Amid the Israel-Gaza war, several journalists, critical of US support for Israel, harshly confronted Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his final press conference, interrupting him as he defended his handling of the ongoing Gaza conflict.
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“Criminal! Why aren’t you in The Hague,” shouted Sam Husseini, an independent journalist and longtime critic of Washington’s approach to the world. The Hague is where the International Criminal Court is located.
The unusually confrontational scene in the State Department briefing room only ended when security personnel forcibly picked up Husseini and carried him out of the room as he continued to heckle Blinken.
‘Criticism is not new’
Blinken has faced criticism for his support of Israel with weapons and diplomatic backing since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, according to Israeli reports.
In response, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has resulted in over 46,000 Palestinian deaths, according to local health authorities, and has sparked accusations of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, with cases brought to the World Court and the International Criminal Court. Israel denies these allegations. The assault has displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, raising concerns from global hunger monitoring organizations.
“Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?” Max Blumenthal, editor of the Grayzone, an outlet that strongly criticizes many aspects of U.S. foreign policy, called out to Blinken, before he was escorted out.
Blinken, who will leave office on Monday when President-elect Donald Trump’s administration takes over, calmly asked for quiet while he delivered his remarks and later answered questions from reporters.
(This is a developing story)
Criminal! Why aren’t you in The Hague?
(With inputs from Reuters)
Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?
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