Authors of ‘Astonishing’ Study Showing Unvaccinated Kids Are Healthier Refused to Go Public With Results
By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | September 9, 2025
In a U.S. Senate hearing today, attorney Aaron Siri revealed the results of a large study that found vaccinated children were far more likely to develop chronic disease than unvaccinated kids.
The study never underwent peer review and was never published, because the authors — staunch vaccine supporters — told Siri they were concerned about losing their jobs or reputations because their findings contradicted the official public health narrative and vaccine policy.
Siri’s testimony, delivered during Tuesday’s Senate hearing, “How the Corruption of Science has Impacted Public Perception and Policies Regarding Vaccines,” addressed the study’s origins, findings and suppression.
The study involved over 18,000 children enrolled in Henry Ford Health system’s insurance plan in Michigan.
“The results are astonishing,” Siri told The Defender. “For example, vaccinated children had 4.29 times the rate of asthma, 3.03 times the rate of atopic disease (a group of allergic conditions), 5.96 times the rate of autoimmune disease, and 5.53 times the rate of neurodevelopmental disorder.”
These findings were statistically significant — even when accounting for gender, race, birthweight, premature birth, and respiratory distress or trauma at birth.
But rather than publishing the results, the study authors and their bosses at Henry Ford Health refused to make them public — even though the lead author previously assured Siri and Del Bigtree he would publish the results, whatever the findings.
Hearing held so ‘more Americans have their eyes open to the reality and truth’
Today’s hearing was the third so far this year on vaccine injury held by the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The study’s results were entered into the congressional record.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), subcommittee chair who organized the hearing, told The Defender he hoped the hearing would open people’s minds so that “more Americans have their eyes open to the reality and truth.”
He noted the fierce resistance that U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced at last week’s Senate hearing from senators who had “totally closed minds.”
Johnson said he didn’t presume to know the full truth about vaccines’ impact on health. “I don’t know because we haven’t even been allowed to ask the question — much less get the answer.”
In addition to Siri, witnesses included Toby Rogers, Ph.D., and Dr. Jake Scott.
The hearing pitted staunch vaccine supporters Scott and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), subcommittee ranking member, against Johnson, Siri and Rogers.
There were tense exchanges about what constitutes bias and corruption in research.
Blumenthal said he “deeply feared” for the future of public health in the U.S. and claimed Kennedy wanted staff who embraced the secretary’s “dogma.”
Vaccinated kids 2.48 times more likely to be diagnosed with chronic health condition
According to Siri, the study authors looked at health data of 18,468 kids born between 2000 and 2016 who were enrolled in the Henry Ford Health system’s insurance plan.
Siri published excerpts from the study’s manuscript, including its results, in his new book “Vaccines, Amen: The Religion of Vaccines.” Released on Sept. 4, the book challenges what he calls the “religion” of vaccines. Siri said:
“It is time to start treating vaccines as what they are, consumer products, not items of worship. We can save children from harm from infectious disease and from vaccines. We can do both.”
The study authors divided kids into two groups: vaccinated and unvaccinated. Nearly 2,000 were in the unvaccinated group. Roughly 16,500 kids received one or more vaccines, with the median number of vaccines being 18.
The authors found links “between vaccination and the incidence of asthma, atopic and autoimmune disease, and mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders including developmental delay and speech disorder,” according to a copy of the study Siri obtained.
The authors calculated incident rate ratios — the odds that a vaccinated child would develop a given medical condition versus an unvaccinated child. Overall, vaccinated children were 2.48 times more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic health condition than unvaccinated kids.
Vaccinated children were over four times more likely to be diagnosed with a speech disorder than unvaccinated children, and nearly six times more likely to be diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.
In some cases, the authors couldn’t do the calculation because no child in the unvaccinated group had the target disease. For instance, none of the unvaccinated had diabetes, brain dysfunction, behavioral dysfunction or tics.
The authors said the study couldn’t be used to prove vaccines caused the chronic conditions, but they concluded that the findings warranted further research.
How the study came about
According to Siri, the Henry Ford Health study came about after the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) in early 2017 searched for a highly qualified scientist to do a study comparing health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated kids.
Bigtree, ICAN’s founder, had previously met Dr. Marcus Zervos, co-director of the Center for Emerging and Infectious Diseases at Wayne State University and head of the Infectious Diseases division at Henry Ford Health.
