
Earlier in October the Grayzone reporter Jeremy Loffredo traveled to Israel to report on the ongoing conflict between Israel and its neighbors in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Iran. In response to his reporting, Israeli authorities arrested...
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Jimmy Dore
Hey come see us on two. We're going to be in Los Angeles, Columbus, Ohio, Dayton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Lexicon, Kentucky, Burbank, California and Honolulu. Go to Jimmy Dore.com for a link for tickets.
Jeremy L.
Establishment media sucks all gas lighting so good luck. Bullshit. We can't aff why he's commenting this watch and see as his jack go the medium speeds and jumps the medium and hit some head on. It's the chimney door show.
Alfredo
Jeremy L is a Washington D.C. based journalist who's worked on various independent documentaries and formerly produced news programs at RT America. His work has appeared in the Gray Zone, the Defender, Rebel News and Unlimited Hangout. More recently, Alfredo was one of five journalists detained in Israel for reporting on the Gaza Israel conflict and charged with endangering national security and aiding and sharing information with the enemy.
Co-Host
Now other than that, how was your trip?
Alfredo
Other. Other than that, other than the detainment. I hear the weather is beautiful.
Co-Host
Yeah.
Jeremy L.
Yeah.
Alfredo
So how are you Jeremy?
Jeremy L.
I'm doing very well now that I'm I'm home. Thanks for asking.
Alfredo
Of course, of course. So this was. These charges were built around this particular report that you did which other outlets without any consequence had also reported on. So why don't you. Why don't you tell people about what exactly their premise for detaining you was?
Jeremy L.
Their premise for detainee was they told me that there was secret and sensitive information in that report and that the putting the locations of the missile strikes and the missile contact that could have been used by the enemies or Iran to recalibrate their future strikes and hit more precisely and accurately. So they, they were asking me every few questions and interrogations. They would ask me if I have any connections to the Iranian military or the Iranian state which I Don't know. Both of those questions I would say no to. And so, like, they were. On one hand, they were saying I'm a journalist who broke military censorship orders. And on the other hand, they were saying I did it deliberately on behalf of Iran.
Alfredo
Now, you were detained with four other journalists originally. Why did they only hold you? Because they let the rest of them go. Yes.
Jeremy L.
Yeah, yeah, that's. That's correct. I mean, so I published this video report on October 4th, I believe it was, and on October 8th, so my entire plan was to go to Israel and the west bank and report on violence happening in the northern West Bank. The raids and the sieges happening in Nablus and Tilkaram and Jenin, these refugee camps. That was my plan. And I got there on October 1, the day of the Iranian missile strike. So I spoke to Max Blumenthal, and he said, you know, you're there. It's really newsworthy. It's really important. Might as well, you know, file a report about this Iranian missile strike. So I thought, okay, let's make a video that tries to find these. Where the missiles fall. You know, I go around with my taxi driver. I try to find the locations. So four days later, I'm finally beginning my trip to the northern West Bank. I'm just planning on spending a few weeks up there. And we get stopped at one of the military checkpoints, which, you know, there's hundreds of them in the West Bank. And they ask us for our passports, which is, you know, pretty regular, you know, requests for the. For the army and these checkpoints. We hand over our passports, they come back and they ask us, we're actually going to need to see all of your cell phones. And my cell phone's locked. And I'm a journalist, and there's nothing in my cell phone that isn't, you know, a valid journalistic inquiry. You know. Yeah. I am messaging people who live in these places where Israel will consider, you know, all these people terrorists because of their political beliefs. But I wouldn't be the first journalist to go to Jenine refugee camp and interview people. That's not like. So that's. I know. That's not illegal. I don't know. Of course, I don't know what they would consider illegal, but I know. I mean, I'm an American. I'm allowed to be in the west bank. And I'm talking in the capacity of a journalist to a lot of people who are also in the West Bank. So I hand over my cell phone. It's locked anyway, one of the journals, who I was with, refused to hand over his cell phone. He was dragged out of the car. The rifle, the army rifle was pointed in his face. He was hit a few times. And then they took his cell phone, and they told everyone to get out of the car and to sit on the dirt beside the military checkpoint. And they walked away with all of our cell phones and all of our passports. And so maybe after an hour, they say, Mr. Alfredo. And they call me over across the street and say, what's going on? And they say, you're under arrest. And they immediately take about 20, 30ft of kind of cloth, and they tightly wrap it around my head. You know, this is a. This is around my eyes, my ears, even my nose a little bit. So they blindfold me, they shackle my legs, and they handcuff me, and they put me aside, and they actually do this to all of the journalists I was with. And we get loaded up into a military Humvee and they drive around. It seems arbitrary. It doesn't seem like they're going anywhere. There's a few soldiers in the back of the truck with us. They're speaking Hebrew. They're joking with us. They're asking if we love Israel. They're taunting us. They're asking us questions and then telling us not to talk. And then we stop. We all get moved from the military Humvee to a police vehicle, still blindfolded, still handcuffed, still shackled. And it takes us to a West Point west bank military checkpoint, which is right next to one of the largest police stations, army stations, in the West Bank. It's about seven miles east of Jerusalem. And we're all loaded into kind of holding cells. And then everyone's let go except me. And I stand in the holding cell for another maybe hour or so. And then one of the officers comes in and says, there's a lawyer on the phone for you. I say, okay. And I go. And before I answer the phone, they tell me to stop. And they pull out a big. A big flag that's kind of like their nationalistic wartime slogan. It says, together we will win in Hebrew. And they take photos of me in front of it on their iPhones, you know, for their group chats. It's nothing official. They're just laughing at me and taking photos of me in front of this flag. And then after that, they let me go into the room and talk to a lawyer, and I answer the phone, and I still, like, at this point, I have no idea what's happening. They roll Let go because they're Israeli. And yes, maybe they're in a part of the west bank that they weren't supposed to be in. But, like, they just get a slap on the wrist. They're told not to go into the west bank for another 15 days, and that's it. But I'm still there. And I'm the only one who was American, so I'm the only one who technically wasn't breaking the law. Americans are allowed in these parts of the West Bank. So I don't know what's happening. I answer the phone.
Alfredo
The others were not allowed in the West Bank.
Jeremy L.
They're allowed in the West Bank. They're not allowed in Area A, which is Nablus. Area A is a part of the west bank that Israelis are not allowed in.
