An unknown reporter at the end of the State Department's press briefing on Tuesday berated department spokesperson Heather Nauert with questions about violent protests in Gaza.
The reporter was asking questions surrounding the recent protests in Gaza where some Gazans have used firebomb-bearing kites to attack Israel, launching them over the security fence, often to set ablaze crops that Israeli farmers are trying to harvest. The protests are being organized and promoted by the terror group Hamas.
"How is it not justification for killing, for Israel killing, when you say ‘Israel has a right to defend itself?’" the reporter asked. "'Israel has a right to defend itself' and there are no Israeli casualties and there are literally tens of thou-, over ten thousand Palestinian casualties and a hundred deaths."
"We're done with this. We've already been there," Nauert said. "I think we've covered this extensively already, okay."
Nauert was pointing to how earlier in the briefing she took a series of questions from reporters all over the room and had moved on from that topic. Nauert moved on to take another reporter's question when the unknown reporter interrupted and demanding an answer.
"The U.S. isn't mowing down people along the U.S.-Mexican border; isn't that accurate?" the reporter said.
"We are done with this issue," Nauert said. "We have covered it extensively already, I've taken many questions on this."
"So Israel is off the hook again?" the reporter said. "Israel is off the hook again."
"Sir, thank you for your question," Nauert said. "I think we've covered this already."
This isn't the first time the unidentified reporter has clashed with Nauert. The reporter similarly clashed with with department spokeswoman at a briefing back in March, where he asked if the U.S. should apologize for its foreign policy.