As the face of Biden's Israel policy, Blinken is drawing the ire of Gaza war protesters
For Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, the conflict in Gaza has come home.
Protesters angry about Israel's attack on Gaza have been a regular presence outside Mr Blinken's home in northern Virginia, with some camping out for days in roadside tents. Palestinian flags and handmade signs express anger at a diplomat who has become the face of President Biden's policies on the conflict.
“Bloody Blinken lives here,” read one this week. “Beware: war criminal within,” read another. Passing cars drove over the words “Secretary of Genocide” scrawled in pastel colors along the road.
And as Mr. Blinken's official motorcade pulled out of his driveway one day in early January, protesters splattered fake blood on the armored black Suburban he was driving.
Protest organizers even gave their action a name, “Occupy Blinken,” and said in a statement that their encampment has detained more than 100 people. (Perhaps two dozen were visible Thursday afternoon, along with scores of police and vehicles.) They have “braved cold temperatures, wind and rain, 24 hours a day, to beg Blinken” for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to support. the statement said.
According to one of them, some neighbors are dissatisfied with the crowds in their typically serene street. A digital road sign imported by police warns motorists to slow down and orders “DO NOT BLOW TONES”, suggesting that messages of support have created unwelcome noise in an area where at least two ambassadors from the Persian Gulf states also live.
It is certainly a surprising turn of events for Mr. Blinken. For much of the past two years, he has been a hero in many parts of the United States and Europe for standing up for Ukraine's defense and demanding responsibility for Russia's war atrocities. Now he is being condemned by protesters outraged that the Biden administration has provided military hardware and political cover for what they call a morally outrageous and even criminal Israeli response to the October 7 Hamas attacks, which they say killed more than 26,000 Palestinians perished. Health officials in Gaza.
Mr Blinken is not alone: Protesters have gathered outside the homes of National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, also on Christmas morning. They have also dogged Mr. Biden's recent public appearances, in some cases with his remarks at events interrupted by hecklers.
But Mr. Blinken appears to be losing out, perhaps because of his diplomatic role — he plans to depart this weekend on his fifth trip to the Middle East since Oct. 7 — and his frequent appearances on camera.
Outside the Foreign Ministry, several lampposts are plastered with posters depicting his smiling face over the rubble of Gaza. “We charge you with genocide for financing and assisting Israel's genocide of Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza,” they read. (Israel angrily rejects charges that its military campaign against Hamas is a genocidal attempt to exterminate Palestinians, and the Biden administration says the genocide charge is unfounded, though the International Court of Justice recently issued an interim ruling suggesting that the accusation was 'plausible'. .”)
Mr. Blinken often speaks of “Israel's right to defend itself” and repeatedly emphasizes that Hamas bears responsibility for causing the catastrophe in Gaza by attacking Israel and killing about 1,200 people. But he also says publicly that the civilian toll in Gaza has been “heartbreaking” for him and argues that American diplomacy has done more than any other country to ensure the delivery of humanitarian supplies reaches Gaza.
In a statement, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Mr. Blinken understood the criticism.
“He understands that people care deeply about this issue, and so does he,” Mr. Miller said. “That is why he is working so hard to end this conflict as quickly as possible, in a way that ensures that the tragic loss of life by both Israelis and Palestinians since October 7 will not happen again.” The statement raised no objection to the presence of demonstrators within sight of his front door.
On Thursday, Mr. Miller separately explained to reporters that Mr. Blinken had met with members of the Palestinian-American community that day. Mr. Miller said this was the latest in a series of meetings Mr. Blinken has had with people, both inside and outside the government, with “a wide range of views” on the conflict. (Some invitees said in a statement that they had declined to meet Mr. Blinken and dismissed the meeting as “performative.”)
“Every interaction we have goes into the secretary's thinking,” Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Blinken is hardly the first Secretary of State to experience personal animosity over a foreign conflict, although he may be more troubled by it than any of his predecessors since Condoleezza Rice, who held the position during the administration's second term. Bush. During a House hearing in 2007, a woman opposed to the U.S. occupation of Iraq approached Ms. Rice and held her hands covered in red paint inches from her face.
During a visit to Britain last year, Ms Rice was too confronted by demonstrators – “Hey, Condi, hey, how many kids did you kill today?” Some sang – and were forced to cancel a planned stop at a mosque. In June 2004, that number was as many as 1,300 people marched to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's home in Washington's Kalorama neighborhood.
Benjamin J. Rhodes, a national security adviser in the Obama administration, recalled that protesters were angry about U.S. drone strikes on suspected terrorists knocked on the front door from John Brennan, then White House counterterrorism director.
“Everything in your home makes you feel like you are never really free from work or away from controversy,” and exposes family members, Mr. Rhodes said.
Mr. Rhodes said he doubted that individual protests over Gaza would shape U.S. policy, but added that the number and variety of ongoing demonstrations could have an effect “because it is a sign of the deep hostility to the policy. ”
The vitriol could be especially jarring for Mr. Blinken, who spent most of his career as a behind-the-scenes staffer before Mr. Biden tapped him as his chief diplomat three years ago. He has joked in the past about his anonymity, especially compared to predecessors like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, both of whom became Democratic presidential candidates.
Early in his tenure as secretary of state, Mr. Blinken could slip into a European cafe with light security on an official trip and not be recognized, or at least approached. Those days seem long gone.