Alfredo
I see, I see. And was this lawyer assigned by the court, or this was your personal lawyer? Who was. Who was this?
Jeremy L.
This lawyer was the other people who were let go as soon as they left. They called this, like, human rights ngo, and they were told not to speak to me on their way out. So they thought, like, he seems to be in more trouble than us. So they left and they called this human rights ngo, who then gave me a lawyer.
Alfredo
I see.
Jeremy L.
Yeah.
Alfredo
So. So what happened from there?
Jeremy L.
So I answer the phone, and she says, Mr. Alfredo, I want you to think very hard. What do you. What did you do? How could you be in this much trouble? I said, what do you mean? She said, you're being charged with giving information to the enemy during wartime. And I was. I was dumbfounded. I had no idea what I had done. I was, you know, really frightened. I said, you know, I did make this video. Perhaps they're talking about the video. The lawyer speaks, like, very little English. So I'm trying to communicate to her with what I might have done. She's not really understanding me. I'm barely understanding her. The phone call lasts maybe 40 seconds at this point. There's already an intelligence officer, like, kind of rushing me off the phone, and she says, listen, they're going to interrogate you. They're probably going to bring you to the prison, and then I'll see you in court probably tomorrow. And then the phone call ended, and that was it.
Co-Host
So they kept you locked up for a few days, and then you were eventually released, and now you're obviously, thank God, back home. Do you want to describe what those days were like in custody and. And how you were eventually set free?
Jeremy L.
I was. It's called the Russian compound. It's in Jerusalem. There's a prison at the Russian compound. I was kept in solitary confinement for three and a half days. I was given very little food or water. I was given one chocolate cup of, like, pudding over the course of three and a half days and a few Dixie cups of water. They, the prison guards treated me like. Like a terrorist. They saw my, you know, my slip in front of my solitary confinement cell and say, giving enough information to the enemy during wartime. And they all thought, like, oh, so we're dealing, you know, we have. We have an enemy of the state here. He looks American. He looks white. There's 100 Palestinian prisoner here, prisoners here, and this one white guy. But this one white guy happens to have a more serious charge than anyone in this prison. I would ask what time it was because, like, learning what time it is in solitary confinement. Sure, it was pretty important. They wouldn't tell me what time it was. It was. It was truly a nightmare. Is this tiny little concrete cell. There's four bunks in there. They gave me my own cell, and it was dark, and there was a little blanket on top of one of the slabs of concrete, which is, you know, that's a bed. So I was there. I was there the first night. I was taken out of my cell the following afternoon and brought to court. And I was able to speak to my lawyer for, like, 30 seconds before the hearing. And I couldn't even really understand her. So that's. That just goes to how the justice system works for people who are accused of, you know, high crime. Maybe it's the same here. I just never experienced it. But I go in front of the lawyer, the police say, we need him to stay in detention for seven days. We need to go through his phone, we want to interrogate him more. We need to go through his laptop. And the judge says, well, why can't you do all those things while he's not in detention? And they said, we think he's a threat to the state of Israel. He's dangerous if he's not in jail. And the judge said, why do you say that? And they said, it's top secret. And the judge. It didn't seem like the judge truly didn't like that answer. She didn't seem like she believed it. So instead of seven days, the judge said, you can have one day, you can interrogate him more. You can go through all of his stuff. You have one day, and then we'll be in court again tomorrow. So I was brought back to solitary confinement for court the next day. And at this Point still, they hadn't given me any food. I'm let out of solitary confinement, brought to court the next day. And my lawyer says, this is a journalist. He's here to testify on behalf of you. And there's a journalist from ynet, you know, a giant Israeli publication, and he says, you know, he's a Zionist. He doesn't agree with my reporting at all. He doesn't agree with the gray zone. But he said, you know, I published the same information that this journal has published, and then I reported on the fact that he was detained, and the military censor allowed me to embed his report in my article. So not only did I, in the beginning, published just what he published, then I published exactly what he published by putting his video in my article. And he has a GPO card, a government press office card. And everyone who has a government press office card in Israel is mandated to WhatsApp, the military sensor office, no matter what they report, no matter what they tweet everything. And so he had a conversation between himself and the military sensor office with them okaying my video and his reporting, saying that there's nothing secret here. So he showed the judge the cell phone conversation and WhatsApp, the judge said, so he's allowed to publish all this stuff, and so is he. So that's it. And the judge ordered my release. And I was signing all my papers to get out of the prison. And the police appealed the decision after the window for appealing the decision closed. So the court let them do whatever they wanted. I'm signing the papers. They say a few things in Hebrew and they grab me and they put me back in solitary confinement. And they don't tell me why, and they tell me nothing. So I'm just sitting in my cell again, totally unaware of what happened. A few hours passed, maybe it's midnight now, and two plain clothed detectives, like intelligence officers come to my cell. They grab me and they put me in an unmarked police vehicle. I still have my shackles, handcuffs on. And they drive out to the west bank military compound that I was originally detained at and questioned at. And they tell me that we're going there for interrogation. I'm in the back of a car. I'm scared. What does interrogation mean? Are you guys gonna, you know, torture me? What's happening? It's. We get out, we go to the office. No one's in this entire compound. Office building, there's no one there. As we walk down the hallways, like a movie, the lights are turning on because they're motion activated, like it's, it's really spooky. Um, we go into an office and he interrogates me. That never touches me. Um, but he asks me the same questions that they asked me during the first interrogation. It doesn't seem like they've really learned anything new or thought of anything else to ask me. I was sure that this interrogation was going to involve maybe what they found on my cell phone. They were going to ask me about my political beliefs, but they didn't. They just asked me about this video. Once again, do I understand what a military sensor is? Why did I break the law? Why did I include the details of where the missiles had landed? Do I have any connections to foreign militaries? Just this kind of stuff. Semantics. Asking the same question over again, different ways to see if I give different answers. And then it was over. They, they did a DNA swab on me after that interrogation, and they took my fingerprints of each hand, each finger. And then I was sent back to solitary confinement in the middle of the night. And they told me, they said, we appealed the decision and we, we have. You have, you have to go to court tomorrow. It'll be at a higher court because it was after an appeal, the Jerusalem District Court, early in the morning. So at least I had a little information of what was happening next.
Alfredo
Right.
Jeremy L.
