of Jewish life since the end of the Holocaust, and Israel has every right to do what it’s doing so it will never happen again.”
Montague pointed out that UNRWA has more than 30,000 staff, of which nine were found to have “questions to answer and have been removed” over their alleged links to Hamas.
Gorka then interrupted her to say: “That is nine too many. That is the real story. The real story isn’t fake news about starvation. The real story is UNRWA working in league with the terrorists.”
Asked if there would be “a problem with baby formula going into Gaza”, the Trump official replied: “I’m not going to talk about this. It’s garbage, it’s rubbish.
“There are factors more food going into Gaza than physically can be eaten by the putative population.”
As Montague tried to ask another question, Gorka said: “You’re interrupting me again. I will terminate this interview, OK? If you persist in talking about fake news about starvation in Gaza we are done, we are finished.”
The presenter then asked him: “Do we accept that no food has gone into Gaza in the last two months?”
Gorka replied: “I’m not going to talk about this garbage fake news. If you ask me one more question about it we are done.”
He went on to accuse Montague of repeating “state propaganda” and added: “If you want to ask me about the incredible things President Trump is doing in the Middle East... I’m prepared to do so. I’m not going to countenance your propaganda.”
Later in the same interview, Gorka also went on an extraordinary rant after being asked about Trump’s willingness to accept a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar.
The president has come under fire after it emerged the plane could serve as Trump’s new Air Force One.
Trump has defended the move, declaring that it’d be “stupid” for him to pass on the aircraft and claiming it wouldn’t be a “gift” for him but to the US’ Department of Defence.
Critics have since pointed to a clause in the US constitution prohibiting officials from accepting gifts from “any King, Prince, or foreign State” without congressional approval.
Montague asked Gorka: “Is there a problem with this, because it doesn’t look like it’s draining the swamp?”
Gorka replied: “Do you ever have pangs of conscience that you are so utterly and completely biased that all you can do is give in to your Trump derangement syndrome?
“Have you ever once said anything positive about President Trump or not knelt at the altar of left-wing ideology?”