Secretary of State Antony Blinken was giving a speech on the Middle East on Tuesday when he was interrupted by protesters condemning the outgoing official’s role in enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
In an address at the Atlantic Council, a NATO military think tank, Blinken was offering a view of U.S.’s plans for the future of the Middle East, including Gaza, when a protester began yelling.
“Secretary Blinken, your legacy will be genocide. You will forever be known as ‘bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide,’” the protester said. “You have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands. We have spent a year — we have spent a year trying to appeal to your humanity in front of your house.”
“I respect your views. Please allow me to share mine,” Blinken said, over the protester.
“The blood of innocent civilians, of children, is on your hands. We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hold you accountable. We will hold you accountable,” the protester went on.
“Secretary of genocide! Shame! Shame on you!” they said as their voice grew quieter, likely being dragged away by police at the event.
“So we continue,” Blinken said as the protester was taken away, to a chuckle in the room.
In his address, Blinken offered a picture of his vision for the future of Gaza after Israel’s assault. He said the U.S. envisions a future in which the Palestinian Authority, which currently governs the occupied West Bank, rules over Gaza, while an interim security force would help to keep Hamas forces in check, focusing on “law and order.”
The Palestinian Authority was once the governing force over Gaza, until it lost electorally to Hamas in 2006 and then was decisively defeated in a brief armed struggle the next year. Palestinians in the Strip were dissatisfied with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which leads the Palestinian Authority, and favored armed resistance to Israeli occupation. It’s unclear if Israel and Hamas would accept a proposal like Blinken’s, though it is potentially unlikely.
Later in his speech, as Blinken discussed “stamping out” terrorist groups and “forg[ing] a new reality for the Middle East,” another protester spoke up.
“This is not a war. For over 450 days, Israel has committed genocide against the Palestinian people. We have sent over $25 billion to Israel in the past year,” they said.
“Blinken, you lied on May 10th to Congress, you lied,” they went on, urging people to research the issue as they were also taken away. Blinken again calmly resumed his speech.
The protester was referring to an incident last May in which Blinken told Congress that the U.S. government has not assessed that Israel is blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza — despite the clear reality reported by countless sources on the ground, as well as his own agency’s internal findings.
The incident, revealed by ProPublica, led to a deluge of calls for Blinken to resign, with advocates for Palestinian rights saying that he lied to Congress and that he had violated the law in his staunch protection of Israel. It is one of many instances over the course of the genocide and beyond of Blinken and the State Department painting over Israeli atrocities in order to allow its slaughter and suppression of Palestinians to continue.
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