And it was kind of like a positive development because I'm leaving there, I'm thinking like, they really didn't. They're asking me the same questions and I'm answering them confidently and honestly. It just, it seems like it was almost like a last ditch effort to maybe get me to say something that I hadn't said before, but that was it. So I go back to my cell, I go to sleep, I wake up, they give me a chocolate pudding cup. That was the first time I was fed. I go to court.
Alfredo
How many, how many days is that at that point?
Jeremy L.
This is, that was day three. I'm waking up and out the third day.
Alfredo
Chocolate pudding.
Jeremy L.
Yeah, exactly. They gave me chocolate pudding actually this morning. This is the morning that a, like a social worker did like a wellness check on me. She was sent by the embassy. So the embassy called the prison and said, there's an American citizen there, check on them. And the social worker came to my cell, opened the steel slide, and I said, oh, this is great. Maybe I'm going to get water. Maybe I'm going to get food. This is amazing. She said, why'd you hurt Israel? Do you love Israel? And so. And that's all she said.
Alfredo
She asked me it was from the American Embassy.
Jeremy L.
Well, the American Embassy sent me like, like a military age Zionist Israeli social worker to come like check on me. And they didn't even fake check on me. They just asked me and berated me and asked me why I did what I did and why I hurt Israel and if I love Israel. Did not ask me how I was doing, did not ask me if I needed anything. And that was the only form of help that the American Embassy gave me was this, this Israeli social worker who did no, no wellness check at all. They just asked me, essentially called me a criminal, told me I'm a bad person and then shut the, shut the steel slide. And that was, that was all the help from America. But a few hours later they bring me back to court and now it's a nicer court, it's a bigger court, it's a district court in East Jerusalem. And at this point I had, I had my friends and people from the gray zone sort of make just like a dossier, not exhaustive at this point, but just a short dossier of all the examples of Israeli media and American media inside of Israel reporting the same exact things that I did before me and sometimes with more detail. So, you know, just names of publications, screenshots, names of the authors and the dates until we brought that to court with us. And my lawyer managed to convince the judge that I was not a threat. The police said they need me in court for another, you know, six days. At this point they need to keep interrogating me, they need to go through my phone. They, they just broke into it, so now they need to go through it. And judge said, okay, well you can keep his phone but he doesn't need to be in detention. So at that point this is the, I think this is October 11th. I was let out under the, under like the, the agreement that I stay in the country. They keep my passport, they keep my phone, they keep my laptop. And whenever they ask me to come to this west bank military compound for interrogation, I do so immediately. So I said I had no choice. I said of course.
Alfredo
Sorry, no, it's okay.
Jeremy L.
And then I'm staying at like some, one of my friends houses in Jerusalem and I get a call from my lawyer that says, listen, we've only been able to talk, you know, 30 seconds at a time before court. We don't know if you're going to get called back in for interrogation. We don't know if we're going to have to go back to court. Just come to my house. Let's go over everything in entirety and just like, make sure we have everything understood. I said, of course I did that. The next day, they called me in for interrogation. I thought they were just like telling me to leave for stay for 10 days because they want to bother me, they don't like my politics and they want to make my life hard. But no, like, they, they call me back. It was a seven hour long interrogation where they just kind of Talked about this 6 minute video the entire time.
Alfredo
That that has been republished by ynet that you have established. The same more detailed information has appeared in other publications. And they're still questioning you about this at this point?
Jeremy L.
Yeah, I, in that video, like, I took, I found one of the missile impact sites a mile away from Nevadim Air Base. I took a video of the missile. And in Israeli media, you had satellite images from inside the air base the next day. Like I was a mile away in a random part of the desert. And for some reason I'm giving too much sensitive information to the enemy when you have Israeli media publishing images from inside this sensitive base. So they asked me about why did I put the coordinates. I said, providing as much context and information is just a priority for me as a journalist, for just the readers and viewers, as much information as possible. They asked me, they said, so you're a journalist, you've taken journalism classes. You expect us to believe that you've never taken a class and learned about the importance of a military censor? I said, no, we have like, you know, the First Amendment in America. Like, that's just not how I was taught about being a journalist, being a reporter publishing information. But I am aware of the fact that you have a military sensor. I just saw your entire mainstream media apparatus publishing the same information of me. So I assumed it wasn't secret. And they asked me, you know, again and again in a thousand different ways if I have ties to, you know, foreign militaries. Seven hours of just questions like that. And then they asked me. The LA got really chaotic at towards the end of the seven hours where I had detectives running in and out of my interrogation room asking me questions about messages on my phone. And they were asking me questions and they would leave the room and as if they were going through my phone and seeing if I was telling the truth or not. And they come back and ask me more questions and do the same thing over and over. They were very, very interested in this PBS NewsHour video that I kept bringing up that I'm sure you guys saw on Twitter. Nick Shiffrin. It has like 4 million views. He's in front of the Mossad headquarters the night of the attacks. He's showing the camera the. The crater in Tel Aviv. He's showing the camera how close it is to the Mossad headquarters. And I told the detectives, that's one of the videos that I saw. That's the only reason I was able to find the impact site in Tel Aviv. And they kept, like, kind of brushing me off as if they didn't believe that this video existed. They kept saying, like, pbs, pbs, pbs. Like, mimicking me. I was like, no, this is actually. This is very important. This is very. This is. This is the crux, the whole case.
Co-Host
Right, because what you're saying, if I understand this right, is that you were basing your reporting on previous reporting that did not violate the sensor.
Jeremy L.
Exactly. And Nick Shifrin has a GPO card, you know. See, all of his reporting is subject to the military censor. So if Nick shifrin, a PBS NewsHour, is posting this video, it goes to show either that it's not about the information in my video and it's about the politics of myself and Grey Zone, or it's about the information, in which case it's not secret. Nick Schiff said all the same things I did of PBS News Hour.
Co-Host
So this didn't violate the censor, but they obviously didn't want this information out there. Why is that? Is it because they didn't want to give Iran the propaganda win of having fired close to those targets? Is it because they didn't want the Israeli people to know that is that Iran had fired on military targets and not civilian targets? What do you think is the reason? And there may be multiple why they didn't want this information out there.
Jeremy L.
