American Journalist Jeremy Loffredo released from Israeli Prison pending investigation, his phone and passport witheld
"Loffredo was charged with 'endangering National Security' and 'Aiding the Enemy' through his reporting
The following post includes updates on journalist Jeremy Lofredo’s current situation after being arrested and incarcerated by Israeli police yesterday.
First is an article published by The Grayzone’s managing editor, Wyatt Reed last night.
I have included a video clip of Max Blumenthal’s interview with Al Jazeera tonight after the article.
Israel jails Grayzone’s Jeremy Loffredo, releases him pending investigation
WYATT REED·OCTOBER 11, 2024
The criminal case against the American reporter fell apart after an Israeli journalist testified that his own article containing Loffredo’s full video report had cleared military censorship. Yet Israel refuses to let Loffredo leave the country.
On October 11, journalist Jeremy Loffredo was ordered released from Israeli jail.
Israeli soldiers arrested the Jewish-American reporter and three other journalists at a checkpoint in the West Bank on October 8. According to one of the jailed reporters, @the_andrey_x, the soldiers blindfolded them tightly, roughed them up, drawing guns on them at one point, and hauled them off to detention in Jerusalem.
“The soldiers… illegally requested that the journalists hand in their phones, and when they refused, the soldiers pointed a gun at one of the journalists, hit him with their hands and the barrel of a gun, then dragged him out of the car and slammed him onto the concrete. When lying on the ground, they pointed 2 guns at his head. The rest of the journalists exited the car and the military raided it, confiscating phones, cameras, and personal items,” said @the_andrey_x.
Andrey recalled that in the course of abusing the journalists, “The soldiers told the female Israeli photographer that she should have been raped by Hamas.”
While Loffredo’s colleagues were released after 11 hours, the “Judea and Samaria” division of the Israeli police opened an investigation into Loffredo for supposedly “aiding the enemy in a time of war.”
The Israeli police’s accusation related to Loffredo’s video report for The Grayzone covering the aftermath of Iranian missile strikes aimed at Israeli military installations. According to the police, Jeremy had revealed “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.”
Watch Jeremy Loffredo’s report, “On the ground investigating Iran’s strikes on Israel” here.
On October 9, an Israeli court declared it had “reasonable suspicion” to extend the journalist’s imprisonment. At a hearing the next day, the police insisted to Magistrate’s Court Judge Zion Sahrai that Loffredo was not an actual journalist, but did not present any evidence that he was pursuing a hostile ulterior agenda.
A journalist from the Israeli publication YNet countered the allegation that Loffredo violated Israeli censorship laws by pointing out that the military censor approved his own article in which a tweet containing Loffredo’s full video report for The Grayzone was embedded.
Judge Sahrai ordered Loffredo’s release, stating that since Israeli military censors agreed to allow Ynet to publish both “word of [Jeremy’s] arrest and the publications that led to his arrest,” Israel could “no longer justify his continued detention.”
However, the police appealed Sahrai’s decision, protesting that the censor only approved the YNet article retroactively, and would have never done so if it had been submitted in advance.
That police also complained that Loffredo had refused to unlock his phone for them, insisting they needed more time to crack the device. “We believe that we will find things on the phone and we will be able to link him [to the alleged crime],” a police representative stated.
That argument did not hold water with Jerusalem District Court Judge Hana Miriam Lomp, however. “The Court of First Instance did not err when it ordered the release of the respondent,” Judge Lomp stated during the October 11 appeal. “From the detailed investigative actions there is no fear of disruption [from Jeremy], and in light of the reasons stated above, the cause of the danger is also not clear.”
Though Lomp ordered the journalist be released, she gave police until October 20 to continue their digital strip search. Until then, Loffredo will remain without his passport and will not be permitted to return home to his family in the US.
Just what Israeli officials hope to uncover in their search of Loffredo’s cell phone remains a mystery. Also unclear is why the investigation focuses exclusively on Loffredo, and not on any of the numerous other reporters who reported the locations of the Iranian strikes.
After Iran launched several hundred ballistic missiles at Israeli military targets on October 1, several international journalists broadcast reports from the scene of blasts, including ABC News’ Matt Gutman and PBS Newshour’s Nick Schifrin.
The Grayzone published a statement on October 10 unequivocally rejecting the Israeli police’s outrageous accusations against Loffredo. We repeat that we stand by Jeremy’s report. 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. Indeed, we are an independent outlet with no relationship, financial or otherwise, with any foreign country or political organization.