Siri, who represents ICAN, and Bigtree met with Zervos. “While Dr. Zervos was a vaccine believer,” Siri told The Defender, “he showed signs of possibly being open to conducting some actual safety science.”
Siri and Bigtree initially thought it would be advantageous for the study to analyze children’s health data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) database. But accessing VSD data was a complicated proposition.
Zervos instead suggested he and his colleagues do the study using data they already could access through Henry Ford Health’s vast database. Henry Ford Health runs over 550 medical sites in Michigan, according to its website.
Siri said:
“Once Dr. Zervos appeared committed to performing the study, I made two requests. They were merely requests because I was in no position to dictate or demand anything.
“The first was that they would publish the study no matter what the result. The second was that the unvaccinated group would truly be unvaccinated — meaning no vaccines — so that the study would actually assess health outcomes between exposed (one or more vaccines) and unexposed (no vaccines) children.”
Zervos “looked us right in the eyes and assured us that he was a man of integrity and would publish the results, whatever the finding,” Siri recalled. Zervos also agreed to use a truly unvaccinated control group.
Study never published
In early 2020, Siri received a copy of the study but discovered that it had not been submitted to a journal for publication.
Lois Lamerato, Ph.D., who had worked on the study with Zervos, told Siri she and Zervos both thought the study was well done and worthy of publication.
But the “higher-ups” at Henry Ford Health, to whom she was required to send a copy before submission, did not want to submit it. Lamerato also said she was worried the study, if published, would make doctors feel uncomfortable.
According to Siri, Henry Ford Health officials didn’t provide any substantive explanation for not wanting the study published. Siri said:
“The real reason it was not submitted for publication, no doubt, was because of its finding that vaccinated children suffered from multiple times the rate of various serious ailments.
“Had the finding shown vaccinated children were healthier or at least had the same outcomes as unvaccinated children, then this study would have no doubt been submitted for publication and published many years ago. Instead, it remained hidden from the world.”
Other studies also show increased autism in vaccinated vs. unvaccinated
Scott, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford Medicine, presented information during the hearing on studies supporting vaccine safety claims. He said he had no financial conflicts of interest, as his research is either self-funded or funded by Stanford.
Rogers, a fellow with the Brownstone Institute and independent journalist, testified on published research related to the causes of autism.
The U.S. has yet to start writing its report on the possible causes of autism, U.S. Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary told Bloomberg yesterday.
Rogers has researched autism since 2015, when his then-partner’s son was diagnosed with autism. At the time, he was pursuing a doctorate in political economy at the University of Sydney.
According to Rogers:
“I went to the CDC’s webpage on the causes of autism. As a Ph.D. student, I was trained to focus on primary source documents, so I read all of the references in their footnotes. … To my surprise, I quickly discovered that the CDC’s narrative did not add up.”
He also noticed that the U.S. government wasn’t responding with a sense of urgency to the sharp increase in autism, despite the cost already having reached “hundreds of billions of dollars.”
So he changed his doctoral thesis topic to “The Political Economy of Autism” and spent four years analyzing published materials on autism’s prevalence, causation and cost.
Roger’s thesis, which passed peer review in 2019, is among the top 10 most-downloaded doctoral research papers in the history of the University of Sydney.
He gave senators a birds-eye view of the published literature. “Here are the facts,” Rogers said.
Twenty-two studies claim that vaccines don’t cause autism — but none have completely unvaccinated control groups. “So unfortunately,” Rogers said, “if you want to understand what’s causing the autism epidemic, these studies are of no use.”
Meanwhile, six published studies that included an unvaccinated control group found an increased risk of autism in the vaccinated. “Unfortunately, these studies have been systematically suppressed and ignored by the mainstream media and the medical establishment,” he said.
Rogers cited additional studies that showed an increase in autism following vaccination.
For instance, a 2018 study showed that up to 88% of autism cases are characterized by autistic regression — meaning a child who had been developing normally suddenly begins to lose skills, such as speech and eye contact. This suggests an acute toxic exposure triggered the development of autism, Rogers said.
“We now have eyewitness testimony from thousands of parents that the acute toxic exposure that preceded the autistic regression was a ‘well-baby’ vaccine appointment,” Rogers said.
What about genetic causes of autism?
According to Rogers, purely genetic causes of autism wouldn’t make sense. “Genes don’t suddenly create epidemics — the human genome just doesn’t change that fast.”
Most studies that look at both genes and environmental toxins, like pesticides and heavy metals, don’t control for vaccines as a possible covariate or confounder.