Yeah, no, I think there are. There are multiple reasons when they're trying to tell, like, justify the information being a threat to the state of Israel. Of course, in the interrogation room, they're saying they don't want that information out there because Iran can look at my video and see where the missiles landed and then recalibrate their future attacks and actually hit their targets more precisely and, you know, kill people and destroy Israeli infrastructure. So the forward facing justification for not allowing the information out is that the enemy will use my information and attack more precisely next time. Of course, there's also a propaganda angle to it that they don't want the Israeli public to know that they are so vulnerable whenever there's a missile strike. You see about it on Twitter, just like kind of Anonymous accounts in Israel. I'll see it on Twitter. I'll be with a taxi driver. I'll say, you know, they hit a house. They hit a house outside of Tel Aviv. They struck a residential street in Haifa. And they just like, almost like they refused to believe it. No, they said, no, no, no, no, no. I'll say, no, no, look, look, it's right here. They really did. And like, he'll say, no, no, they, they didn't do that. Like, they don't want to believe, even when the information is that, that the missiles are hitting the missiles, they're not, they're not protected by the Iron Dome at some point. So they don't want the Israeli public to know that they are, you know, at risk or, you know, getting attacked or successfully getting attacked. And they also, they say that they don't want the enemy to use the information against them. Apparently, even in the inter, in the interrogation, he said, you know, Nasrallah said in an interview long ago that watching the Israeli media after a rocket attack is the best, you know, the best form of intelligence because they'll, they report on where the missiles had fallen. And that helps us a lot. I don't know if that's true. I've never fact checked that. But that's, that's a story that I was told in interrogation to make it seem like I'm helping out terrorists.
Alfredo
Well, why single you out? Why you?
Jeremy L.
Yeah, I, I mean, it's like, it's not even that they said that you are, you know, breaking some military censorship law. They went, you know, way, way, way past that. And they ended up accusing me of, you know, you know, kind of these terrorism offenses.
Alfredo
This must have been so terrifying. What's going through your mind as all of this is happening thing?
Jeremy L.
It's, you know, it's half and half. It's like, it's terrifying because I'm being told that, you know, the punishment for, for if I'm convicted of these charges is 25 years to life to the death penalty. And like, of course, that's an insane thing to hear. I'm like pacing back and forth in my cell and I'm thinking, like, okay, maybe if they let me out in 10 years for good behavior, I'll be 38 years old. I'm not that. It's not that old. It's fine. But, you know, it's like I'm justifying this in crazy ways. But on the other hand, I'm seeing with my own eyes that three judges, or two judges and three judges in A row. You know, they were siding with me, you know, this anti Zionist leftist, even though they're, you know, Zionist Jews and Israeli judges, they're siding with me over these intelligence officers and police officers. They're saying, you want seven days? How about one day? You want seven days? How about zero days? And now he's free. You guys can keep interrogating and keep questioning him, but according to us, the judges, we don't think he's a threat. So knowing that the courts were on my side and knowing that the truth was on my side, because I would put together these dossiers of so much proof that the Israeli media published exactly what I did in more detail way before me. I mean, like, I knew I was right. Like, there was no. There was no doubt in my mind that what I had done was fine. So, wait, so at the end of this interrogation, they asked me, who sent you this PBS NewsHour video that you keep talking about? They don't believe that exists. I say, well, Max Blumenthal send it to me on October 2nd in iMessage. They say, you sure it wasn't WhatsApp? And they're just, like, trying to psych me out. Like, they're not in my phone, but they're acting like they are. I said, no, it was. It was imessage. And then finally they, like, give up as a chaotic moment, and they told me to go home. So after this seven hour interrogation, it ends in such a chaotic way where I know for a fact that this is not over. They're going to. I'm going to come back here, but I don't know when. And this is. This is like day two of my 10 days in. In the big prison in Israel. And so I go back to the. To my friend's house where I'm staying for the 10 days. I get a call the next day, I'm with my lawyer already. They called the lawyer. They said, we want Jeremy to come in. We want him to unlock his phone. We want to see this Max Blumenthal text message about this PBS NewsHour video. We want to click on the PBS NewsHour video, and we want to watch it.
Alfredo
And so Google.
Jeremy L.
Well, that's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking like this. Like, this is day, you know, three of my. Of me being, you know, out of prison and still in the country. And then like, day seven of them having my cell phone. And I've been through court three times where I keep bringing up this PBS News hour video. These are detectives, you Think that they would have looked it up by now and maybe they did. Like, I don't know.
Co-Host
Your video is the one that you guys did.
Jeremy L.
No, I'm thinking they would have looked it up by now. Meaning the pbs, right? Yeah, because I brought it up so much and I'm using it to justify my own video. You think they'd just watch it, you know?
Alfredo
Right.
Jeremy L.
So I go in there.
Alfredo
Sounds like it might have been a trick to get you to unlock your phone.
Jeremy L.
I. That's what I was thinking as well. I'm thinking, like, are they looking at a camera above me and they'll see me put in my passcode or they're just going to rip the phone from my hands and go through it? Like, you know, what rights do I really have? I don't know. But I go in there, I don't really have a choice. I try to unlock my phone and I put my passcode in incorrectly by accident. And it said, iPhone disabled for 15 minutes. So it kind of told me that they had been trying to get in and they couldn't. But I put it in because I knew that I had that text there. And I didn't even know if they actually wanted to see the text. I wasn't sure if this was just a pretext for them to go through my phone. They like just saying, we want to see this one text message. You know, I wasn't sure what was happening. Really scared. Unlock the phone. Show them the text from Max Bloom with all on October 2nd, exactly where I said it would be. We click on it and it loads. You see the tweet, you see the thumbnail of the tweet, but it says like, content unavailable.
Co-Host
Right?
Jeremy L.
