WEBVTT 00:01.933 --> 00:05.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, Ambassador John Bolton gave his first official speech as President 00:05.066 --> 00:07.433 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% Trump's national security adviser. 00:07.433 --> 00:12.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Bolton spoke to the Federalist Society, the conservative and libertarian organization. 00:12.166 --> 00:15.900 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And he took aim at the International Criminal Court. 00:15.900 --> 00:20.433 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% But Bolton also targeted the Palestine Liberation Organization. 00:20.433 --> 00:24.533 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And he announced the closure the PLO's office in Washington. 00:24.533 --> 00:27.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Our foreign affairs correspondent, Nick Schifrin, was in the room. 00:27.466 --> 00:28.733 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% And he joins us now. 00:28.733 --> 00:31.700 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% So, Nick, why are they closing the PLO office? 00:31.700 --> 00:35.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: The main reason that Ambassador Bolton and the State Department said today 00:35.266 --> 00:39.033 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% was Palestinians' use of the International Criminal Court, the ICC. 00:39.033 --> 00:44.000 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% The ICC is based in The Hague and is designed to tackle some of humanity's toughest challenges, 00:45.233 --> 00:47.300 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% war crimes, crimes against humanity. 00:47.300 --> 00:51.766 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The Palestinians have said that they would go to the ICC over Israeli settlements in 00:54.166 --> 00:57.333 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% the West Bank, over seizure of Israeli property, over what Palestinian officials call Israelis' 00:57.333 --> 00:59.866 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% use of force inside of the West Bank. 00:59.866 --> 01:02.433 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% That's number one. 01:02.433 --> 01:05.866 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Number two reason why the U.S. says that it's closing the PLO office here is that the Palestinians 01:07.433 --> 01:09.533 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% aren't being helpful when it comes to peace talks and peace efforts. 01:09.533 --> 01:14.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Jason Greenblatt and Jared Kushner, the two advisers to President Trump who are creating 01:14.066 --> 01:19.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% a peace plan, the Palestinians have refused to meet them since the U.S. moved the embassy 01:20.400 --> 01:22.633 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a few months ago. 01:22.633 --> 01:27.433 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% And they have also been disparaging some of the work that the two of them have done, even 01:27.433 --> 01:29.433 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% though that work isn't done. 01:29.433 --> 01:33.166 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And so what you heard Bolton say today is that, one, the ICC, the International Criminal 01:33.166 --> 01:38.166 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% Court, shouldn't be investigating what he called Israeli housing projects, not settlements, 01:40.233 --> 01:43.500 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% and, two, that the -- that the office here in Washington had blocked efforts toward peace. 01:43.500 --> 01:46.933 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN BOLTON, U.S. National Security Adviser: The Trump administration will not keep the 01:46.933 --> 01:51.900 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful 01:52.800 --> 01:54.733 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% negotiations with Israel. 01:54.733 --> 01:59.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% The United States supports a direct and robust peace process. 01:59.300 --> 02:04.266 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And we will not allow the ICC or any other organization to constrain Israel's right to 02:05.300 --> 02:07.333 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% self-defense. 02:07.333 --> 02:10.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: I talked to Ambassador Husam Zomlot, the ambassador to the U.S. for the 02:10.966 --> 02:12.433 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% Palestinians. 02:12.433 --> 02:14.066 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% He said: Look, this is not going to change our behavior. 02:14.066 --> 02:16.500 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% We are going to take the Israelis to the ICC. 02:16.500 --> 02:21.000 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And we're going to continue not to help Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt's peace effort. 02:21.000 --> 02:26.000 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% And he later released a statement, saying: "We stand firm in our decision not to cooperate 02:27.400 --> 02:30.433 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% in this ongoing campaign to liquidate our rights and cause. 02:30.433 --> 02:32.000 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% Our rights or not for sale. 02:32.000 --> 02:35.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% We will block any attempts at booing and blackmailing us." 02:35.300 --> 02:39.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: So, Nick, this reveals not just frustration about what's going on right 02:39.233 --> 02:42.233 align:left position:20%,start line:77% size:70% now, but longstanding frustrations with the Palestinians. 02:42.233 --> 02:45.666 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Longstanding frustrations and real frustrations with the Trump administration 02:45.666 --> 02:50.700 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% over the last few months, one, the move of the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and 02:50.700 --> 02:53.700 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% President Trump saying, well, we took Jerusalem off the table. 02:53.700 --> 02:58.133 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Palestinians, of course, want Jerusalem, East Jerusalem as a future capital. 02:58.133 --> 03:03.100 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Number two, $200 million in humanitarian aid being canceled by the U.S. administration 03:04.966 --> 03:08.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% that went to things like hospitals in East Jerusalem that provided cancer treatment, 03:08.033 --> 03:10.066 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% for example. 