Israeli Authorities Reportedly Arrest US Journalist Who Documented Iranian Missile Attack

Last updated on October 10th, 2024 at 05:17 pm

Israeli authorities reportedly detained an American citizen and journalist, Jeremy Loffredo, this week, accusing him of endangering Israeli national security.

Loffredo had been Israel, reporting for The Grayzone when Israeli authorities detained him.

Israel’s YNet news service reported Loffredo stands accused of aiding an enemy of Israel during wartime and providing information to said enemy.

Just days before the arrest, Loffredo published a six-minute video, documenting his travels throughout Israel in an effort to identify the impact sites of ballistic missiles Iran fired at Israel on Oct. 1. The video covered apparent missile impact sites near the Nevatim Airbase in the Negev desert. Loffredo also examined reports of a missile impact near the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service in Tel Aviv.

“He published the information openly and fully, without attempting to hide anything. If this information constitutes aiding the enemy, many other journalists in Israel, including Israeli reporters, should also be arrested,” Loffredo’s attorney, Leah Tsemel, told YNet. “A spy would not have acted so publicly and transparently.”

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

The U.S. government has dealt with several recent incidents involving arrests of U.S. citizens and journalists abroad.

Earlier this year, the U.S. government secured the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan, from Russian custody. Gershkovich and Whelan were both convicted in Russian courts on spying charges. Russian authorities charged Kurmasheva with spreading false information about the Russian military.

The U.S. government made a less-pronounced effort to secure the release of Gonzalo Lira, an American blogger and political commentator detained in Ukraine in 2023 on suspicion of spreading Russian disinformation and propaganda. Lira died in Ukrainian custody in January of this year, after reportedly contending with pneumonia and a collapsed lung for several weeks in a Ukrainian prison.