Many will remember two journalists’ bold inquiries at outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s final press briefing. Max Blumenthal (@maxblumenthal on X) from the @thegrayzonenews and Sam Husseini (@samhusseini on X), the communications director at the US-based Institute for Public Accuracy (@accuracy on X), challenged Blinken on Washington’s support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza, leading to their forceful ejection from the US State Department briefing room.
In this viral clip, Husseini questions Blinken, a fitting conclusion to Blinken’s four-year tenure marred by accusations of complicity in what Amnesty International has labelled a gencide. In January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a ruling that included six provisional measures, ordering Israel to refrain from actions under the UN Gencide Convention, prevent and punish incitement to gen*cide, and ensure immediate humanitarian assistance for civilians.
Calls for Blinken’s resignation intensified after @ProPublica revealed through leaked documents that he misled Congress regarding the delivery of US aid to Gaza, claiming, ‘We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.’ However, both the State Department’s Population, Refugees and Migration Bureau and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) found that Israel was intentionally obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Under the US Foreign Assistance Act, the shocking report would have prompted an immediate halt to nearly $830 million in weapons and bomb shipments to Israel.
Do you agree with Husseini that Blinken should be prosecuted for war crimes?
Video credits: @willy_lowry, @naderabed and @thetimes on X
Sources:
https://www.propublica.org/article/gaza-palestine-israel-blocked-humanitarian-aid-blinken
https://accuracy.org/about-us/staff/
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/world/middleeast/blinken-israel-hamas-gaza-ceasefire.html