An independent journalist, Sam Husseini, was physically removed from a press conference of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department in Washington, after he attempted to ask questions about the war and the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Additionally, Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal was also escorted out of the press room.
Blinken claimed in his speech that in the past four years, successful diplomacy had been conducted by Washington, including the latest ceasefire agreement, although both Israel and Hamas credited the designated President Donald Trump with the final success.
In a video published by Stella Assange, several uniformed DSS (Diplomatic Security Service) agents can be seen approaching Husseini from behind, who was an accredited journalist in the press room and had been quietly listening to Blinken’s statements until then.
Husseini reacted by telling the agents to take their hands off him as they pulled him away from his seat. He disputed the instruction to come along. Clearly agitated, Husseini called out to Blinken, “You’re talking about a free press.” He told the security agents, “You’re hurting me!” Then again, addressing Blinken, “I want to ask questions, after I learned from [State Department Spokesman] Matt Miller that he won’t answer my questions [about Gaza].”
The US Secretary of State explained the scene, stating that the present journalists “must respect the procedural flow” and that he would answer questions after his speech. Husseini called out to him, as he was already being pulled away, “Everyone, from Amnesty International to the ICC [International Criminal Court], says Israel is perpetrating genocide and ethnic cleansing, and you’re telling me to respect the process?”
As the journalist was being forcibly removed, he repeatedly called out to Blinken: “Criminal! Why aren’t you in The Hague?”
After the arrest, the journalist stated on X, that he had only “tried to ask a series of questions. I was dragged out and handcuffed. Completely over-the-top violence.”
In a more detailed X-posting, Husseini explained the incident:
“I intended to ask hard-hitting questions at every opportunity, which the state personnel obviously curtailed:
Did the May 31 announcement aim to block the implementation of the ICC’s May 24 judgment? Why do you refuse to recognize the Geneva Conventions as applicable to the Gaza Strip? Everyone, from Amnesty International to the ICC, accuses Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing. Why aren’t you in The Hague? Why was your stepfather Pisar connected to Maxwell and Epstein? Miller acts as if he knows nothing of the Hannibal Directive – do you know of the Hannibal Directive? Why don’t you even recognize Israel’s nuclear weapons?”
The reference to the “Hannibal Directive” concerns the question of whether the Biden Administration is aware of an Israeli government order that allows the Israeli military to kill military personnel or civilians instead of taking them captive.
In another incident during the same briefing, Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal accused Antony Blinken of contributing to the “destruction of our Judaism” by associating it with fascism and pointed out that the stepfather and grandfather of the outgoing Secretary of State were notable lobbyists for Israel.
“Why have you sacrificed the rule-based order under the guise of your engagement for Zionism?”, Blumenthal called out, as he too was escorted out of the press room by State Department staff. Blumenthal called out to Blinken: “Why have you allowed the Holocaust of our time to occur? How does it feel to be the heir of a genocide?”