John Kirby

White House National Security Communications Advisor (2022-2025)

Current: Director, University of Chicago Institute of Politics

While serving as National Security Communications Advisor, John Kirby vehemently denied the blocking of aid by Israel and was instrumental in the Biden administration’s project to weaken, and ultimately render meaningless, the term “ceasefire.” 

During a December 2023 White House briefing, Kirby was asked to address accusations against Israel of genocide, and he categorically dismissed them. At this point, top Israeli officials had already made several public statements about destroying Gaza, cutting off water and food and otherwise engaging in collective punishment. 

Shortly after, in a January 2024 interview with the New Yorker’s Isaac Chotiner, Kirby refused to recognize Israel’s role in blocking aid, instead placing the blame wholly on Hamas. He repeatedly used the term “temporary ceasefire,” which he defined as a roughly six-week period of ceased hostilities that would allow an exchange between Israeli and Palestinian captives and would help “get the aid in.”

Furthermore, Kirby claimed that an actual ceasefire would be unacceptable, because it would allow Hamas to continue to govern Gaza. This implied that the Biden White House’s vision of a “ceasefire” was one in which fighting would pause, captives would be exchanged, then Israel would continue destroying Gaza. This was not the broadly understood definition of ceasefire as used by human rights and humanitarian groups.