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Why has Israel detained American journalist Jeremy Loffredo?
It remains to be seen if the Biden administration’s platitudes about press freedom only apply to journalists they like
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‘If Israel’s theory is that reporters illegally share information with the enemy whenever the enemy reads the news, that could criminalize a whole lot of journalism.’ Photograph: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters |
American Jeremy Loffredo was one of five journalists reportedly detained by the Israel Defense Forces on 9 October. He’s reportedly charged with endangering national security and aiding and sharing information with the enemy, apparently because of his reporting on Iranian strikes.
The case requires the immediate attention of American officials (Loffredo has reportedly been released from custody but is barred from leaving Israel as authorities try to build their case). But, no matter what direction it takes, it should serve to highlight the plight of dozens of Palestinian journalists who are being held incommunicado in Israeli prisons.
Loffredo’s American citizenship makes it more likely – but by no means guaranteed – that the Biden administration might actually care that he’s being detained. After all, Joe Biden was eager to claim credit for the release of the journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, who were held in Russian prison on bogus charges.
The administration has often claimed that it doesn’t micromanage Israel’s affairs. Israel, it reminds us, is a sovereign country albeit one whose wars we bankroll. That excuse is not available when the journalist is American (although that hasn’t helped much in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh).
It complicates matters that Loffredo reports for the Grayzone, an outlet that has been accused of carrying Russian and Chinese propaganda. The administration is embroiled in a separate (and constitutionally dubious) fight against alleged propagandists. The day of Loffredo’s arrest, another Grayzone reporter had a heated exchange with the state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, accusing the US of recklessly risking nuclear war.
But whether Loffredo’s detention is justifiable has nothing to do with Grayzone’s editorial standards – it’s solely a question of whether he was arrested for a crime, or for reporting stories authorities didn’t want told.
If Israel’s theory is that reporters illegally share information with the enemy whenever the enemy reads the news, that could criminalize a whole lot of journalism. If Israel has proof that Loffredo did something more nefarious than that, it should say so, and be specific. The Dissenter reports that several more mainstream journalists reported similar information and footage to Loffredo and weren’t charged – if so, why was a particularly adversarial journalist singled out?
It remains to be seen if the Biden administration’s platitudes about press freedom only apply to journalists they like. But more broadly, it’s shameful that the US has utterly failed to hold Israel – its close ally and a recipient of billions in US military aid – accountable for even just one of the many journalists it’s arrested, detained or killed in the previous year.
Israel has killed well over a hundred journalists in the war. Strong evidence indicates that Israel deliberately targeted some of the journalists it has killed.
There have been multiple reports of journalists and their families receiving death threats from Israeli officials for their reporting – including from Mohammed Mhawish and Hassan Hamad, both of whom were subsequently attacked. Mhawish survived. Nineteen year-old Hamad’s remains had to be carried away in several boxes and bags.
But less discussed is that Israel has also arrested dozens of Palestinian journalists since 7 October 2023, as documented by groups like the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). As of 9 October 2024, according to CPJ, 43 Palestinian journalists remain imprisoned by Israel, a record number.
Many of them are held under Israel’s “administrative detention” law, which allows for indefinite detention without charge or trial. In some instances, even a detainee’s location is unknown.
Despite years of criticism that this system violates international law, Israel has doubled down on its use during the war, including against journalists. Even worse, numerous human rights organizations have reported evidence of torture, including cases documented by CPJ and RSF involving journalists.
Journalist Diaa Al-Kahlout spoke to CPJ after his release about his 33-day detention by the IDF, during which he says he was physically and psychologically tortured. Al-Kahlout said he was interrogated about his journalism and subjected to physical violence, including being blindfolded for an extended period and forced to maintain a squatting position.
He also described daily “ghosting”, or “being handcuffed with the hands upward or behind the back while blindfolded”. He lost almost 100lbs (45kg) in detention.
Rights organizations have also called attention to the case of Moaz Amarna, a photojournalist detained by the IDF. According to a letter to the UN signed by numerous groups, Amarna was “beaten and abused” by IDF soldiers during his arrest. RSF has also cited a statement by Amarna’s lawyer that the journalist “has been subjected to repeated violence by his jailers, who have also deprived him of basic medical care”.
Undoubtedly there are more stories just like these among the dozens of Palestinian journalists who remain imprisoned and may lack access to legal counsel and the outside world. Yet the United States, for all its claims about valuing press freedom, has done nothing of consequence about it.
So yes, the Biden administration must demand that Israel immediately explain why the IDF detained an American journalist, and if it can’t provide a credible reason unrelated to Loffredo’s reporting, it must demand that charges be dropped – and his phone and passport returned – immediately. But Israel shouldn’t be jailing any journalist who hasn’t committed a real crime, and the US shouldn’t turn a blind eye to its ally’s assaults on the press, let alone finance them.
Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer
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