03:10.066 --> 03:13.233 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% The Palestinian Authority can't provide that treatment, and those hospitals have lost that 03:13.233 --> 03:15.300 align:left position:40%,start line:89% size:50% money. 03:15.300 --> 03:19.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% And, number three, $300 million for UNRWA, the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, 03:19.033 --> 03:24.033 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% again, providing schools, health care, things that no one else in the West Bank or Gaza 03:24.966 --> 03:27.033 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% can provide. 03:27.033 --> 03:30.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Now, U.S. and Israel say that those UNRWA schools, those U.N. schools, were being used 03:30.566 --> 03:35.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% by Hamas to house rockets, and also that that organization was kind of skewing the definition 03:37.500 --> 03:39.466 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% of a refugee. 03:39.466 --> 03:43.900 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% In the past, the U.S. has provided aid and separately hoped for a political solution. 03:45.900 --> 03:50.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Palestinians believe that this is the U.S. taking away aid to blackmail them and force 03:50.600 --> 03:52.066 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% them toward a political solution. 03:52.066 --> 03:54.766 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: So where does this negotiation stand? 03:54.766 --> 03:56.366 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% We haven't seen any peace plan, have we? 03:56.366 --> 03:58.400 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% NICK SCHIFRIN: We have not seen any peace plan. 03:58.400 --> 04:01.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% U.S. officials are hoping to release something by the end of the year. 04:01.966 --> 04:04.000 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% And they describe a different approach. 04:04.000 --> 04:08.966 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Rather than a blueprint for talks, negotiation between two sides, they really are going to 04:10.266 --> 04:12.866 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% release a robust, significant long peace plan. 04:12.866 --> 04:17.633 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% And a lot of it has to do with economic incentives for the Palestinians, rather necessarily than 04:18.733 --> 04:21.366 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% answering every Palestinian grievance. 04:21.366 --> 04:24.466 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% JUDY WOODRUFF: So you were saying that Bolton spent most of his time talking about the International 04:25.200 --> 04:26.400 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% Criminal Court, the ICC. 04:26.400 --> 04:28.200 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% What is this -- what's behind this? 04:28.200 --> 04:31.066 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: This is part of John Bolton's world view. 04:31.066 --> 04:36.066 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It really is, that states are the most important body in the international arena, and states 04:38.466 --> 04:41.600 align:left position:10%,start line:71% size:80% should never give up any sovereignty ever, especially to any kind of international organization. 04:43.066 --> 04:46.300 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% And the way to have influence in the world is not through allies. 04:46.300 --> 04:48.300 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% It's not through alliances. 04:48.300 --> 04:52.566 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% It's not through influence and multilateral institutions, but, as he put it today, power. 04:54.466 --> 04:57.600 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% JOHN BOLTON: The hard men of history or not deterred by fantasies of international law, 04:59.466 --> 05:01.600 align:left position:30%,start line:89% size:60% such as the ICC. 05:01.600 --> 05:06.466 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Time and again, history has proven that the only deterrent to evil and atrocity is what 05:08.466 --> 05:12.366 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% Franklin Roosevelt once called the righteous might of the United States and its allies. 05:13.466 --> 05:15.133 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: That's pretty direct. 05:15.133 --> 05:16.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% So how does that play out in policy? 05:16.533 --> 05:19.333 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: It hasn't changed policy dramatically yet. 05:19.333 --> 05:24.300 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% But we are seeing Bolton's ideology play out across the administration's foreign policy 05:24.300 --> 05:29.300 align:left position:20%,start line:71% size:70% priorities, threatening the use of force against Syrian President Assad and his ally Russia 05:31.300 --> 05:35.400 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% if there's another chemical weapons attack inside of Syria, threatening European countries, 05:35.400 --> 05:40.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% European allies, if they try and help Iran, basically calling their bluff, saying that 05:40.200 --> 05:45.200 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% they don't have the military, economic or political way to convince Iran to stay inside 05:45.933 --> 05:46.733 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% the nuclear deal. 05:46.733 --> 05:48.766 align:left position:20%,start line:89% size:70% And in North Korea. 05:48.766 --> 05:52.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% North Korea needs to give up all of its nuclear weapons before the U.S. gives in very much. 05:53.600 --> 05:55.633 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% That is Bolton's philosophy. 05:55.633 --> 05:58.733 align:left position:10%,start line:77% size:80% North Korea and, frankly, South Korean officials say: That's not how it should work. 05:58.733 --> 06:00.533 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% We will take steps if you take steps. 06:00.533 --> 06:02.200 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% That's what the Koreans say. 06:02.200 --> 06:04.800 align:left position:10%,start line:83% size:80% That's not a philosophy that John Bolton adheres to. 06:04.800 --> 06:05.800 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70% JUDY WOODRUFF: Nick Schifrin, we thank you. 06:05.800 --> 06:05.933 align:left position:10%,start line:89% size:80% NICK SCHIFRIN: Thank you.