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Israel massacres, expels displaced Palestinians sheltering in north Gaza school

The Cradle | December 15, 2024

Israeli army forces stormed a school housing displaced Palestinians in northern Gaza on 15 December, opening fire and killing at least 40 civilians, while forcing dozens to flee.

All the men who were sheltering in the Khalil Oweida school in Beit Hanoun were abducted, while the rest were forced to evacuate at gunpoint. Several others were injured in the attack on the school.

According to WAFA news agency, the displaced women and children were forced to head to an Israeli checkpoint on the Salah al-Din axis leading to Gaza City.

Anadolu Agency (AA) reported, citing eyewitnesses, that the bodies of the victims were spread out across the Khalil Oweida schoolyard and nearby streets.

“The terrorist occupation army’s storming of Khalil Awida School in Beit Hanoun … and committing a massacre against the displaced people there, by direct shooting … and then arresting all the displaced youths, is a reinforcement of the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement operations taking place in the northern Gaza Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.

Israeli forces in Gaza have repeatedly targeted schools packed with displaced civilians.

The attack was the latest in a string of recent massacres committed by Israeli forces in Gaza. Israeli troops “committed five massacres against families” in Gaza over the past 24 hours, killing at least 46, WAFA reported on Sunday.

The battered Gaza Strip has been subject to a severe lack of humanitarian aid due to Israel’s closure of all border crossings, as Tel Aviv has stepped up its attacks and total siege – particularly in the north – where over 100,000 people have been forcibly expelled and thousands killed.

This comes as part of the unofficial implementation of the Generals’ Plan, which aims to make northern Gaza uninhabitable through mass destruction, killing, and expulsion. Israel aims to completely empty out north Gaza and transform the area into an isolated military zone.

As part of this plan, Israel is also waging a brutal war against medical facilities in northern Gaza. The few remaining hospitals are under siege and constant attacks by Israel, particularly Beit Lahia’s Kamal Adwan Hospital – which has been raided numerous times by the Israeli military.

Israel bombed the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital once again on 15 December, as the medical facility faces imminent collapse along with the rest of the area’s health sector. Two Palestinians were killed in the attack.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel to deploy remotely operated machine guns against Palestinians in occupied West Bank

The Cradle | December 15, 2024

The Israeli army is preparing to deploy automated, remotely monitored machine guns to protect illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Army Radio reported on 15 December.

The automated weapons, developed by Rafael Combat Systems, will be installed on watch towers around dozens of settlements and near their entrances. They will be controlled remotely from command centers “to prevent armed attacks and infiltration operations.”

The same system was installed on the Gaza border in 2008 and operated by spotters in bases. However, it failed to prevent fighters from the Islamic Resistance movement, Hamas, from approaching and breaching the barrier fence to attack settlements and Israeli military bases on 7 October 2023.

During Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Qassam Brigades fighters reportedly used attack drones to disable the automated weapons during the first hours of the operation.

The army will first deploy the weapons in locations it defines as ‘high-risk,’ and expand their deployment over time to include additional locations.

According to the report, the 636th Reconnaissance Unit of the Army’s West Bank Division will operate the systems.

Israeli soldiers and settlers have escalated their attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza last year.

The Israeli army and settlers have killed 812 Palestinians and injured 6,500 in the West Bank since that time.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has provided over 120,000 firearms to Jewish settlers in the West Bank since the outbreak of the Gaza War.

“Over 120,000 weapons were distributed to eligible citizens, while tens of thousands more received conditional approvals,” Ben-Gvir, leader of the far-right Jewish Power Party, said on his X account in October.

“We intend to continue arming Israel. That’s what we did, and that’s what we’ll continue to do!”

Ben Gvir and fellow Jewish supremacist politician and minister have announced their desire to use the Jewish settlers to expel the indigenous Palestinian population from the occupied West Bank and annex it to Israel.

After Donald Trump’s election to the US presidency in November, Ben Gvir, himself a resident of the Kiryat Arba settlement, declared that “this is the time for sovereignty” over the West Bank.

On 9 December, following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syra, Bezalel Smotrich called for increased Jewish settlement and establishing “facts on the ground” to ensure a Palestinian state would never be established.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

‘Israel’s’ support for Syrian opposition exposed

By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | December 14, 2024

In the wake of ultra-extremist militants of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham seizing Damascus, Zionist entity premier Benjamin Netanyahu gave a smug address from the Golan Heights, Syrian territory illegally occupied ever since 1967. Along the way, he took personal credit for the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government and the Syrian Arab Army’s defeat, while pledging that the ground on which he stood would be part of “Israel “for eternity”. Ever since, Israeli occupation forces have pushed ever deeper into Golan, unimpeded and unopposed.