This makes it impossible to tease out the true impact of the toxin from the possible impact of the vaccine.
“The best available evidence suggests that anything that causes an immune activation event — an infectious disease, an industrial toxicant, or a vaccine — can cause autism.”
According to Rogers, autism is most likely caused by “vaccines and about a dozen additional toxicants.”
He added, “If we stop exposing children to these hazards in the first place, that would stop the epidemics of chronic illness in children. Now we must summon the political will to act.”
Watch the hearing here
This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.
Russia Strongly Condemns Western Attempts to Oust Republika Srpska President Dodik – Lavrov
Sputnik – 09.09.2025
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Russia strongly condemns attempts by the West to remove Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from power.
“We strongly condemn attempts to remove Serbian leaders disliked by the West from power through fabricated criminal cases. In particular, our interlocutor today, our friend, the legally elected, legitimate president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik,” the Russian foreign minister said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Sergey Lavrov said he considers the upcoming October 25 referendum on confidence in Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik to be an honest initiative.
“I want to mention the referendum that Republika Srpska, under President Dodik, is planning for October 25, asking citizens whether they support the republic’s leadership or not. I consider this an honest step,” Lavrov said.
Lavrov added that Russia will raise the issue of Bosnia and Herzegovina during its October chairmanship of the UN Security Council.
“As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and one of the guarantors of the Dayton Accords, Russia will continue efforts to support this key document and the forces that defend the preservation and unconditional respect of Dayton principles in practice. We will pay special attention to this topic in October, when Russia will chair the Security Council, and the next meeting on Bosnia and Herzegovina is scheduled for October 31,” Lavrov said following talks with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik.
The foreign minister emphasized that Russia will carefully prepare for the upcoming meeting. “Our colleagues will have to answer uncomfortable but entirely legitimate questions,” he said.
Lavrov also noted that “the West does not like referendums; Kosovo’s independence was declared without any referendum at all.”
Zelensky’s claims of strike on civilians are false – Russian MOD source
RT | September 9, 2025
The latest allegations by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky that a Russian airstrike targeted civilians are completely false, a source with the Ministry of Defense in Moscow told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
Zelensky shared extremely graphic footage from the Ukrainian-controlled village of Yarovaya, in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic. He claimed a Russian “guided aerial bomb” killed more than 20 “ordinary people who were collecting their pensions.”
The allegation does not hold water, a military source told the news agency, pointing out that the latest strikes in the area – not on the village itself but in its vicinity – were conducted on September 7. The damage shown in the video does not correspond with an aerial bomb strike, the source noted, suggesting the incident was “yet another false flag staged by the Kiev regime.”
“The crater shown does not match in shape and size of what would be left by an actual aerial bomb. The most common Russian bomb in the special military operation zone is the FAB-500, which contains about 200 kilograms of explosives,” the source said. The smallest munition used, FAB-250, contains around 100 kg of explosives and also leaves a massive crater on impact, he added.
The lack of any reporting on the incident prior to Zelensky’s post, after which the news spread all across “Ukrainian propaganda outlets,” also suggests the affair had been carefully orchestrated, the source pointed out.
“The false flag is supposed to demonstrate Kiev’s ‘concern’ for the population of the [Donbass] territories under its control and, simultaneously, to show the ‘cruelty’ of Russia,” the source suggested.
The incident appears to be a part of a broader campaign backed by Kiev to derail any potential negotiations to settle the conflict, as well as to justify its refusal to withdraw from the parts of the formerly Ukrainian regions it still controls, the source claimed, apparently referring to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.
US lawmaker moves to block Ukraine aid
RT | September 9, 2025
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has proposed removing $600 million in Ukraine support from the draft Pentagon spending bill, arguing that Americans’ “hard-earned tax dollars” should not go to foreign aid.
The Georgia Republican proposed cancelling the allocation of these funds in the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years to shift priorities toward the US.
With Donald Trump back in the White House, the US has dramatically cut military aid to Kiev, pausing more than $1 billion in planned funds.
In a video post on X on Tuesday, Greene said that her amendment would strike $600 million from the defense bill, money that she noted “goes to Ukraine.” She argued that the US had already sent “over $175 billion to this war” and that it was “enough of your hard-earned tax dollars.” She described the measure as part of the America First agenda, saying US funds should not be used for “foreign wars” while the country faces a $37 trillion debt.
