Chaos Erupts As Journalist Labels Blinken a ‘Criminal’ During Final Press Conference

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chaos-erupts-as-journalist-labels-blinken-a-‘criminal’-during-final-press-conference
Chaos Erupts As Journalist Labels Blinken a ‘Criminal’ During Final Press Conference
Blinken Israel
File photo. Public Domain

A journalist repeatedly interrupted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, accusing him of being a “criminal” in his support for Israel in the Gaza war.

Independent journalist Sam Husseini, a long-time critic of US foreign policy, who is not a member of the regular State Department press corps, yelled at Blinken and was forcibly removed by security during Blinken’s final press conference in the State Department briefing room.

Husseini shouted, “Why aren’t you in the Hague?” referring to the International Criminal Court based in the Dutch city, and another journalist in the room called him “a monster.” He was also removed.

While protests are common in large public gatherings, including just this week when Blinken delivered an address on the Middle East at a Washington-based think tank, they are rare, if not unprecedented, in the State Department briefing room, Associated Press reports.

Blinken has been heckled during appearances in Washington, D.C. since the war in Gaza began more than a year ago.

Pro-Palestinian activists have also reportedly camped outside Blinken’s home in Virginia and repeatedly threw red paint to symbolize blood on a car carrying the secretary of state and his family.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have targeted Blinken because of the U.S. supplying weapons to Israel, and diplomatic support of the country.

Blinken defends policy towards Israel

Blinken, who leaves office on Monday, Jan. 20, when President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, later took questions from reporters and defended Biden administration policies on Israel’s war with Hamas after a ceasefire agreement in Gaza was reached.

He said that the US has had “real differences” with Israel in how it has gone about defending its people and has “expressed those clearly at various points.”

But “we’ve mostly done it privately, precisely because we didn’t want to feed into Hamas’ clearly held views that if that pressure was mounting, and if there was daylight, they could do nothing,” Blinken said. That “they could refuse to engage on the negotiations, hold back on a ceasefire and releasing the hostages, and thus perpetuate the suffering, the loss for the people that they purport to represent.”

Israel approves deal with Hamas

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a “deal to release the hostages” has been agreed. Netanyahu had delayed a cabinet vote to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal, due on Thursday, accusing Hamas of seeking last-minute changes to the agreement.

On Friday morning his office said Netanyahu had been informed by the negotiating team that agreements on the deal had been reached.

He has ordered the political-security cabinet to convene later on Friday and the government “will then convene to approve the deal”, Netanyahu’s office said. Families of the hostages have been informed, it added.

Representatives of Israel, Hamas, the United States, and Qatar have officially signed the deal in Doha, Israeli media reports.

Israel’s war against Hamas started after the terror group’s attack on Oct. 7, 2023, left 1,200 people dead and 250 more kidnapped. More than 46,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.

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