Tel Aviv’s criminal seizure of yet further territory from its neighbors was an absolutely inevitable upshot of Syria’s collapse. However, some Western journalists and politicians have expressed dismay – in many cases, the same figures were cheering al-Assad’s fall just 24 hours prior. Consternation has also widely abounded over the foreign-dominated and controlled opposition groups that overran Damascus, effusively praising the Zionist entity’s assistance in their offensive against the SAA.

Speaking to Israeli TV on December 2, one rebel fighter thanked Tel Aviv for striking Hezbollah and other Resistance groups, stating the opposition was “very satisfied” with the support. They added, “We love Israel and we were never its enemies… [Tel Aviv] isn’t hostile to those who are not hostile toward it. We don’t hate you, we love you very much.”

‘Striking deeper’

While never acknowledged in the mainstream, the Zionist entity’s sinister alliance with extremist opposition groups arrayed against Damascus has long laid in plain sight. A September 2018 investigation by the US empire house journal Foreign Policy spelled out in detail “Israel’s secret program to back Syrian rebels.” It documented how, since 2013, Tel Aviv “armed and funded at least 12 rebel groups” in the country. The ostensible purpose was to “prevent Iran-backed fighters and militants of the Islamic State from taking up positions near the Israeli border.”

The entity’s “military transfers” to anti-Assad opposition groups were vast. They “included assault rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers, and transport vehicles.” The material was funneled via the illegally occupied Golan Heights. “Israel” even “provided salaries to rebel fighters… and supplied additional money the groups used to buy arms on the Syrian black market.” Initially, arms transferred were “mostly US-manufactured,” but these were later “switched” to “non-American weapons… apparently to conceal the source of the assistance.”

Every step of the way, “Israel’s” backing of the Syrian opposition ratcheted. Foreign Policy attributes this ever-aggressive stance to Tel Aviv’s failed “appeals” to the US and Russia “to secure a deal that would ensure that Iranian-backed militias would be kept away from southern Syria.” This prompted the entity to “[begin] striking deeper inside Syrian territory, targeting not just individual weapons shipments from Iran to Hezbollah but also Iranian bases across the country.”

In providing this largesse, Tel Aviv “relied on relationships it developed with individual commanders” of extremist militias, sending “assistance directly to them.” Representatives of these factions “would communicate with Israeli officials by phone and occasionally meet them face to face” in the Golan Heights. “When commanders switched groups and locations, Israeli assistance followed them” – and the entity’s chosen proxies frequently served as distributors of Zionist-supplied weaponry “to other groups,” giving them “outsized influence” in the dirty war.

Foreign Policy records, “As a result of Israel’s humanitarian and military assistance, many residents of southern Syria came to perceive it as an ally.” An anonymous opposition fighter told the outlet, “Israel is the only one with interests in the region and a little bit of humanity and [provides] assistance to civilians.” However, “As troops loyal to Assad, aided by Russian and Iranian forces, reasserted control over more and more areas of Syria,” Tel Aviv cut a secret deal with Moscow, to the opposition’s detriment.

Under its auspices, SAA forces returned to “areas adjacent to the Golan Heights” while Russia promised “to keep Iran-backed militias 80 kilometers” from the area “and not to start hindering Israeli strikes on Iranian targets across Syria.” Despite this, Tel Aviv didn’t desert its murderous surrogates. As government forces closed in, “rebels reached out to their Israeli contacts and asked for asylum.” They and “their immediate family members” were duly permitted to flee to “Israel”, Jordan, and Turkey, with Tel Aviv’s assistance and protection.

With eerie foresight, Foreign Policy concluded that “Israel’s” policy of backing the rebels would contribute to significant and enduring unresolved security problems not only in Damascus but throughout West Asia more widely:

“[This] raises questions about the balance of power in Syria as the civil war there finally winds down. With the Iranian forces that helped Assad defeat the rebels showing no inclination to withdraw from Syria, the potential for the country to become a flash point between Israel and Iran looms large. Without deft diplomacy, confrontations in Syria, protests in Gaza, and tensions over the Iran nuclear deal could plunge the Middle East into chaos.”

‘Military capabilities’

Foreign Policy was at pains to portray “Israel’s” assistance to the Syrian opposition as being predominantly informed by a desire to crush ISIS. For example, the outlet claimed Tel Aviv “provided fire support to rebel factions” fighting an Islamic State affiliate near the Yarmouk River. This purportedly extended to drone strikes targeting ISIS commanders “and precision-missile strikes against the group’s personnel, fortifications, and vehicles during battles with the rebels.” Meanwhile, the Zionist entity “did not extend similar fire support for rebel assaults on regime forces.”