The congresswoman stated that the US usually allocates $300 million annually but that “Speaker Johnson and Republicans are feeling so generous they’re wanting to give them 600 million this time. My amendment will take it out.” Greene said, adding she has “never voted to fund this war.”
Greene introduced another amendment after learning that “another $100 million” had been earmarked for Kiev and said she wanted to remove all funding in case others in Congress felt “so giving.” Greene also put forward measures to cut aid for Israel, Syria, and Iraq adding that the money should be “kept back here at home.”
While previous President Joe Biden’s administration approved large-scale aid packages to Kiev, Trump has cut assistance but allowed some deliveries, such as Patriot air-defense systems. He has repeatedly expressed concern about possible misuse of US aid to Kiev, claiming that billions allocated under Biden may have been embezzled. In July, Trump said that any additional weapons delivered to Ukraine would have to be paid for by Europe’s NATO members.
Ukraine’s European backers are pressing for more weapons as part of security guarantees, while Russia insists Western military aid is an obstacle to reaching a peace deal.
The West Bank is on the verge of catastrophe
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | September 9, 2025
The Israeli regime seeks to collapse the notion of the so-called “two-state solution” once and for all, as part of its broader final solution to the Palestinian question. In order to do this, even the Palestinian Authority will have to fall, and with it will come a new series of horrors for the occupied West Bank.
Since October 7, 2023, the Zionist entity has waged a regional campaign that its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has branded the “seven-front war”. The publicly stated goal of this regional war is to achieve “total victory”. While many analysts continue to cover the Gaza war as a separate issue from the other fronts, this is a misreading of the realities we are seeing on the ground.
When looking at how the West Bank factors into the ongoing regional war, it would make no sense to view it outside of its proper context. To begin with, the October 7 operation was used as a pretext for the acceleration of the most extreme goals sought after by the Zionist entity.
The Israelis had suffered their greatest ever military blow, shattering their power projection model and shaking the very foundations of Zionism’s core pillars. In reaction to this, the supremacist entity decided to go all out in every conceivable way, although this came quicker on some fronts than others.
Specifically looking at the occupied West Bank, the Israelis did not waste any time in deploying a large number of soldiers to the territory and began immediately placing countless new movable checkpoints, dirt mounds, cement barriers, and gates to isolate villages from one another, ensuring the further fragmentation of an already divided territory.
In conjunction with this, Israeli settlers were armed with a seemingly unlimited supply of light weapons and encouraged to begin carrying out pogroms against villages and collections of communities, with the aim of ethnic cleansing. This was fully backed by the Israeli military, which had even begun creating settler-controlled units the year prior, including the infamous “Desert Frontier”, which sought to legitimize settler extremist militias that had once been deemed terrorists by the Zionist entity itself.
Then came the imposition of curfews, lockdowns targeting specific areas, and road closures that would leave West Bank Palestinians stranded. Military raids also increased, as did the murder rate against Palestinian civilians, which reached levels not witnessed since the Second Intifada.
The Israelis committed countless on-the-ground raids and airstrikes, focused primarily in the northern West Bank, where young Palestinian fighters had formed groups since 2021 to confront the occupying entity’s raids on their refugee camps and villages.
Following these frequent attacks, which often resulted in civilian massacres along with the killing of fighters, in August of 2024, the Zionist regime announced “Operation Summer Camps”, aimed at destroying the armed resistance in the northern West Bank. The operation ultimately failed to inflict a defeat on the resistance groups, taking its largest toll on the civilian populations living in the Nur al-Shams and Jenin refugee camps.
By September 9, 2024, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had reached a deal with the Israeli military that would see its forces work alongside the occupying army to root out the Palestinian resistance forces. In early December, the PA’s security forces then launched their “Operation Protect The Homeland”, where they arrested Palestinian Resistance fighters, killed civilians, and removed IEDs planted in Jenin that were set to target Israeli military jeeps.
By January, amid a failure of the PA to uproot the resistance from Jenin alone, the Israeli military launched a renewed military effort alongside the PA that would lead to the mass displacement of tens of thousands of civilians. The Israeli forces launched airstrikes, carried out assassinations, desecrated mosques, blew up homes, and imposed siege warfare on both the Jenin and Nur al-Shams refugee camps.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority was further demonized and delegitimized by the incoming Trump administration in the United States, after failing to prove its effectiveness at combating the Palestinian resistance alone.
