Two journalists disrupted Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s last press briefing on Thursday with criticism over his handling of the war in Gaza.
“Your father-in-law was an Israel lobbyist. Your grandfather was an Israel lobbyist. Are you compromised by Israel? Why did you allow the Holocaust of our time to happen?” Max Blumenthal, editor of the blog Grayzone, asked Blinken.
“How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?”
He questioned both Blinken and State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on the actions in the Middle East he said which harmed “300 reporters” while he was being escorted out by staff.
“Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May? We all knew we had a deal. Everyone in this room knows we had a deal, Tony, and you kept the bombs flowing,” Blumenthal said in his earlier statements during the press briefing, likely referring to the airstrike on a displacement camp in Rafah last year.
The Israeli attack which killed 25 and injured 200 used U.S. munitions according to reports from CNN.
However, he wasn’t the only journalist to share his disdain. Independent reporter Sam Husseini screamed out during the briefing to suggest Blinken be tried for his actions.
“Criminal! You belong in The Hague,” Husseini said, seemingly referencing the city where the International Criminal Court is located.
Both journalists were escorted out as Blinken stopped his opening comments to address protestors, asking them to “respect the process,” according to the Associated Press.
President Biden announced a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, touting a hostage release and signaling an end to months of violence during his final time in office.
However, many remain outraged over the deadly conflict which claimed the lives of 46,000 Palestinians and have left others plagued by disease and starvation.
South Africa and Ireland have labeled the mounting conditions as a genocidal effort carried out by Israeli leaders and have opened a case against the country in the International Criminal Court.
Blinken said the U.S. has raised concerns with Israeli leaders but has “mostly done it privately, precisely because we didn’t want to feed into Hamas’ clearly held views that if that pressure was mounting, and if there was daylight, they could do nothing.”