Yet, such an exculpatory narrative is at glaring odds with multiple public admissions by Israeli officials. For example, in April 2017, former entity Security Minister Moshe Ya’alon revealed that “recently”, ISIS had “apologized” after “[opening] fire” on Tel Aviv’s forces in the Golan Heights. This contrition was expressed by the terror group despite the IOF responding to this broadside by bombarding Islamic State fighters with airstrikes and tank fire, killing four of them.

One might reasonably ponder why, despite these casualties, ISIS felt the need to say sorry. An obvious explanation is the hyper-militant faction did not wish to offend Tel Aviv, lest the entity’s long-running operation to provide medical assistance to insurgents wounded in the Syrian dirty war in field hospitals dotted across Golan be terminated. From 2012 onward, UN peacekeeping forces consistently testified to witnessing injured Al Qaeda, al-Nusra, and ISIS fighters being treated by Israeli military doctors across the region.

Along the way, documentary filmmakers even captured video evidence of this practice. Once tended to, these belligerents were sent straight back into battle by their Zionist protectors to fight Hezbollah and the Syrian Arab Army. These astonishing scenes went largely unremarked upon in the Western media although in May 2016, ex-Mossad chief Efraim Halevy proudly boasted that Tel Aviv was committed to a strategy of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” in its crusade to neutralize Assad:

“It’s always useful to deal with your enemies in a humane way. When you have people who are wounded, considerations of whether to take them in are not simply whether it’s politically useful… I didn’t say there was no tactical [consideration]. I don’t think there’s going to be blowback… Al Qaeda to the best of my recollection hasn’t specifically targeted Israel… As Hezbollah fighters are concerned, we have a different account.”

Fast forward to today, and ever since al-Assad’s fall, “Israel” has relentlessly blitzed SAA sites in Syria. Entity officials boast the “historic” campaign has “destroyed most of the former [Assad] regime’s strategic military capabilities,” decimating up to 80% of the fallen government’s “strategic weapons stockpiles.” Markedly, there has been no attempt whatsoever by HTS to deter or respond to this bombardment, despite Damascus now being completely defenseless against future incursions from its adversaries. Group spokespeople have moreover actively refused to denounce the attacks.

Nonetheless, longtime Syrian “revolution” activists have expressed shock at “Israel’s” onslaught against the “newly liberated” country and further illegal “annexation” of its territory, demanding Tel Aviv cease its inexorable assaults forthwith. One wonders whether such public reactions are truly borne of ignorance and naivety about “Israel’s” rapacious expansionism. The reality may be that the opposition knew all along precisely what would be unleashed following al-Assad’s ouster and still welcome it. After all, they were coordinating directly with the Zionist entity at every step of their struggle.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Israeli forces cut off water, power to several towns in Syria’s Quneitra

Press TV – December 15, 2024

Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have rolled into several towns in Syria’s Quneitra, destroying streets, as well as water supply networks and electricity poles in the country’s southwestern province.

Reports said on Sunday that a large number of Quneitra residents had refused to heed a call by the Israel military to evacuate.

Thus, the reports added, the Israeli forces damaged water supply networks and power lines in a deliberate attempt to cut off life support to the areas that they had newly occupied.

In the town of al-Hamidiyah, the occupation troops cut down the trees on both sides of roads and destroyed power poles.

Early on Sunday, the Israeli occupation launched airstrikes targeting the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus.

According to the Israeli media, the Zionist military destroyed missile warehouses and launchers near Qastal in the Qalamoun area of Damascus’ countryside.

On Saturday, the Israeli soldiers, supported by the regime’s air force, invaded an empty command center of the Syrian army in al-Hamidiyah and searched for alleged weapons.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late Saturday that the Israeli army had fired 61 missiles at targets in Syria in less than five hours.

Israel started its push to grab more Syrian land on December 8, after foreign-backed militants led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) announced the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s government following a rapid two-week onslaught.

The Israeli forces seized the so-called buffer zone, which separates the occupied Golan Heights from the rest of Syria, in violation of a UN-brokered 1974 disengagement agreement.

They occupied the summit of Jabal al-Shaykh which provides an observation point for areas in Syria and Lebanon.

They further advanced beyond the so-called buffer zone toward Damascus, with the regime’s warplanes conducting nearly 500 aerial assaults on Syria.