A steep economic decline has also plagued the West Bank since October 7, 2023, plunging hundreds of thousands into poverty, as the Israeli settlers and military continue to construct new settlements and uproot olive trees and have ethnically cleansed over 30 communities and villages, while imposing a regime of all-out intimidation across the territory.
The results have proven catastrophic; the Zionist regime is taking over more of the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil, entering Area A of the West Bank at will despite it being technically under PA control, while refusing to release tax revenue back to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
Although the Palestinian Authority has repeatedly sought to combat resistance, runs security coordination for the Israeli occupying entity, frequently blames the genocide in Gaza on Hamas, and attempts to follow the rules laid out by its US, EU, and UK sponsors, it is now being totally delegitimized and pushed to the brink of collapse.
The PA is the perfect example of what happens when you lay down your arms, denounce resistance, and cooperate with the Israelis in search of a so-called “peace agreement”. The Zionists only take this as a weakness and continue to pursue their agendas, except that there is no substantial resistance now to protect the people.
With Western nations like Canada, France, Belgium, Australia, and the UK all declaring they will recognize the State of Palestine, the Israelis have reacted by pursuing a policy that completely eliminates the Palestinian Authority and its global standing. The E1 settlement project is one step; imposing annexation is another, yet perhaps the biggest factor here may be the Israeli refusal to release the necessary funds that the PA needs to keep afloat.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump notably banned the Palestinian Authority’s officials from travelling to the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this month, while his own officials openly talk about the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”; the Israeli settler name for the occupied territory.
Another major issue is the ongoing Israeli-manufactured water crisis in the occupied West Bank, making it so that some residents of Ramallah only get water access at home twice per week, causing them to go to public areas to fill up on supplies.
The Israeli settlers have exacerbated this crisis by destroying and poisoning water wells and pipes. It is of note that Palestinians are not permitted to drill for water without specific permits, and the West Bank’s natural basin has long been hijacked by the Israelis, who supply their West Bank settlements with all the water they need.
So far, the population of the West Bank has not risen up into an Intifada either, so the Israelis get away with whatever they choose. In addition to this, the armed resistance that was in its early phases in the north of the territory has been forced into hiding and is no longer active.
Unlike the Gaza Strip, which had built a sophisticated underground tunnel network and armed itself with every weapon it could create or smuggle in, the West Bank is all but defenseless. However, the West Bank does have one advantage over Gaza: there are settlements littered throughout it, and the population there is very close to the occupiers physically.
Whether the Israelis choose to suddenly collapse the Palestinian Authority, annex portions of the territory, and begin a mass ethnic cleansing campaign, or they simply seek to slowly achieve this goal over time, the people of the West Bank have one way to combat it: a mass popular uprising. This uprising also must involve frequent violent assaults on Israeli settlements and operations that cross over into the territories occupied in 1948.
Currently, many people in the West Bank, particularly those living in the major cities, have not shown such resolve and determination. Instead, they have been slowly ground down into the material distractions that the Israelis intended for them to occupy themselves with, using their loans and credit cards to purchase cars and handbags or live cafe lifestyles they cannot afford.
The biggest employers in the West Bank are the Palestinian Authority, Israeli businesses, and Western NGOs, while the loans that people take are often impossible for people to pay back. Therefore, they have become enslaved to the material system of occupation. This is why you only really see armed resistance coming from a handful of villages and refugee camps, where the people have nothing to distract themselves from the occupation they live under.
The West Bank is perhaps one of the most sophisticated and ruthless social engineering testing grounds in modern history. In order for the people to break free, they will have to fight. This uprising will bring about countless horrors, some similar to what we have seen in Gaza, but the alternative is simply losing everything without a fight. Perhaps fewer people will die in such a short period, but the result of doing nothing will unfortunately be the loss of their homeland. The path of resistance is the only way that victory and liberation are even possible.
The Israelis will not allow for 3.3 million Palestinians to live in what the regime considers “Israel’s biblical heartlands”; they seek “Greater Israel” with as few Palestinians there as possible. There is no “two-state solution”, no “peace deals”, no “security agreements”, only an agenda to completely destroy the Palestinian people and implement the genocidal regime’s final Solution. Although the situation appears bleak, the people are still strong and will undoubtedly resist.
