Secretary of State Antony Blinken held his final press conference on Thursday and was confronted about his support for Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza by two veteran reporters, including independent journalist Sam Husseini, who was dragged out of the room while telling Blinken he belonged in The Hague.
Max Blumenthal, founder of The Grayzone, disrupted Blinken’s opening statement, saying, “Three hundred reporters in Gaza were on the receiving end of your bombs, why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May? … “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?”
Blumenthal continued to pepper Blinken with questions as he was escorted out of the room. “Are you compromised by Israel? Why did you allow the Holocaust of our time to happen? How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?”
Referring to State Department spokesman Matt Miller, Blumenthal said, “You too, Matt, you smirked through the whole thing. Every day, you smirked through a genocide.”
A few minutes after Blumenthal left, Husseini began asking Blinken questions. “I’m a journalist, not a potted plant,” Husseini told a State Department employee who told him to be quiet.
Blinken said he would answer questions after his statement, but Husseini said that Miller explicitly told him that he wouldn’t have the chance to ask questions. Husseini, a contributor to Antiwar.com, frequently attends State Department press briefings but is rarely called on.
“I am justified in what I’m doing,” Husseini said. After a moment of calm, armed security personnel approached Husseini and began ripping him out of his seat.
As he was being dragged out, Husseini said to Blinken, “Answer a damn question! Do you know about the Hannibal Directive? Do you know about Israel’s nuclear weapons? … You pontificate about a free press!”
Blinken told Husseini to “respect the process,” to which Husseini replied, “Respect the process? Respect the process? While everybody from Amnesty International to the ICJ says Israel’s doing genocide and extermination, and you’re telling me to respect the process? Criminal! Why aren’t you in the Hague?”
After the incident, Husseini said he made it home. “I was seriously manhandled but I’m back home… thanks for all the support folks,” Husseini wrote on X.
He listed the questions that he wanted to ask Blinken, which included:
- What was the point of the May 31 announcement to block implementation of the May 24 ICJ order?
- Why do you refuse to recognize the Geneva conventions as applying to Gaza?
- Everyone from Amnesty International to the ICC accuses Israel of extermination and genocide. Why are you not in The Hague?
- Why was your step father Pisar connected to both Robert Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein?
- Miller here pretends not to know about the Hannibal directive – do you know about the Hannibal directive?
- Why do you not even acknowledge Israel’s nuclear weapons?
Husseini has written extensively about some of the issues listed above on his Substack.