The Israeli military said its attacks destroyed Syria’s navy and 90 percent of the country’s surface-to-air missile systems.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

Netanyahu Pushes Golan Heights Expansion Plan Amid Regional Tensions

Sputnik – 15.12.2024

TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has unanimously approved a plan for the development of the Golan Heights, including strengthening local settlements and doubling the population in the region, the prime minister’s office said on Sunday.

“The government unanimously approved prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to promote demographic growth in the settlements in the Golan Heights and Katzrin, with a total budget of more than 40 million shekels [$11 million],” the statement read.

The office also said that in light of the ongoing conflict and the recent opening of a new front in Syria, Netanyahu had submitted the first amendment to his plan to promote demographic growth in the Golan due to the “desire to double the population of the Golan Heights.”

The plan to develop the Golan Heights includes initiatives in the areas of education, renewable energy, and the establishment of a student village. It also includes an organizational development program designed to assist the Golan Regional Council in welcoming new residents.

“The strengthening of the Golan Heights is essential for the security and stability of the State of Israel. It is especially important in the current situation. We will continue to maintain, develop, and settle the area,” Netanyahu said, as quoted by the office.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that “the Golan Heights will forever remain an integral part of Israel.”

Israel is actively strengthening its defenses on the Golan Heights amid the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the capture of a significant part of the country by armed opposition forces. On Sunday, Netanyahu said the agreement reached shortly after the 1973 Yom Kippur War (also known as the Ramadan War) was no longer valid because the Syrian forces had left their positions. Netanyahu ordered the Israel Defense Forces to occupy the buffer zone.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

How ex-Daesh and al-Qaeda leader al-Jolani became West’s blue-eyed boy in Syria

By Alireza Akbari | Press TV | December 15, 2024

Only a day after West-backed militant groups led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took control of Damascus, ending Bashar al-Assad’s long reign, HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani stood triumphantly on a hill overlooking the Syrian capital.

Wearing army fatigues, Ahmed al-Sharaa, popularly known as Jolani, looked on as plumes of smoke billowed into the sky—a grim spectacle of destruction wrought by Israeli bombings following the ouster of Assad’s democratically-elected government in Damascus.

The haunting scene evoked an eerie parallel to Emperor Nero, who infamously watched Rome burn while playing his lyre—portraying an image of power and apathy.

As the Israeli regime grabbed more Syrian land beyond the occupied Golan Heights and launched unprecedented airstrikes on Damascus, HTS militants gleefully roamed the streets, celebrating the “conquest,” and unleashed a brutal campaign of throat-slitting and terrorizing minorities.

The tumultuous events that eventually led to the overthrow of the Assad government began on November 27, when videos surfaced of militant groups in Aleppo making rapid advances.

These groups swiftly and dramatically escalated their advances, capturing strategic military bases in Idlib and Hama before marching toward the capital Damascus.

On December 8, they delivered a televised address from Damascus, declaring the end of Assad’s 24-year reign—a seismic shift in the region’s power dynamics with all eyes on Jolani as the leader.

Who is al-Jolani?

Abu Muhammad al-Jolani was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 1982 to a Syrian family originally from the occupied Golan Heights of Syria, which has been under Israeli occupation for years.

His family returned to Syria in 1989, settling in Damascus’s affluent Mezzeh district. Jolani pursued media studies in Damascus before relocating to Iraq in 2003, just prior to the US invasion.

In Iraq, he joined the al-Qaeda terrorist group and became a key figure in the group.

He was captured by American forces in 2006 and spent five years imprisoned at Camp Bucca before being released in 2011. After that, he moved back to Syria and gained prominence as a militant leader.

Jolani’s journey through the ranks of Takfiri terrorist groups was spectacular as he became a close aide to top al-Qaeda leaders including Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

After his release from Camp Bucca in 2011, where he forged connections with future Daesh leaders, Jolani emerged as a key figure in the global Takfiri terrorist movement.

He initially served as a Daesh commander in Iraq’s Nineveh and Mosul provinces before being handpicked by Daesh chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2012 to establish a Syrian affiliate at the outset of the West-backed militancy against the Assad government in the Arab country.

Jolani founded the Nusra Front as Daesh’s Syrian offshoot, leveraging the chaos to advance his agenda. However, a power struggle with al-Baghdadi over control of the group led to a split in 2013.

Jolani severed ties with Daesh and fortified his influence in Syria’s Idlib governorate, aligning the Nusra Front with al-Qaeda to retain the loyalty of hardline elements within his ranks.

While the split signaled a shift in allegiance, according to experts, it was less about ideology and more a personal rift. Jolani continued to espouse the Salafi ideology but sought to differentiate himself through a political veneer, setting him apart from figures like al-Zarqawi and al-Baghdadi.