So he like takes a video on his phone of it saying, content unavailable. I know that. I just watched it on my cell phone in Jerusalem hours before and the night before, the night before that, probably. So I'm wondering what's happening. Like, why can't he see it at the same time? Because they seem so interested in this video. I bring a kind of a frame by frame printout of this video with Hebrew subtitles on paper to the interrogation today. And I handed it to him. I'm moving back like five minutes. This is before he went through my phone. I handed to him. And it's as if I'm showing him something that he's never seen before. He's looking at it so closely. He's highlighting things, he's taking notes. I can't believe it. Because this is the video that I've Been talking about in every interrogation, in every court hearing. And it looks like he's never seen it before. He puts it on his side of the desk as if he's going to keep it. So in that moment, I thought to myself, maybe, maybe what's happening, like, I can watch it on my. On my wi fi. I can watch it on my cell phone. They don't believe me that it exists. And then I show them a paper that proves it exists, and they click on a thing and it doesn't load for them on their network. I think the police were censored from accessing the video. I think that everyone else can see it. And then I would tell them about it, and they just don't believe me because they can't access it and actually read it. Kind of clicked for me. I read this when Google met. WikiLeaks is a book by Julian Assange. And in it he says in the UK and China, he gives a few other examples. He says the networks that the censorship offices censor videos and information. First is the police station, is the politicians. Because if the policemen and the politicians don't know that a video is around, then they can't get angry or reprimand those who work in the censorship office. So it's not even political. It's kind of just like covering their own asses in a bureaucratic way. So they censor those videos so they don't get in trouble for allowing videos to exist inside of Israel. I don't know if that's exactly what happened, but after I showed him that paper, it was kind of like an aha moment. Like he finally softened up a little bit. Like, this is the guy who interrogated me seven hours a day before. And he, he let me leave. Like they, they, they said it was just I was only gonna be there for a short while because it was just the phone. So I left. And I'm thinking like, this is either they let me leave because they finally got my iPhone passcode, or they let me leave because this honestly seems what it is. It's like they did not believe this video exists, and now they believe this video exists. So I left. Now it's like a Jewish high holiday. So they tell us that you're not going to hear from us for four days, five days. And that brings me to the 20th when I'm supposed to find out if I'm getting rearrested or if I'm able to go home. So during that five days, I put together an exhaustive dossier of every instance of this information appearing in Israeli media, like 17 or 18 examples, 20 pages long, screenshots, dates. I also sent an MP4 file of that video, of the PBS video. So it can't be, you know, censored by the. By the Internet or whatever. Like, it's just a file that they can watch. I sent over some statements of concern from, you know, people who I've worked with in America. I sent them that. That Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Tweet, just because I thought that held a lot of weight with any court. So I gave them everything I could. I did a lot of research on the computer at my lawyer's office. And finally, it's the day where I find out what they're doing with me. And my lawyer gets a call, and they say, can Mr. Alfredo book a flight out of the country as soon as possible? And she says, well, he does already have a flight. The 23rd. They said, no, no, no sooner. And so she called me. I said, today? Yeah, yeah. She's like, asap. I. She called me. She said, they want you to book a flight out of the country as soon as possible. I said, I don't have a phone, a wallet, a computer. I don't have anything. She said, just go to my office, figure it out. I booked the flight. I sent her the flight information. She sent it to the police, and then the police went incommunicado entirely. So we sent her the flight. She said, okay, they asked you to book a flight. They haven't said anything after, but let's give someone, you know, power of attorney and send them to this wispinc where your stuff is at. Let's see if they'll give you. Give them the passport, the phone and laptop, and let's just see. So we sent a friend to this compound, and he was able to get my stuff. He brought it back to me. So I had my phone, my laptop, my passport. I mean, my phone and laptop. It's like, at this point, I don't want them, you know, Like, I. I feel like it's. It's more dangerous to have them with me. But they give me everything back with my passport, and I book my flight. She calls the police one more time and says, okay, you get. You gave him the stuff back. You told him, book a flight. Can you give them maybe a letter or some. Something that says, like, he can leave the country, that he can show to the airport authorities? Because, you know, Ben Gurion is like, the most securitized airport in the world. So to be moving through there, being Accused of a terrorist just the day before, it would, you know, it'd be a mess. So they didn't answer that. They said we're not. They didn't answer. They didn't give me any type of paper, any type of permission to leave the country. Like they said nothing to me. They went incommunicado entirely. So I just shrug and I cross my fingers and I bring everything to the airport. I bring a letter from my, for my lawyer that has the detectives names and numbers on it. They interrogate me once at the airport. I show them news articles that say the 20th is the date where I find out what's happening. I show them a letter from my lawyer. You know, at this point, it's like they don't want to step on the toes of the higher up intelligence officers who were dealing with my case. They're just airport workers and they're kind of confused. They look at the Gray zone website because I tell them it's for the gray zone. Their eyes are wide and they're, they're rolling their eyes, they're saying mean things. But at the end of the day, they let me go and I get on the plane and I, I leave. And I spoke to my lawyer after I landed in Italy because it was Israel to Italy to New York. And she said what they did was, it's like, this is called like informal deportation. They leave your case open. They don't tell you to leave the country, but they give your passport back. And so you leave the country, your case is still open. And the idea is to get you out of the country and to dissuade you from ever coming back. Because if I ever went back, I would have an open case related to, you know, aiding the enemy, and I'd be detained immediately and I would go back to court and it would be a big, A big problem. So they don't have, they didn't have the information to actually deport me because to deport someone, you have to charge them with something. So there was nothing to charge me with. So they opted for this informal deportation and hope that I never come back.
Co-Host
So it must break your heart that you're not able to return to this wonderful place anymore, I would imagine.
Alfredo
I hear it's an oasis of democracy in the Middle East.
Co-Host
Yeah, well, chocolate pudding is definitely getting added to the BDS list after that. That's my takeaway.
Jeremy L.
No question about that.
Co-Host
Hear that, everybody? No chocolate pudding, Pastor. Believe it. Leave it on the shelf.
Jimmy Dore
Hey, you know, here's another great way you can help support the show is you become a premium member. We give you a couple of hours of premium bonus content every week and it's a great way to help support the show. You can do it by going to jimmy dorcomdy.com clicking on join Premium. It's the most affordable premium program in the business and it's a great way to help put your thumb back in the eye of the bastards. Thanks for everybody who was already a premium member. And if you haven't, you're missing out. We give you lots of bonus content. Thanks for your support.
Co-Host
So you obviously got the most press out of this recent report that you did for the Gray Zone about the Iranian missile strike. But I would like to show everybody this piece of reporting which went kind of viral that you did back in March just to give people a sense of the kind of work that you do. And you know, I joked in the last segment, you must be heartbroken that you can't go back, but it is a loss that you can't go back because you've done some amazing work over there. So this was a report you did back in March. For a week, I embedded myself with Jewish Israeli nationalists who believe it's a worthy cause and religious duty to block desperately needed humanitarian aid at the Gaza border. They enjoyed pastries with the military while confessing to war crimes and cheering for genocides. This is about a three minute video that you put out. I want to show everybody this.