PCHR Report Exposes Israel’s War on Journalists and Media Institutions in Gaza
21st Century Wire | September 9, 2025
Yesterday marked a devastating event for the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) as their headquarters in Al-Roya Tower, Gaza City, was obliterated by an airstrike from the Israeli Occupation Force. This attack is part of a disturbing pattern of systematic assaults on high-rise buildings throughout the city. Just following PCHR’s announcement of their new report, “Assassination of Truth: Killing of Journalists amid Genocide in Gaza,” Avichay Adraee, spokesman for the Israeli Occupation Forces, casually declared the intention to target and demolish Al-Roya Tower, home to PCHR’s vital work. The timing and intent behind these actions raise serious questions about the protection of human rights and freedom of expression in these turbulent times.
The PCHR office, perched on the 12th floor of the Al-Roya Tower, has unfortunately faced relentless bombardment and significant damage since the onset of the conflict. In addition, the Israeli Occupation Forces raided the premises, even converting it into a military base during their previous ground operations in Gaza City. As a result, the office has been rendered inoperable, highlighting the heavy toll on journalists working in Gaza. It is also important to mention that the PCHR offices located in Khan Younis and Jabalia were demolished last year.
PCHR’s new report paints a vivid and harrowing picture of the crimes committed, backed by compelling firsthand accounts from victims, witnesses, and their families, along with insights from legal experts and international sources. It shines a light on the shocking obliteration of 112 media institutions—ranging from TV and radio stations to newspaper headquarters—forcing journalists in Gaza to operate under extreme peril, often from makeshift tents, all while living with the constant threat of assassination.
The report reveals a troubling pattern: since October 7, Israel has actively targeted individuals who are brave enough to document the crisis in Gaza, effectively trying to suppress the truth and documented evidence of the Gaza genocide. Shockingly, during this period, Israeli Occupation Forces have killed 221 journalists, injured 415 more, and have arbitrarily detained at least 86 individuals. Many have faced torture and inhumane conditions, with 16 still in detention and 4 having mysteriously disappeared, according to PCHR. It’s a stark reminder of the dangers faced by those committed to reporting the realities on the ground.
The report calls on the global community to urge the Israeli authorities to promptly permit foreign journalists and international media representatives to access the Gaza Strip.
Hamas: US proposal does not aim to end Gaza war
MEMO | September 9, 2025
A senior official in the Hamas movement, Bassem Naim, said on Monday evening that the initial ideas presented by the United States are “clearly intended to be rejected, rather than to reach an agreement that ends the war, ensures a full withdrawal of the occupation forces, and secures a prisoner exchange.”
In a statement sent to Quds Press, Naim explained that the American proposal suggests receiving all prisoners on the first day, linking withdrawal to the formation of a government acceptable to Israel and tasked with security duties. It also includes defining Hamas, considering pardons for its members, and disarming the resistance, “without any mention of reconstruction.”
The Hamas official stressed that the movement and other resistance factions seek “an agreement that stops the war and genocide, and opens the way for a political solution that fulfils legitimate national goals.”
Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump said that “the Israelis have accepted the terms of his proposal for a possible prisoner exchange and ceasefire in Gaza, and now it is Hamas’s turn to agree.”
Trump also spoke of the possibility of “reaching a deal soon to end the war on Gaza based on one of the proposals,” issuing what he described as “a final warning” to Hamas about the consequences of rejecting the new offer.
Suspected drone attack hits Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla in Tunis
Al Mayadeen | September 9, 2025
The Global Sumud Flotilla announced it will hold a press conference today to update the media and the public on the drone attack sustained by one of its boats, the Family Boat. While all participants are safe, details about the attack remain limited, it said.
The conference will include remarks from Francesca Albanese, members of the steering committee, and civil society leaders, as well as direct testimonies from those who were aboard the Family Boat during the attack, in addition to updates on the flotilla’s ongoing mission to break “Israel’s” illegal blockade of Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest civilian effort to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza, suffered an alleged attack when one of its leading vessels was struck while anchored in Sidi Bou Said, Tunisia.
According to Wael Nawar, a member of the flotilla, the attack was carried out by an Israeli drone and targeted the fleet’s largest ship, which sails under the Portuguese flag. He confirmed that all crew and passengers aboard the vessel were unharmed.
Egyptian committee: Cowardly escalation
The Egyptian committee of the flotilla condemned the incident as “a criminal aggression by a Zionist war drone and a cowardly escalation.” It described the strike on Tunisian territory as a military violation against an Arab state, reaffirming that Egyptian participation in the international fleet would continue despite the threats.
UN expert raises alarm
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese confirmed reports that the flotilla’s main vessel was hit and said she is working to verify the facts. She further warned that two additional boats en route to Tunisia are “in urgent need of protection.”’