Terror designation

The US State Department designated Jolani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in May 2013. By 2017, he was among the most wanted terrorists globally, with a $10 million bounty by the US government for information leading to his capture.

In an audio statement on September 28, 2014, Jolani declared his intent to fight the United States and its allies, urging his forces to reject Western assistance in their battle against Daesh.

Yet, just two years later, in July 2016, Jolani broke his pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, aiming to rebrand his militant organization and broaden its alliances.

This strategic pivot marked a shift in Jolani’s focus—from global ambitions to governance in Syria.

Following the establishment of the HTS militant group in 2017, the group took control of large swathes of Idlib, where they established a rudimentary governing structure.

HTS began collecting taxes and issuing identity cards to locals. However, these efforts were marred by authoritarian practices, including the suppression of dissent and the arrest of political opponents.

Despite Jolani’s public commitment to protecting minorities, his group adopted high-handed measures against religious and ethnic minorities, especially those who spoke about discrimination.

While HTS made rapid strides in consolidating power in the region bordering Turkey, its track record of human rights abuses in Idlib continued to be an area of concern.

The group has been known for systematically silencing dissent, targeting rivals, and using disproportionate force against those who opposed his authoritarian practices.

Concerns have also grown over the presence of foreign mercenaries in HTS, particularly those in its elite Red Brigades, which include members from Central Asia, Chechnya, and France.

Bigger political aspirations

Despite his Takfiri-militant roots, Jolani’s bigger political aspirations kept him in the news for years, as he continued to harbor ambitions of capturing Damascus from his hideouts in Idlib, financially and militarily backed by the United States, the Israeli regime and some regional countries.

Now, with HTS and its allies controlling significant territory in Syria, questions loom over how they will govern the country. Around 100,000 Syrians have already gathered on the border to enter Lebanon, according to reports, desperate to leave their home country.

Fears persist about the treatment of minorities, dissidents, and women under their rule, as many Syrians and the international community remain wary of Jolani’s true intentions.

Despite growing concerns over HTS rule, fueled by viral videos showing the group’s violent tactics, both the UK and the US are reportedly reconsidering its designation as a terrorist organization.

The British government is actively weighing the removal of HTS from its list of designated terrorist groups, particularly in light of the group’s pivotal role in the fall of the Assad government.

UK government minister Pat McFadden has suggested that such a move could be “relatively swift,” given the rapidly changing dynamics in Syria.

Similarly, US officials are debating the merits of removing the $10 million bounty on Jolani.

After years of lobbying for delisting, HTS appears to have gained traction with Western powers, particularly following its instrumental role in Assad’s ousting, a goal it shared with Western powers.

For years, the US and its Western allies had tried to dislodge the Assad government, using transnational mercenary forces as well as terrorist groups without much luck.

al-Jolani finally accomplished what his Western backers couldn’t for years despite massive efforts.

In his first detailed interview on Saturday, he emphasized engagement with Western nations and confirmed that the channels of communication with Western embassies, including talks with the British government to restore its diplomatic representation in Damascus, are underway.

He once again asserted that his regime has no intention of engaging in a conflict with the Israeli regime, despite Benjamin Netanyahu decimating the Arab country’s military muscle in a few days.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Has Bibi Achieved His Dream of Obliterating the Arab World?

By Mike Whitney • Unz Review • December 14, 2024

Take a look at the map above. It explains everything.

This is roughly the situation on the ground today. The majority of Syria’s landmass is controlled by 5 groups: Al Qaida (HTS), the Kurds (SDF), the IDF (Israel), the Turks, and remnants of the Syrian Army (SAA). Of course, the situation is extremely fluid so some of the territory is likely to change hands in the near future as rival groups fight among themselves. But here’s what won’t change: A government will not emerge that is capable of stitching together a unified, contiguous, viable centrally-governed Syrian state. That’s not going to happen. The various armies are too powerful for any one group to crush the others and reestablish a government that rules all of Syria’s previously controlled territory.

Why does that matter?

Because we need to acknowledge that Israel has accomplished what it sought from the very beginning; they not only enlisted allies to help them topple Assad, but they also obliterated the Syrian state. Syria is gone; it no longer exists. And that has been Israel’s goal for more than 40 years.

So, we shouldn’t view the events of the last week as random or spontaneous, because they are neither. Everything that has taken place aligns closely with a strategic blueprint produced by a Zionist intellectual (Oded Yinon) more than four decades ago and which—according to biographer Israel Shahak—concocted “an accurate and detailed plan…. for the Middle East which is based on the division of the whole area into small states, and the dissolution of all the existing Arab states.” Full Stop.

