US journalist dragged out from Blinken presser for exposing US complicity in Gaza genocide

US State Department police have violently dragged veteran American journalist Sam Husseini from the news conference of State Secretary Anthony Blinken for exposing US complicity in the Israeli genocide in Gaza. 

On Thursday evening, police dragged Husseini, an independent journalist and longtime critic of Washington's foreign policy, out of the Blinken press conference.

"Criminal! Why aren't you in The Hague," shouted Husseini. The Hague is where the International Criminal Court is located.

“You pontificate about a free press!” Husseini told Blinken, who is leaving office on Monday when the administration of President-elect Donald Trump takes over. 

“I am asking questions after being told by [spokesman] Matt Miller that he will not answer my questions,” said Husseini as the top US diplomat hailed a Gaza ceasefire announcement made by President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

Blinken told Husseini and The Grayzone journalist Max Blumenthal to “respect the process,” saying they would have a chance to ask questions.

“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.

"Criminal! Why aren’t you in The Hague! Why aren’t you in The Hague! Why aren’t you in The Hague!” the Jordanian-Palestinian journalist yelled as police carried him out of the room.

Husseini posted on X that he had “tried to ask a series of questions" before being “carried out and handcuffed.”

"Completely excessive force,” he added.

“It was a heroic effort Sam but your last question will be ringing in his ears. There was no smart a*& comment or repost from him. There was no coming back. He is forever stained,” British journalist Yvonne Ridley commented on Husseini’s post.

Moments before Husseini’s removal, Blumenthal also interrupted Blinken. “Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?” he asked.

“Why did you allow my friends’ homes in Gaza to be destroyed?” Blumenthal, editor of the Grayzone, a publication that strongly criticizes many aspects of US foreign policy, called out to Blinken. He was also escorted out.

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 46,788 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 110,450 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.

On November 21 last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

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