Washington DC:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken isn’t having the best final days in office, with the last 48 hours being particularly unforgiving for the top diplomat facing heat over controversial decisions taken by him during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Far from the farewell he probably hoped for, Antony Blinken’s last press conference as Secretary of State turned out to be a nightmarish experience as he found himself on the receiving end of a verbal lashing by two journalists covering the Gaza war.
Chaos ensued as independent journalist Sam Husseini confronted Mr Blinken while he was defending the Biden administration’s decisions and policies during the 15-month war in Gaza. “Everyone from Amnesty International to the ICJ (International Court of Justice) is saying Israel is doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process?” Mr Husseini questioned.
Moments later, while he was sitting quiet after the verbal confrontation, security personnel showed up at the journalists desk and started to forcefully lift him up.
Reporter @samhusseini was just physically dragged from Blinken’s briefing. “Why aren’t you at The Hague?” he asked. pic.twitter.com/Nvs10aFjgh
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) January 16, 2025
“Stop manhandling me,” urged the journalist, but it fell to deaf ears. The security, now surrounding him, picked him up and started dragging him out as others watched in shock. Just before being physically thrown out of the room, the journalist shouted at Mr Blinken in anguish, saying “Criminal! Why aren’t you at The Hague!?” referring to the International Criminal Court which had sentenced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November last year.
An uncomfortable silence engulfed the conference room. Mr Blinken, clam and unmoved by what just happened, continued his defense of United States’ policy in Gaza and support to Israel’s Netanyahu, though, he stressed, “with differences” on many counts.
Just as he was about to continue his briefing, another journalist – Max Blumenthal, news editor of Grayzone, interrupted him in a harsh, accusatory tone. “Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?” he asked, immediately following it with a series of questions accusing Mr Blinken of being a “Zionist”.
“Why did you sacrifice the rules-based order on the mantle of your commitment to Zionism? Why did you allow my friends to be massacred? Why did you ” he shouted.
My final words for Tony Blinken, Secretary of Genocide, and his smirking press secretary, Matt Miller pic.twitter.com/DuLnepSwDl
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 16, 2025
“Your father-in-law was an Israeli lobbyist, your grandfather was an Israeli lobbyist – Are you compromised by Israel? Why did you let the holocaust of our times to happen? How does it feel to have your legacy being genocide? You smirked through the whole thing” he continued in a slanderous tone as State Department officials escorted the journalist out of the conference room.
HECKLED BY A PROTESTER
Just a day earlier, at a farewell address to the public, Secretary Blinken got heckled by a pro-Palestine protester. Blaming him for the “genocide” in Gaza, the woman protester said, “You will forever be known as Bloody Blinken, Secretary of Genocide. The blood of innocent civilians, of children is on your hands.”
The video, which went viral on social media, shows Mr Blinken remaining calm through the insulting rant. He even requested the protester to allow him to respond to those remarks, telling her that he respects her views. But as she continued her shouting, security stepped in, removing her from the venue. He then continued with his speech.
JUST IN: 🇺🇸 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gets heckled and yelled at by protestors.
“You will forever be known as Bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide.”
“We will never forget” – Yells a lady who is definitely not an dead Arab. pic.twitter.com/yrCg9C9Obd
— Dr Tariq Tramboo (@tariqtramboo) January 14, 2025
Both these occasions – the farewell speech and the last press conference – came immediately after a ceasefire deal was announced between Israel and Hamas, ending the 15-month war, which has left the Palestinian territory of Gaza utterly devastated. The war, which began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas attacked Israel, killing more than 1,200 civilians and taking around 250 hostages, has left more than 46,000 Palestinians dead and over 2.3 million others homeless and displaced in Gaza.
While Hamas’s “terrorist” attack has been condemned worldwide, Israel’s vastly disproportionate military response has been widely called a “genocide”, though Israel has rejected these accusations. The International Criminal Court has even sentenced Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “war crimes” and has demanded his arrest. US and Israel have rejected the order, with the Israeli prime minister defending his actions in the war, calling it “defending the Jewish motherland”.