This is where readers need to pause for a moment and honestly consider whether this accurately explains the endless fighting and turmoil we’ve seen in the Middle East for the last two decades?

The answer is: It does. Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Syria etc. These are not just countries; they are agenda items on a Zionist checklist for regional domination. So, stop thinking that the wars have something to do with Assad or oil or pipelines or Hamas or even Israeli security. Because they don’t. These are wars aimed at establishing Israeli hegemony across the Middle East. Let’s look at the document itself which is titled A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties by Oded Yinon:

The Moslem Arab World is built like a temporary house of cards put together by foreigners without the wishes and desires of the inhabitants having been taken into account. … every Arab Moslem state nowadays faces ethnic social destruction from within, and in some a civil war is already raging. All of the Arab states east of Israel are torn apart, broken up and riddled with conflict… This national ethnic minority picture extending from Morocco to India and from Somalia to Turkey points to the absence of stability and a rapid degeneration in the entire region. When this picture is added to the economic one, we see how the entire region is built like a house of cards, unable to withstand its severe problems… A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, Oded Yinon, voltairenet

So, in the opening paragraphs, the author identifies the vulnerabilities within the current societies that can be exploited for Israel’s strategic advantage. The focus, of course, is on “ethnic minorities” that can be incited to exacerbate existing divisions within the society in order to weaken the larger body politic leading to regime change. Here’s the kicker:

The Western front… is in fact less complicated than the Eastern front. Lebanon’s total dissolution into five provinces serves as a precendent for the entire Arab World… The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously unique areas such as Lebanon, is Israel’s primary target on the Eastern front in the long run, while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as the primary short term target. Syria will fall apart in accordance with its ethnic and reliegious strtucture, into several states such as in present day Lebanon, so that there will be a Shi’ite Alawi state along its coast, a Sunni state in Damascus hostile to its northern neighbor, and the Druzes who will set up a state, maybe even in our Golan, and certainly in the Hauran and in northenr Jordan. This state of affairs will be the guarantee for peace and security in the area in the long run, and that aim is already within our reach today… A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, Oded Yinon, voltairenet

Repeat: “This state of affairs will be the guarantee for peace and security in the area in the long run.” In other words, inciting ethnic and religious violence against other groups within the society, is the operational strategy for achieving regional dominance. In order to establish Israeli security, Arabs must be encouraged to kill each other.

Are we clear about that?

Regarding the Palestinians, there’s this little nugget:

Genuine coexistence and peace will reign over the land only when the Arabs understand that without Jewish rule between the Jordan and the sea, they will have neither existence nor security. A nation of their own and security will be theirs only in Jordan. A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties,

Keep in mind, this was written in 1982 which means—that among the politicos in Netanyahu’s party—there was never any intention of exchanging land for peace or fulfilling their obligations under US Resolution 242 to evacuate the occupied territories. It was always a ruse aimed at confusing credulous nitwits in the US.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs has confirmed much of what we’ve stated here. He has recently been quite outspoken in a number of interviews on YouTube where he has laid blame for all the recent wars in the Middle East on Benjamin Netanyahu. Here’s Sach’s in a recent piece at Consortium News:

The fall of Syria this week is the culmination of the Israel-U.S. campaign against Syria that goes back to 1996 with Netanyahu’s arrival in office as prime minister. The Israel-U.S. war on Syria escalated in 2011 and 2012, when former U.S. President Barack Obama covertly tasked the C.I.A. with the overthrow of the Syrian Government in Operation Timber Sycamore. ….

Syria’s fall came swiftly because of more than a decade of crushing economic sanctions, the burdens of war, the U.S. seizure of Syria’s oil….. and most immediately, Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah… Netanyahu’s ambition to transform the region through war, which dates back almost three decades, is playing out in front of our eyes…

The long history of Israel’s campaign to overthrow the Syrian government is not widely understood, yet the documentary record is clear… 

Israel’s war on Syria began with U.S. and Israeli neoconservatives in 1996, who fashioned a “Clean Break” strategy for the Middle East for Netanyahu as he came to office… The core of the “clean break” strategy called for the Israel (and the U.S.) to reject “land for peace,” the idea that Israel would withdraw from the occupied Palestinian lands in return for peace… 

... Netanyahu’s strategy was integrated into U.S. foreign policy. Taking out Syria was always a key part of the plan. This was confirmed by General Wesley Clark after 9/11. (The role of the Israel Lobby is spelled out in Ilan Pappé’s new book, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic)… 

The U.S. has by now led or sponsored wars against Iraq (invasion in 2003), Lebanon (U.S. funding and arming Israel), Libya (NATO bombing in 2011), Syria (C.I.A. operation during 2010s), Sudan (supporting rebels to break Sudan apart in 2011), and Somalia (backing Ethiopia’s invasion in 2006).

