Meet the Press interviews during 2024: on Foreign Policy

Tim Walz: Gaza is horrific situation and Hamas is not a good actor

Mark Kelly: Israel has right to defend itself, but has made mistakes

KELLY: October 7th was unprecedented for the country of Israel. They have not been attacked like that from a terrorist group. And Israel has every right to respond in an appropriate way.

Q: Has Netanyahu made mistakes as he's conducted this war?

KELLY: He's absolutely made mistakes. A lot of them. I've talked to him about some of those specifically. If it was the U.S. military conducting this, I think you would see this would go much differently than it went.

JD Vance: Just because we don't like Putin doesn't mean we can't talk

A: Well, I think that he's clearly an adversary. He is a competitor. But I think that we also have to be smart about diplomacy, too. Just because we don't like somebody doesn't mean that we can't occasionally engage in conversations with them. And I think it's important if we're ever going to end the war in Ukraine, we're going to have to engage in some sort of negotiation between Ukraine, Russia, our NATO allies in Europe.

A: When you say that he's an adversary, you're not willing to call him an enemy?

Q: I don't want to be in a war with Vladimir Putin's Russia. I think that we should try to pursue avenues of peace. I'd also call China a competitor, but we're not in a war with China either. I do think, though, that China constitutes the biggest threat that we have for the United States of America. And I think that we have to be serious about it. But I think we have to be careful about the language that we use in international diplomacy.