Interviewee
The police man, the head commander came to us and said, okay, you guys came and blocked. We don't want to fight. And he said to us, I'll just lock the gate. You guys don't need to stand in the sun. We got, we got lollipops, we got watermelon from, from the police.
Jeremy L.
Lollipops and watermelons.
Interviewee
Yeah, watermelons. And was great. Was great with them. No, they don't deserve it. What I care. Kill them. I don't care.
Jeremy L.
Do you trust Palestinians?
Interviewee
No.
Jeremy L.
I know all about them.
Interviewee
I don't trust them. I don't. I want them out of here.
Jeremy L.
What do you think should happen to G?
Interviewee
I wanted to be civilized with Jews from Israel. My unit was in charge of explosions. We blew up houses of terrorists, mosque, UN offices. I remember we got into some UN office that was in charge of helping families in Gaza that was affected by the war and we destroyed it. We give pastries for the people, for the soldiers, for the cops, for everybody. This is what we give to our people. This is really humanitarian. Okay? They need to block the aid to Gaza, they need to block the gas to Gaza, everything to block. And this is what we do every week, two, three, four times a week. And as the Bible says, this place is for us. It's promised for us so they can starve to death to pay on the things that they have done to us. On the 7th of October, Bibi is a puppet of Biden because we cleaned all Gaza except in Afia. Why aren't we going in there? Because Biden asked us not to. That's the only reason.
Co-Host
So that's obviously a chilling report and.
Jeremy L.
That'S actually, that's actually just a, like a three minute trailer to a longer, like 30 minute documentary I made.
Co-Host
Oh, wow. So, so being out there interviewing these people, what is it like getting that stuff out of them? Because the very few times I've been in this situation, I've been like covertly trolling Nikki Haley supporters. Like, the stakes are much lower. And so to be there in this just surreal and dystopian scene, trying to get what, what should be confessions out of these people, but they seem to offer it up pretty freely. What's it like being there, getting this stuff from. Straight from the source.
Jeremy L.
Yeah, I was, I actually went to. So in the beginning I saw this was happening. I was there and I went to a few of the there, you know, like direct action aid, blockades with a journalist who I knew, kind of like a leftist journalist in Israel. And I drove there with her and she was kind of like just kind of arguing with people. And you know, these are not, you're not going to change their minds. You're going to turn these people into leftists. You know, like it's, it's not, we're not there to argue with people. We're here to document, you know, what they're thinking, what they're doing. And so they saw these, all these people saw me walking around with this leftist journalist who's like kind of obnoxiously saying, like, do you know how many women and children are there? This and that. And like, of course she's right. But like that's not, we're not, we're not going to change anyone's mind. So instead of going back with her, I ended up just going for like a week straight on, on this Greyhound bus that they were taking from Jerusalem and it would go throughout the entire west bank, pick children up, pick young people up, pick mothers and fathers up at settlements, illegal settlements, and bring them to the border crossings to block the aid. So I would Spend time with them on the bus. I would, you know, eat lunch with them on the bus. I spent, you know, a lot of hours and hours and hours with these people, weeks worth of hours with these people to the point where they felt really comfortable around me. And they just started telling me, you know, admitting to. Admitting to war crimes, like, not just saying, we blew up a terrorist, you know, tunnel. We blew up a UN office. And that UN office was actually helping people, helping families in Gaza. Like, there's no. He wasn't. He wasn't saying the UN office, it was filled with terrorists. He was saying exactly what it was doing. And it was. I was able to see firsthand how. Because people were saying, oh, these are just, you know, fanatical, you know, Israelis. They do not represent the government or all of Israeli society. You know, there's only a couple hundred people there. And it's true there was a few hundred people there. But you would see how these aid blocks were in humanitarian, were in closed military zones. And so it's illegal for them to even be there. And as soon as they would show up, the military would use their presence as justification to shut down the aid crossing. So the military was working hand in glove with these activists to stop aid from going in. So it wasn't just these fanatics. It wasn't these fringe Israelis. It was a policy that wanted to be put forward and enacted by the government. But they would get global pushback, and everybody would condemn them if they didn't let any aid in. So, no, it's not the state, it's just these. These citizens, these Israelis doing it. So they would show up. They use their presence as justification to shut down the crossing. And they would do that day after day after day. And now we see, you know, four months later, five months later, we see that just last week, there was other things. It was head by, you know, Ben Gavir, like the Minister of National Security at the border of Gaza calling for, you know, resettlement with all these people, the same people who were at these aid blockade actions. And so, like, it wasn't. It wasn't really fringe. It just took a few months for the entire Likud Party and the Knesset to say, we do support these types of things. Because I was. When I was with those people, I was also with them while they were crossing the border into Gaza with vinyl, with plywood, with nails and hammers, building what they called symbolic settlements, symbolic outposts. And the military would allow these Israelis to cross into Gaza for a couple of hours to build these little Houses, these little sheds to symbolically tell the government that we're ready to live in Gaza as soon as you tell us we're allowed to, you know, they want to Judaize it. They said to me, you know, we have, we have our yeshivas planned, we have our neighborhoods planned. We're just waiting for the okay from the government. So now Edamar Ben Gavir and people from the Knesset are there on the other side of the border, and they're saying that this is happening. And that's one reason why. It's like, why did they come after me for a video that the entire Israeli media had already reported on? Well, I mean, you know, I don't know for a fact, but like, Judaizing Gaza and settlements in Gaza is of course, a giant political goal of a big part of the Knesset and maybe the entire Likud Party. So to sort of pull the curtain back on how Israelis think about resettlement being embedded with them from a leftist, from an anti Zionist perspective, talking to them, that's horrible pr. So it seems like they came after this report to stop other reports in the past ever happening again, because this was not, this was not interesting, this missile report. I mean, it was fine, but none of the information was new. Unlike my other reports where I'm interviewing. I'm in refugee camps, interviewing people who were in Israeli prisons recently and talking about the conditions inside the prison. Sorry, there's a siren happening.
Co-Host
Three cats and cats and a dog. Happens all the time.
Jeremy L.
So, like, it seems like they came after this report to, you know, get grey zone out of Israel. It seems.