A prospective U.S. war with Iran, ardently sought by Israel, is still pending….. The U.S. and Israel are high-fiving that they have successfully wrecked yet another adversary of Israel and defender of the Palestinian cause, with Netanyahu claiming “credit for starting the historic process.”...

American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins, with over a million dead and open wars raging in Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and with Iran on the brink of a nuclear arsenal, being pushed against its own inclinations to this eventuality. US & Israel Destroyed Syria & Called it Peace, Jeffrey Sachs, Consortium News

These are Israel’s wars, and they are prosecuted to pursue Israeli interests not American interests. The US military (and political class) has been hijacked by the maneuverings of strongarm lobbyists who know how to work the levers of power to achieve their own ends. Their rate of success speaks for itself. Much of the Middle East lies in ruins which was the plan from the get-go.

But now comes the hard part, because nothing has really been resolved in Syria. Yes, Assad is gone and, yes, the Syrian state has disintegrated. But how long will it take before Turkey is fighting the US-backed Kurds in the East, or before Israeli and Turkish interests clash in central or southern Syria or before HTS proves to be the unreliable terrorist organization it is known to be and refuses to follow its marching orders from Washington and Tel Aviv? So, yes, the invaders may be congratulating themselves this week “for a job well done”, but the Syrian conflagration is not over yet, not by a long-shot.

There was an important development that took place last week that provides a window into future goings-on in the battered country, although the statement was downplayed by most of the media. On Wednesday, officials of Hayat Tahrir-al Sham (HTS) announced that Mohammed al-Bashir had been appointed as Syria’s interim prime minister. Al-Bashir, who has been running the Idlib province, has been chosen to lead a small cabinet whose job will be to make sure the government agencies, banks and public services continue operate without interruption. More importantly, al-Bashir, who speaks English, is likely the designated technocrat chosen by Washington to jumpstart the sale of the country’s state-owned assets and businesses, its natural resources, and anything else of value. Judging from past experience, he will probably oversee a sharp reduction in government spending, as well as dramatic cutbacks in education, public safety and health care. He will also seek hefty loans from the IMF for reconstruction that will be diverted to foreign accounts for his family and cronies leaving ordinary Syrians with an ocean of red ink they can never hope to repay. Sound familiar?

Unfortunately, Bashir’s debut did not go as well as expected. Here’s the story from NBC News:

When Syria’s new interim prime minister, Mohammad al-Bashir, chaired a Cabinet meeting in Damascus on Tuesday, hanging behind him was the flag of the country’s suddenly victorious opposition. Next to it, however, was a second banner popular with the region’s Sunni Islamist fighters, featuring the large Arabic letters of the Shahada, an Islamic declaration of faith.

As a new Syria fast emerges from the ruins of the Assad regime, the world is watching for hints of what that might look like — and that second flag has concerned those hoping for a future of moderation and tolerance…

HTS is banned as a terrorist organization in the United States and elsewhere and grew out of a branch of Al Qaeda. Its leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, said a decade ago that there would be no room for religious minorities in the Islamist Syria of which he dreamed about. He also suggested that he could bring terrorism to the West unless it withdrew from the Middle East’s wars.

More recently, however, Jolani, who now uses his real name, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has undergone something of a rebrand, trimming his beard, donning Westernized green fatigues and espousing tolerance for all of Syria’s myriad faiths. Nevertheless plenty of observers are reserving judgment until these words become actions…

Seeing Syria’s corridors of power welcome a flag “indicating Islamist-Salafist leanings” has “put people on alert,” Sukkar said. Although he does not think deploying the emblem was a “wise” move, he sees it as more reflective of the rebels’ origins in Idlib rather than anything else…

The classic worry among Western foreign policy watchers was that Assad might be toppled but replaced by something that is not much better: an extremist terror group…

Displaying the flag in an image meant to represent Syria’s new transition government shows how HTS and Jolani are still “deeply entrenched in their Salafist-Sunni ideology and worldview”…

With the group now making more moderate noises, and also in a position of considerable influence, the United States is exploring removing HTS’ terrorist designation, two current administration officials and a former senior U.S. official told NBC News. Although Washington will watch closely the militant group’s moves from its new political vantage point. Why a photo of Syria’s interim leader could hint at trouble ahead, NBC News

Mohammed al-Bashir before and after his Western Facelift

Let’s see if I got this right: The Biden administration replaces Assad with a terrorist organization but is suddenly surprised when it discovers the group is led by terrorists. Is that it?

