Secretary of State Tony Blinken on May 21 testified at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the morning and a Senate subcommittee on appropriations in the afternoon. At each hearing a group of hecklers started in even before Blinken took his seat. In total four protesters were arrested and another left bleeding. The protesters, many from CODEPINK, had red paint on their hands and all stood up and showed their red hands when Blinken entered the room. One protester yelled out, “There have been seven mass graves outside of hospitals. This is sick. This is deranged. You are a war criminal. Shame on you!”
Ann Wright calmly stated, “As a retired U.S. diplomat, I am horrified by what Tony Blinken is doing as Secretary of State and being a part of the genocide, the Israeli genocide of Gaza. Tony Blinken and the State Department should be ashamed of themselves for assisting in the destruction of Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians.” Mohamad Habehh of American Muslims for Palestine charged, “Their blood is on your hands. You will be remembered as the butcher of Gaza. Your legacy is genocide. You’re just as guilty as Netanyahu. You’re killing our families, Blinken.”
The subject of both Senate hearings was the budget for fiscal year 2025, but between the protesting and the political grandstanding of the politicians (Sen. Ted Cruz was more worried about whether the flags at UN headquarters should be at half-mast to commemorate the death of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi) little was offered in terms of any budget. The biggest obsessions of Blinken and the other establishment figureheads was not genocide or war crimes, but rather arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant and calls for sanctions against ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan. At the afternoon hearing, Blinken said that he would “welcome” working with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on sanctions against the ICC. Blinken continues his delusional line that his peace plan will eventually work and talk of ceasefires and arrest warrants just interfere with his efforts.
The only human comments of the official proceedings came when Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) bluntly told Blinken about the failure of food aid shipments to Gaza saying, “This issue does not require additional investigation. We’ve seen this play out in real time.” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) pressed Blinken to explain why the State Department determined that U.S.-supplied weapons were used in ways that do not meet humanitarian standards, but the U.S. nonetheless violates its own laws by continuing to ship more arms.
