strikes launched at military targets inside Israel by Iran. He was blindfolded, shackled in a military truck and placed in solitary confinement for three days with little food or water. He was eventually deported.Here is the video report, here is a Grayzone article about it, and here is an interview with Chris Hedges.
I mention him after reading his account:
Unfortunately, the US government had other plans - I was prevented from boarding my flight out of JFK on June 3 by three armed Customs and Border Protection officers, who seized my passport under instructions from the State Department.as described here, but he also records that he had been "targeted" by the USA government long before that:
The FBI investigated me for making a documentary film, "In Shifting Sands," which made the case that Iraq had been disarmed by UN weapons inspectors. Because this movie embraced a narrative which contradicted the case for war being made by the US government, I was targeted for character assassination.That, and a lot else, are described here.
The film, full title "In Shifting Sands: The Truth About Unscom and the Disarming of Iraq" is on Youtube here. Scott has a substack site. I came across this article on it which I thought particularly worth reading.
In a more recent article Scott says
My house was raided by the FBI using FARA as a pretext; in conversations with the senior FBI agents present, the justification for this raid stemmed from an article I published on my Substack which addressed the issue of Russophobia in America, and which incorporated material I had received from the Russian Ambassador to the United States at the time, Anatoly Antonov, whom I interviewed for this article.He doesn't identify the article but I'm guessing it is this one.
UPDATE (Feb 2025): Scott has written a further article mentioning this event, mentioning The Scott Ritter Show, which he felt he needed to terminate, and describing a new subscription-based show The Russia House with Scott Ritter.
UPDATE (Feb 2025): Scott also describes his videos about Volodymyr Zelensky were taken down from Youtube; he has now published (presumably) similar material in a new video, which is in the article.
I trust you can guess what are the consequent Streisand Effect reading recommendations: there are links above to the EI, and to Ali Abunimah's own articles there. Also, he has written the books “One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse” (2006) and “The Battle for Justice In Palestine” (2014).
UPDATE (Feb 2025): Swiss federal police opposed Ali Abunimah entry ban, files reveal; also of interest: Swiss official who jailed journalist Ali Abunimah is fanatical pro-Israel activist
Journalists Max Blumenthal and Sam Husseini attempted to ask Secretary of State Antony Blinken questions during his final press conference, but were ejected; in the case of Sam, "I was carried off, seriously manhandled and handcuffed".
Max is founder of The Grayzone, which described the incident here; Sam has a substack, and described the incident, including a video, here.
Decensored News also has a video of the event. Apparently State Department spokesman Matthew Miller had conspicuously refused, over a long time, to take questions from Sam, see here and here.
UPDATE (Mar 2025): sam Husseini has written further about this, at The State Department Inflicted a Concussion upon Me.Canadian writer Yves Engler has been charged with "harassment and indecent communication" on account of posts on X (Twitter) criticising another writer Dahlia Kurtz (apparently describing her as a “genocide” supporter and “fascist”). He writes about her in more detail here. Subsequently, Yves wrote about the police actions, as a result of which the police investigator "feels threatened by [Yves's] writing" which is resulting in further charges. You can't make this stuff up.
Yves also writes
Over the past 24 hours I’ve received multiple messages about frivolous cases brought against others for opposing genocide. The abuse of police and legal system to target opponents of genocide is a greater problem than I realized.
The story is written up in JURISTnews, Montreal activist jailed after series of charges over Israel-Gaza social media posts .
To read more of Yves's writing, go to https://yvesengler.com
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine, Recounts German ‘Intimidation, Harassment’.