"Muh Democracy" Israel Arrests US Journalist Who Documented Damage From Iran Missile Strikes
According to alternative media outlet The Grayzone, the State of Israel has arrested US citizen and Grayzone investigative reporter Jeremy Loffredo just days after he defied censors by posting a report on Iran's ballistic missile strike, to include documenting the precise location of an apparent impact close to the headquarters of the country's principal intelligence agency, the Mossad.
Israeli police continue to hold journalist Jeremy Loffredo "on suspicion of serious security offenses for publicly publishing... the locations of missile drops near or inside sensitive security facilities, with the aim of bringing this to the notice of the enemy and thereby assisting them in their future attacks."
A judge had ordered him released on the grounds that Israeli censors had approved the reporting of Loffredo's arrest and the information that Loffredo reported, and thus authorities "could "no longer justify his continued detention." However, the police have appealed, and Loffredo remains jailed.
"The claim that Loffredo and The Grayzone represent Israel’s enemy in wartime merely suggests that the Israeli government views the American people and free press as a legitimate target," The Grayzone wrote, and encouraged concerned Americans to "contact the State Department and urge them to act in defense of their citizen detained in Israel."
"I’ve just learned that @loffredojeremy was among the journalists arrested by the Israeli military and is still in jail," said Grayzone founder and editor-in-chief Max Blumenthal via social media. "His phone has been confiscated. That is all I’m able to say for now." On Wednesday at midday, Grayzone journalist Aaron Maté wrote that Loffredo had already been held for more than 24 hours.
Russian independent journalist Andrey X said he and Loffredo were among five journalists grabbed by Israeli security forces, with all but Loffredo having been released. No details have yet surfaced about where or why they were arrested.
"Today I was beaten, kidnapped, blindfolded and taken to a military base by the Israeli Occupation Forces, together with 4 other journalists.
Two of us were held for 11 hours without charges, my phone was confiscated (stolen), and one of us is still in custody."
— Andrey X (@the_andrey_x) October 8, 2024
https://twitter.com/the_andrey_x/status/1843802352199020843
On Oct. 1, Iran unleashed multiple waves of ballistic missiles on Israel in retaliation for Israel's assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of the Lebanese political and military organization Hezbollah, and Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Abbas Nilforoushan, among others. Despite compelling video evidence that many of those missiles found their targets, Israel downplayed the effect of the Iranian strike while simultaneously declaring it illegal to report on where missiles hit.
Undaunted, Loffredo set out to find missile impact sites, and filed a 6-minute video report to The Grayzone's YouTube channel, which has nearly 400,000 followers, and to its Rumble channel. In addition to showing the remains of an Iranian missile near Israel's Nevatim Airbase in the Negev desert, Loffredo was able to find what is almost certainly a huge missile blast site less than a thousand feet from Mossad headquarters.
"This information is missing from all Israeli media reports, due to the fact it's been officially censored," said Loffredo in his report, before showing the precise longitude and latitude of the impact site.
President Biden claims to stand for press freedom around the world. Let's see if his administration takes a stand against Israel on behalf of this American journalist...or instead shrugs and redistributes a few more billion dollars of American wealth to the perpetrators.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-arrests-us-journalist-who-documented-damage-iran-missile-strike