Alfredo
Well, what the sense I really get watching that is, for one, it's, it's just incredible how indoctrinated they are. You have to be really indoctrinated not to think maybe you shouldn't say this in front of a camera because they live in a bubble where that's an acceptable point of view.
Co-Host
Right.
Jeremy L.
It's like, it's so you're. That's entirely correct. It's so crazy because they just like think they're so sure that they have the moral high ground, that they don't care who they're speaking to. They don't care if he's a leftist, if he's an anti Zionist. They don't care if it's for the gray zone or if it's for Reuters. They just want. They're so sure of themselves that they just want their ideas out there, no matter how they're presented or where they're put. Like they invited Me. Some of them invited me back after that video.
Alfredo
Even after the video.
Co-Host
After the video. Well, they didn't take it as an expose. They took it as a promo.
Jeremy L.
Well, some did take it. Some took it as an expose. They kicked me out of some of the WhatsApp groups, some of the telegram groups. But some of them said, like, you're welcome to come back whenever you want. Like, they were so sure that they didn't sound insane in that video that they were willing to have me back.
Alfredo
Now, look, looking from a distance, it looks to me like you have a combination of people like that and people who are looking the other way on what these people are doing. Would you say that I'm right in that take on Israeli society? It seems like some people are pretending they don't know what they know about what's going on. And in the end, the country pretty much wants to have greater Israel and get these people out of there. Some people just don't want to get their hands dirty in the process.
Jeremy L.
Exactly. I mean, even the. You're entirely correct. It's crazy because you'll be, you know, you'll be at a bar or at a pub and you'll be speaking to, you know, someone who would be considered a progressive here in America. They're in art school, they want free housing, free health care. And then you start talking about Palestinians with them, and they sound like Netanyahu. You know, it's like there is a, there is a progressive left, but there's no progressive left really, when it comes to the Palestinian question. I mean, there are like, you know, I don't, I don't mean to say that there's none, because there are activists in Israel, there are leftist activists, anti Zionist activists. But it would surprise you when you're in like, you know, a metropolitan area talking to, like, an art student and they start sounding like Netanyahu really quickly and, you know, talking about how the Arabs are smelly and how they should, you know, find somewhere else to live, et cetera, et cetera. But that person would never actually go down and block the A themselves like Kareem Shalom or the Ninja border crossings. That's just what they, that's what they think. And that's probably what their parents think. And they're not willing to actually, you know, get their hands dirty, but they are glad that people are going to get their hands dirty.
Alfredo
New Trump ad appeals to old Jewish ladies who vote Democrat, urging them to switch sides on the basis of their deep seated anti Palestinian racism. All right, so let's throw that up.
Co-Host
All righty. Do you need me to hit that? Here we go.
Alfredo
Yeah, I don't know where to put it.
Commercial Voice
Did you watch the news lately? Israel's under attack. Anti Semitism like I never thought I would see. About Samantha's boy Max? No, he got spit on just walking at Penn. I mean, that's scary. What about Kamala? Oh, busy defending the squad, I bet. You know, Trump I never cared for, but at least he'll keep us safe. I never voted Republican in my life, but I am voting Trump.
Co-Host
These eggs are too salty. Can we get another. Can we. Can we get another. Another order here. Cut, cut, cut. Don't complain about the eggs till after the take. But they're so salty. I know. We need one solid take. Are we seated under a vent? It' crafty at this table. We're not near a window.
Alfredo
Why is it crafty?
Co-Host
What's that breeze over here? Can we move tables? No, man, we can't move tables. We already set the lights up for this table. Can we please get 30 seconds? 30 seconds? Can 30 seconds go by without one of you yentas bitching about something? This must have been a nightmare shoot. This must have been an absolute nightmare shoot. Could you imagine working craft services for this shoot? Imagine doing makeup for this shoot.
Alfredo
Hello, William Morris. I need your three biggest yentas. Yes, you heard me right. I actually want y three of them. Three of us.
Co-Host
No, we're not picking them up. They need their own transportation. They are not driving them here. Let's watch this one more time. Beginning to end. It is only 30 seconds. They finally nailed a take. Sorry we had to start and stop for them.
Commercial Voice
Did you watch the news lately? Israel's under attack. Anti Semitism like I never thought I would see. Do you hear about Samantha's boy Max? No, he got spit on. Just walking at pat mean. That's scary. What about Kamala? Busy defending the squad. I, you know, Trump I never cared for, but at least he'll keep us safe. I never voted Republican in my life, but I am voting Trump.
Jeremy L.
Amen. RJC Victory Fund is responsible for the content of this.
Co-Host
Amen.
Alfredo
You know, you know, they really should not be kink shaming their friend's son.
Co-Host
Yeah, well, that's the other thing you hear Samantha's boy Max. Is that. Are they talking about like one of their son in laws or is it one of their friends? Kids, it's a strange thing. You hear Samantha's boy Max?
Alfredo
Yeah, th. This. This kind of thing, if you're Jewish you watch this and it's just like watching an anti Semitism bomb. It's like, it's like, it's like. It's like watching a yenta under tip. You're just like, you know, now, now I got an answer for this. Now I got an answer for this. It's like if there was a, if there was a negative stereotype of Jews they left uncovered in that commercial, I can't imagine what it is. Also, they're, they're fussy, they're whining, they're. But you know what? This. I will say there's a lot of truth to that commercial. And this is part of what makes this election so unpredictable. Are there a lot of yentas like this who are quietly planning on voting for Trump? Abso fucking lutely, Absolutely. No.
Co-Host
But are there any yentas like that outside the states of New York and Florida? Right. I mean, the thing is, those yentas are concentrated. One in one batch in a solid red state, one batch in a solid blue state. Right. You got to win the electoral college. I don't know about you. Those don't look like Michiganders to me.
Alfredo
No, no, not a, not a lot of them. In Arkansas.
Co-Host
Yeah, exactly, exactly. Arizona, Georgia. No, no, no, that's Fort Lauderdale or Long Island. Right?
Alfredo
That, that, that is a good point. Like, who is that aimed at? You've already got Florida.
Co-Host
You already got Florida.
Alfredo
The GOP has already got Florida sewn up. What? New York? You're going to flip New York. The MSG rally aside, right, he's not winning New York, so who. Yeah, I mean, it's a New Jersey, maybe.
Co-Host
Yeah.
