By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Israel arrested American journalist Jeremy Loffredo this week for taking video of the damages inflicted by Iran’s ballistic missile strikes.
UPDATE:
The Grayzone on Thursday night released the following statement on Loffredo’s arrest:
Jeremy Loffredo remains in Israeli jail.
Officially, police are holding him “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.”
The charges stem from Jeremy’s report for @TheGrayzoneNews showing the aftermath of Iranian attacks on military and intelligence targets inside Israel—the same exact locations which were openly featured in reports broadcast on ABC News and PBS, neither of which currently face such charges.
Originally, the judge overseeing Jeremy’s case ordered him released, saying that since Israeli military censors agreed to allow Israeli media 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, police appealed this decision. For now, Jeremy remains in custody, and his appeal hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.
The Grayzone unequivocally rejects these outrageous accusations from Israeli police. We stand by Jeremy’s legitimate reporting. 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. We represent no one else. We will fight these charges, and ask that you contact the State Department and urge them to act in defense of their citizen detained in Israel. The US has an obligation to defend its journalists who are merely adhering to their ethical obligation to inform the public of pertinent facts.”
***Original Story Follows***
“Israel is charging US journalist Jeremy Loffredo with ‘aiding the enemy during wartime and providing information to the enemy’ for reporting on the Israeli military targets hit by Iran earlier this month,” Aaron Mate noted. “Israel is detaining and prosecuting an American journalist for doing journalism. Will his media colleagues defend him?”
From Antiwar, “Israel Jails American Journalist for Reporting on Iranian Missile Strikes”:
Jeremy Loffredo, an American journalist for The Grayzone, has been arrested by the Israeli military for his reporting inside Israel.
Loffredo was jailed just a few days after releasing a report on Iranian missile strikes in Israel, information the Israeli military has been trying to censor. According to the Israeli news site Ynet, because of the report, Loffredo faces charges of “aiding the enemy during wartime and providing information to the enemy.”
Representatives from the US embassy attended a hearing on a police request to extend Loffredo’s detention, but so far, the US government has been silent and has not publicly called for his release.
Israel killed another American citizen last week in Lebanon and now they’re arresting American journalists for the crime of journalism.