The State Department refused to condemn U.S. airstrikes on a hospital in Kunduz Monday, highlighting a contradiction in the State Department’s rhetoric after it quickly condemned Israel last year for a similar incident.
Associated Press reporter Matt Lee pointed out the difference during Monday’s State press briefing.
The U.S. denounced Israel for bombing a UNRWA school in Gaza on a "suspicion" in 2014, issuing a statement that wrote: "The suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes that put at risk the lives of so many innocent civilians."
Yet, the U.S. conducted airstrikes in Kunduz even though Doctors Without Borders (MSF) had given the U.S. the coordinates of the hospital, just as the Israeli Defense Forces had been given the coordinates of the school in Rafah.
"The military said that it was called in because the Afghans called for it. But MSF [Doctors Without Borders] says that they had been given the coordinates, much in the same way the IDF had been given the coordinates of the school in Rafah," Lee said. "If the suspicion that militants are operating nearby does not justify strikes on a humanitarian facility, for which the coordinates had been given - it [State Department policy] seems to have changed."
"I think it’s safe to say that, you know, this bombing was not intentional. I can’t get into what may or may not have happened on the ground - whether the coordinates were known, whether they were acknowledged," spokesman Mark Toner responded. "It’s just too much speculation at this point."
Lee also pointed out that the State Department called the Israeli bombing of a school in Gaza "disgraceful" before an investigation had taken place. When asked to react to the bombing of a MSF hospital, Toner would not criticize the strikes, saying that an investigation had not yet taken place.
"What we’re looking at right now in terms of what happened in Kunduz--the facts are still emerging. There’s three investigations under way," Toner said. "We will let those investigations run their course. Generally, these are difficult situations."
Earlier in the day, Toner’s White House counterpart Josh Earnest would not call the strikes a "war crime," because the event is still "under investigation."