Alfredo
You got some of those yentas in New Jersey. Yeah, yeah, but, but you just. As soon, as soon as I saw it, I thought, Jackie Mason with the restaurants, they're always too close to the window. It's too salty. That's exactly what this is. And it is. Hey, the person who wrote it understands these people. Like they do exist. They do exist. And a lot of them are going to vote for Donald Trump. But as you pointed out, like, where are they voting for Donald Trump?
Co-Host
Right? That is the question. That is a question. But hell of an ad. Hell, hell of an ad there by the rjc, whatever that committee was.
Alfredo
Well, they want, they want to. Well, they need, they need to make up the Latinos they lost on that comedy bed at MSG with the. Try to get.
Co-Host
Yeah, maybe it'll. Maybe it'll come more in handy than we thought.
Jimmy Dore
Hey, become a premium member. Go to Jimmy Door. YourComedy.com Sign up. It's the most affordable premium program in the business.
Jeremy L.
Freak out.
Jimmy Dore
Don't freak out.
Jeremy L.
Don't freak out.
Jimmy Dore
All the voices performed today are by the one and only, the inimitable Mike McRae. He can be found at mikemcrae.com.
Co-Host
That'S.
Jimmy Dore
It for this week. You be the best you can be, and I'll keep being me.
Jeremy L.
That is.
Alfredo
Don't freak out.
Jeremy L.
Don't freak out. Don't freak out.
Jimmy Dore
Don't freak out.
Jeremy L.
Don't freak out.
Jimmy Dore
Don't freak out. Do not freak out.
Commercial Voice
I'm not kidding.
Jeremy L.
Do not. Do not. I'm not.
Alfredo
I'm not.
Jimmy Dore
I'm not.
Jeremy L.
I'm not. I'm not. I'm not. Don't freak out.
Jimmy Dore
Don't freak out. Do not freak out.
Podcast Summary: The Jimmy Dore Show – "American Journalist Jailed In Israel Speaks! - Jeffrey Loffredo"
Episode Information
In this compelling episode of The Jimmy Dore Show, host Jimmy Dore engages in a profound conversation with Jeremy Loffredo, an American journalist who was recently detained in Israel while reporting on the Gaza-Israel conflict. Jeremy's harrowing experience sheds light on the complexities and challenges faced by journalists in conflict zones, particularly in regions with strict censorship and security measures.
Jeremy Loffredo is a seasoned journalist based in Washington D.C., known for his independent documentaries and production work at RT America. His reporting has been featured in various outlets, including The Gray Zone, The Defender, Rebel News, and Unlimited Hangout. Jeremy's dedication to uncovering the truth took a perilous turn when he became one of five journalists detained by Israeli authorities for his coverage of the Gaza-Israel conflict, leading to charges of endangering national security and aiding the enemy.
Jeremy recounts his initial visit to Israel on October 1st, aiming to report on the escalating violence in the northern West Bank, specifically in areas like Nablus, Tilkaram, and Jenin refugee camps. His reporting coincided with an Iranian missile strike, prompting him to document missile impacts alongside his taxi driver. However, his efforts led to his detainment at a military checkpoint.
[02:29] Jeremy Loffredo: "Their premise for detaining me was that my report contained secret and sensitive information, specifically the locations of missile strikes, which they claimed could be used by enemies or Iran to recalibrate future attacks more precisely."
Upon his detainment, Jeremy describes a series of harrowing interrogations. He was subjected to physical restraints, blindfolded, and kept in a military Humvee where soldiers taunted him and questioned his allegiance. The charges leveled against him were twofold: alleging he violated military censorship orders and accusing him of acting deliberately on behalf of Iran.
[03:37] Jeremy Loffredo: "They accused me of being a journalist who broke military censorship orders and simultaneously claimed I did so deliberately on behalf of Iran."
He was then moved to a West Point West Bank military checkpoint and placed in holding cells, where all other detainees were released except for him. The interrogation tactics included repetitive questioning about his connections to foreign militaries and the specifics of his reporting.
Jeremy's interactions with the legal system in Israel were fraught with challenges. Initially, he was held in solitary confinement for three and a half days under deplorable conditions—minimal food and water, limited communication, and psychological strain.
[10:16] Jeremy Loffredo: "It's called the Russian compound. I was kept in solitary confinement for three and a half days with very little food or water."
In court, Jeremy's lawyer demonstrated that his reporting did not pose a threat, presenting evidence that other Israeli journalists, including those affiliated with major outlets like PBS NewsHour, had reported the same information without consequence. Despite this, the legal process was prolonged, with repeated interrogations and no clear resolution until his eventual release.
After enduring intensive interrogations and court hearings, Jeremy was subjected to what he describes as "informal deportation." His passport, phone, and laptop were retained, but he was allowed to leave Israel without official deportation proceedings. This move was intended to prevent him from returning, leaving his case technically open in Israel.
[30:32] Jeremy Loffredo: "They opted for informal deportation, hoping I'd never return, leaving my case open without a formal charge."
Jeremy reflects on the Israeli justice system's handling of his case, questioning the motivations behind singling him out despite similar reporting from other journalists being allowed. He suggests that the actions taken against him were less about the content of his reporting and more about a political agenda to suppress certain narratives.
[26:59] Jeremy Loffredo: "They went way past accusing me of breaking military censorship laws—they ended up charging me with terrorism offenses."
He also delves into the broader implications for press freedom in conflict zones, emphasizing the dangers journalists face when exposing sensitive information that authorities deem a threat to national security.
On Detainment:
[02:29] "Their premise for detaining me was that my report contained secret and sensitive information..."
On Interrogation:
[10:16] "It's called the Russian compound. I was kept in solitary confinement for three and a half days with very little food or water."
On Legal Proceedings:
[23:47] "It's not about the information in my video and it's about the politics of myself and Grey Zone."
On Release:
[30:35] "I thought this was a trick to get you to unlock your phone."
This episode of The Jimmy Dore Show presents a sobering account of Jeremy Loffredo's experience as an American journalist detained in Israel. His testimony raises critical questions about press freedom, government censorship, and the treatment of foreign journalists in conflict zones. Through his narrative, listeners gain insight into the precarious balance between national security and the free press, underscoring the need for vigilant protection of journalistic integrity worldwide.
Note: Timestamps are referenced based on the provided transcript and may not correspond to the actual podcast's timing.