As we fight the fraudulent charges against Jeremy, we ask readers to contact the US State Department and urge them to act in his defense. The US has an obligation to defend its journalists without political prejudice, particularly when they are fulfilling the vital task of providing the public with facts on the ground.
Wyatt Reed is the managing editor of The Grayzone. As an international correspondent, he’s covered stories in over a dozen countries. Follow him on Twitter at @wyattreed13.
I am including below the text of Andrey’s tweet from October 11th regarding his experience of being arrested by the Israeli army thugs along with Jeremy and the other journalists.
I was illegally detained by the Israeli Army with four other journalists. Here's what happened:
On October 8th 2024, at approximately 01:00 PM, a car with five journalists (an American journalist, a Palestinian journalist, a Russian-Israeli journalist, a Canadian-Israeli videographer, and an Israeli photographer) was stopped at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. The checkpoint separates Areas C and B, all the journalists are allowed to be on both sides by Israeli occupation law. They were held for an hour and a half in their car, while the IOF collected their documents. The IOF searched the car, going through personal items. The photographer later discovered that her underwear was removed from her bag, placed on top of their belongings.
The soldiers then illegally requested that the journalists hand in their phones, and when they refused, the soldiers pointed a gun at one of the journalists, hit him with their hands and the barrel of a gun, then dragged him out of the car and slammed him onto the concrete. When lying on the ground, they pointed 2 guns at his head. The rest of the journalists exited the car and the military raided it, confiscating phones, cameras, and personal items.
The journalists were told to sit in the sun, in 35°C heat on the side of the road. After an hour, the Palestinian journalist began to feel faint and requested an ambulance be ordered. The soldiers refused and didn’t let anyone move to the shade, shouting insults and Israeli nationalist slogans. After two hours, the soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded the journalists. The Israeli photographer had a panic attack and started throwing up, and after stating she was Israeli, was allowed to remain without a blindfold. The Palestinian journalist was left in the sun for two more hours, then he was released. In the meantime, the other four journalists were stacked on top of each other into a military jeep, and taken to a military base. There they were held blindfolded and handcuffed on the floor for two hours, while being insulted and interrogated by the soldiers. The soldiers told the female Israeli photographer that she should have been raped by Hamas.
At approximately 04.00 PM the IOF passed the illegally detained journalists to the police, who took them to the police station. The two male journalists remained blindfolded until arriving at the Maale Adumim Shai Police Station in an illegal Israeli settlement 1 hour later. At the station, the journalists were forced to be photographed in front of an Israeli flag with a nationalist slogan on it, while the officers were insulting them. A journalist was threatened with physical violence for smiling.
The journalists were interrogated in regards to their political affiliation and work, refused the right to see a lawyer, denied food and water until many repeated requests (the two male journalists were denied food completely). The two female journalists were released without charges at 11:00 PM. The Russian-Israeli journalist was released at midnight. The American journalist was held for three days and was released Friday, October 11th. The army confiscated two phones and one camera that they have yet to return.
This marks a precedent for IOF treatment of Israelis and internationals, but this is the standard procedure for kidnapping Palestinians across the West Bank.
For press inquiries +972 53-322-2469
Last edited 4:20 PM · Oct 11, 2024
The following information tweeted by Max earlier on Saturday October 12th is notable:
While a chorus of Israeli judges called for Jeremy Loffredo’s release, the US State Dept has yet to publicly do so.
“We aware of reports of a U.S. citizen arrested in Israel and are monitoring the situation,” is what a State Dept official told The Intercept
I will leave off here with Max Blumenthal’s interview with Al Jazeera approximately 5 hours ago at on October 12, 2024 GMT.
I spoke to Al Jazeera English about the Israel police's arrest, detention and continued persecution of Jeremy Loffredo for doing journalism that already cleared its military censor.
I place his situation in the broader context of Israel's assault on journalists in Palestine.
Although I am relieved that Jeremy and the other journalists and photographer have been released by Israeli police, they will not be truly safe until they are able to get out of the hell that is Israel.
Previous related posts which were written by and/or include material from Jeremy Loffredo:
psychopath criminals they kill their own let alone anyone else! They must be brought to justice for theft, genocide, massacres and rapes of so many Palestinians over 80 years of colonisation, occupation, oppression and apartheid which are all illegal under international law.