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent reported that strict security measures were imposed at the port following the attack, adding that the ship was apparently hit with an incendiary device.
Tunisian authorities cite technical malfunction
In contrast, the spokesperson for Tunisia’s National Guard denied that local security or military units had detected any aerial activity over the port. Preliminary investigations, he noted, suggest the incident may have resulted from an internal malfunction aboard the vessel rather than an external strike.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry later released a statement saying that “reports circulating about a drone crashing onto a ship docked at Sidi Bou Said port are baseless.”
Earlier in May, a drone strike targeted a vessel of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla team in international waters off the coast of Malta, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition reported. Israeli authorities were widely condemned by activists for executing the attack; however, Tel Aviv never claimed responsibility.
In that earlier incident, Yasemin Acar, press officer for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, confirmed to CNN that armed drones hit the ship twice, targeting the front of the vessel and causing a substantial breach in the hull. A fire erupted on board, and the ship began to sink. “There is a hole in the vessel right now, and the ship is sinking,” Acar said.
Largest flotilla yet to break the siege
The Global Sumud Flotilla includes hundreds of international activists from 44 countries, among them Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese politician Mariana Mortágua. The mission, comprised of dozens of aid-laden boats, seeks to break “Israel’s” years-long naval blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian supplies and asserting international solidarity.
Despite the attack and mounting threats, organizers insist the mission will proceed, describing it as a historic show of defiance against the ongoing siege.
Israeli occupation attacks Hamas negotiators in Qatar, bombs Doha

Al Mayadeen | September 9, 2025
In a statement, the Israeli occupation military, in coordination with its internal security agency, Shin Bet, claimed to have carried out an airstrike on the Qatari capital, Doha, claiming to target the senior leadership of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.
Israeli Channel 12, citing military sources, reported that the strikes targeted members of the Hamas negotiating delegation while they were discussing the latest US-mediated proposal in Doha.
Reuters correspondents confirmed hearing loud explosions in the Qatari capital, noting plumes of smoke rising over the Katara district.
This brazen Israeli strike on Hamas’ negotiating delegation in Doha exposes once again the pattern of aggression that has defined Israeli and American conduct, using violence at the very moment when talks for peace are on the table. Just as Washington and Tel Aviv undermined dialogue before they attacked Iran in June, they now repeat the same tactic against the Palestinian resistance, targeting representatives engaged in negotiations.
Far from seeking peace, such actions demonstrate a deliberate sabotage of negotiations and reveal that only Palestinians show a genuine commitment to ending the war, while the Israeli occupation regime and the US weaponize diplomacy as cover for escalation.
Hamas reaffirms commitment to ceasefire proposals
The development comes as Hamas reiterated its commitment, alongside other Palestinian factions, to the ceasefire framework put forward by mediators on August 18.
In a statement, Hamas emphasized its openness to “any ideas or proposals” that would secure a permanent ceasefire, guarantee the full withdrawal of occupation forces from Gaza, ensure the unconditional entry of humanitarian aid, and achieve a genuine prisoner exchange through serious negotiations brokered by mediators.
US President Donald Trump announced Sunday evening on his Truth Social account that “the Israelis have accepted my terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well.”
In his post, Trump wrote: “Everyone wants the hostages home. Everyone wants this war to end! The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well. I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one!”
According to Israeli Channel 12, Trump conveyed a new proposal through his envoy Steve Witkoff, bypassing the usual mediators Qatar and Egypt. The reported plan includes the release of all Israeli captives, both living and deceased, on the first day of the deal in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences.
Hamas says received US proposal
The Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine, Hamas, confirmed Sunday evening that it has received new American ideas through mediators aimed at reaching a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
In a statement, Hamas said it welcomes any real initiative that contributes to ending the ongoing aggression against the Palestinian people.
Hamas expressed its readiness to immediately join negotiations to reach a comprehensive deal that would include:
- The release of all prisoners on both sides
- A clear declaration of an end to the war
- A complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
- The creation of a Palestinian independent committee to administer Gaza, to begin work immediately
The movement also demanded clear guarantees to ensure that “Israel” abides by any commitments, citing past agreements that were repudiated.
Hamas noted that it had already approved a mediator-brokered US proposal in Cairo on August 18, 2025, but “Israel” failed to respond and instead escalated its massacres and ethnic cleansing policy.

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