Chaos erupts at Antony Blinken’s final press conference as reporter is forcibly removed: ‘You should be in The Hague!’
Chaos erupted at Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s final press conference Thursday after an announced Israel-Hamas cease-fire and hostage deal, with State Department employees forcibly removing reporters who accused the cabinet official of allowing a “genocide” in Gaza.
State Department aides escorted Grayzone News journalist Max Blumenthal from the briefing room, while security guards dragged independent journalist Sam Husseini away, as Blinken was hailing the cease-fire agreement first pitched in May and set to take effect Sunday.
Both Blumenthal and Husseini were enraged that Israel’s war in Gaza after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, which has lasted 15 months and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, hadn’t ended sooner.
“Criminal!” Husseini screeched as three guards carried him out of the briefing room, according to footage posted on X. “Why aren’t you in The Hague! Why aren’t you in The Hague! Why aren’t you in The Hague!”
“You pontificate about a free press!” he erupted. “I am asking questions after being told by [spokesman] Matt Miller that he will not answer my questions.”
Husseini posted on his X account that he had “tried to ask a series of questions. Was carried out and handcuffed. Completely excessive force.”
Blinken had instructed the journalist to “respect the process” and promised he would have a chance to ask questions after he was done presenting.
“Everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ [International Court of Justice] is saying that Israel is doing genocide and extermination and you’re telling me to respect the process?” Husseini shot back.
Just before Husseini’s exit, Blumenthal had interrupted Blinken and pelted him with questions.
“Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?” he asked, according to video footage of the disturbance that he posted on X. “Why did you allow my friends’ homes in Gaza to be destroyed?”
The tentative Israeli-Hamas agreement will impose a 42-day cease-fire allowing Israeli and American hostages to be evacuated from the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Thirty-three of the 100 hostages — seven of whom are Americans — will be set free in that first phase of the process.
Over the six-week period of peace, the Israel Defense Forces will also withdraw from Gaza and humanitarian aid will flow into the region. Destroyed buildings will also be reconstructed over several years.
The deal briefly stalled after Hamas pushed for the option to demand the release of some prisoners accused of murder, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faced pressure from the right flank of his coalition to not bring the war to an end before the terror group is completely eliminated.
Hamas massacred 1,200 men, women and children in Israel — including 46 Americans — during its Oct. 7 massacre, the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.
The Knesset will vote on the cease-fire agreement on Friday, an Israeli official told CNN, but it will be implemented on Sunday — the day before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Just before the initial agreement was scrapped, the Biden administration declared that Israel was not committing “genocide” in its war against Hamas terrorists.
“We do not believe what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. We have been firmly on record rejecting that proposition,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a White House press briefing on May 13, 2024.
Sullivan added, however: “Israel can and must do more to ensure the protection and well-being of innocent civilians.”
Blinken had also agreed with a preliminary State Department report that declared it was “reasonable to assess” Israel has violated international humanitarian law during its war on Hamas terrorists in the Palestinian territory.
In January 2024, the International Court of Justice also declared that Israel was not doing enough to prevent “genocide” against Palestinians but did not demand an immediate cease-fire.
