Secretary of State Antony BlinkenThe latest press conference soon turned into chaos on Thursday after journalists had to be forcibly removed from the event, including one, an activist, who was physically killed.
The men were upset that a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel had not been reached earlier, accusing Blinken of “genocide” and being a “criminal”.
Writer and activist Sam Husseini had to be escorted out of the event by security. Another reporter, Max Blumenthal of Grayzone News, left more calmly but still had to be escorted out after peppering Blinken with questions about why he kept “bombs leaking when we had a deal in May?”
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“You pontificate about a free press?” – Huseini burst out. “I’m asking questions after Matt Miller told me he wouldn’t answer my questions, so I’m asking them. Wasn’t—wasn’t the point of the May 31st statement to block the ICJ orders? You blocked the ICJ orders!”
Blumenthal questioned Blinken on why he allowed the “Holocaust of our time” as he was escorted out, but that didn’t stop the uproar. Blinken tried to get back on course amid the interruption, at one point asking people to “respect the process,” but Husseini refused.
Political activist and writer Sam Husseini is dragged from a press conference after repeatedly interrupting Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, January 16, 2025.
“Oh, respect the process?” Husseini shouted as he was taken away. “Respect the process while everyone – everyone from the International – from Amnesty International to the ICJ says that Israel is carrying out genocide and extermination, and you tell me to respect the process. Criminal! Why are you not in The Hague?”
Three security guards eventually had to grab Husseini in an attempt to remove him from the room. Husseini yelled as he gripped the table he was sitting at as he continued to yell at Blinken, “You’re hurting me. You’re hurting me!”
The United States, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and Hamas agreed this week to a cease-fire agreement – the basis of which he proposed President Joe Biden in May. Israel still has to fully ratify the deal, but it’s a three-stage process expected to potentially begin as early as Sunday. The deal marks the first reprieve in fighting since a brief truce that took place in November 2023, but fighting resumed days later, with both sides claiming they were in violation of an agreed deal.
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“Three hundred journalists in Gaza were hit by your bombs. Why did you drop the bombs when we had an agreement?” Blumenthal shouted at Blinken, after the secretary of state thanked members for their “tough questions” over the past four years of his tenure. “You all knew we had a deal. Everyone in this room knows we had a deal, Tony, and you kept the bombs going.”
Spokesman for State Department told Fox News Digital that he is committed to advancing freedom of the press and values the possibility of regular communication with media representatives. But an agency spokesman said the State Department also follows agency norms, which mandate that anyone attending a department press briefing must act in a professional manner, adhere to restrictions that may be set in advance and not disrupt other speakers.
Blinken defended the Biden administration’s political approach to the fighting in Gaza during his final press conference as secretary of state on Thursday. He acknowledged that the war in Gaza presented a “uniquely challenging situation” because of the humanitarian problems faced by Palestinians after Hamas launched its offensive on October 7, 2023. He also acknowledged that the US has “real differences with Israel in the way that he went to the necessary defense of his people and his country.”
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, August 19, 2024. (Office of the Prime Minister)
But according to President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, the Biden administration “does not believe that what is happening in Gaza is genocide,” he said earlier this year.
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Agreement reached this week hit a quick snare when Hamas tried to squeeze last-minute demands into the deal. In addition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced pressure from far-right politicians not to implement the agreement. Still, on Friday morning, Netanyahu said that, pending approval by Israel’s security cabinet and government, the proposed ceasefire and hostage agreement still stands and is expected to begin on Sunday.