Indeed, it is. As you can see, none of this resolves the basic crisis created by the removal of Assad. Instead, the main proponents of regime change—Turkey, the US and Israel—have merely transformed Syria into an even bigger battleground where their own competing interests will soon play out by way of mortal combat.

How long will it be before Turkey locks horns with Israel or the United States? How long before sectarian war engulfs the country?

Not long, I’d wager. And for the people who thought that toppling the “evil dictator” would bring peace and security. They’d better think again.

December 15, 2024 Posted by | Timeless or most popular, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Global Majority nations are de-dollarizing trade with Panda Bonds and African banks

Inside China Business | December 13, 2024

Top African banks are key in the BRICS push to do more trade outside the US Dollar, and especially outside Western systems. By setting up branches inside China, African banks are able to borrow and lend in renminbi, the Chinese currency. This allows for cross-border trades to be settled in local currencies and RMB, instead of through USD-denominated letters of credit or debt markets. Panda Bonds are another tool, rapidly gaining in popularity and usage. Pandas are RMB bonds, sold to investors in Mainland China who want to diversify their fixed income investments to global borrowers. To borrowers, Panda Bonds offer lower interest costs than USD- or Euro-denominated debt, while also allowing for repatriation and currency swaps that are common in USD loans. Africa’s biggest banks, including those owned by African governments themselves, have set up in Mainland China and are increasingly integrated into China’s financial and industrial sectors. And large Chinese banks are heading the other way, investing heavily in Africa’s raw materials industries, and providing liquidity for Africa’s rising consumer class.

Resources and links:

Substack, for video transcript and direct links https://open.substack.com/pub/kdwalms…

South China Morning Post, African banks set up shop in China as Beijing pushes for yuan to eclipse US dollar https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplo…

Statista, China’s African Trade Takeover https://www.statista.com/chart/26668/…

Africa’s Top 100 Banks 2024: Going global https://african.business/2024/09/fina…

S&P Global, Three Minutes In Panda Bonds: Why Issuance Is Surging https://www.spglobal.com/ratings/en/r…

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Video | , , , | Leave a comment

Canadian Doctor Fights for Free Speech at Supreme Court Over Covid Censorship

By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | December 13, 2024

A Canadian doctor who was censored for discussing Covid topics during the pandemic is taking her legal battle to the country’s Supreme Court, in a bid to have free speech restrictions imposed on her finally removed.

Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill made the decision after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled to uphold three “cautions” she received for tweets opposing what she considered to be harmful Covid lockdowns, published in August 2020.

These cautions were issued by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) in February 2021. The state’s medical regulator in 2020 warned medical professionals that the opinions they express should be in line with whatever the government or public health institutions decide is the correct information.

That included lockdowns, which Gill openly criticized early on, and continues to believe were ineffective in dealing with the pandemic. Besides her opinion, Gill also offered what her legal counsel says is “ample evidence” to CPSO to support her stance on the ineffectiveness of lockdowns.

As for the cautions, the doctor believes CPSO used them to censor her right to free expression, guaranteed by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Twitter, where she posted her thoughts on the situation developing in 2020, has in the meantime become X, and this social platform is now supporting her by covering the legal costs, as she continues her effort to appeal against CPSO-imposed speech restrictions.

Those costs amounted to $6,000 as the lower court ruled to uphold the regulator’s decisions that targeted Gill in 2021.

Gill expressed her gratitude to X and Elon Musk for the support, and provided links about the details of the case in a post, saying that to “first do no harm” as a physician meant opposing lockdowns – and that this triggered a 5-year “unjust journey” for her.

“The growing overreach of regulators into monitoring the speech of professionals on social media has become a matter of national concern to the public, which loses the benefit of hearing a variety of opinions when professionals’ speech is chilled out of fear of punishment,” Gill’s lawyer Lisa Bildy said in a statement.

According to Bildy, her client spoke against lockdowns and other harmful Covid-era mandates aligning evidence-based concerns and her conscience – rather than obeying CPSO’s “edict” to align with whatever the authorities decided were the right measures.

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | Leave a comment

Pfizer Failed to Disclose Deaths of Two Women in COVID Vaccine Clinical Trials

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. |  The Defender | December 13, 2024

Pfizer-BioNTech did not disclose the deaths of two vaccinated participants in its COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, according to a team of Daily Clout researchers who analyzed documents related to the Pfizer clinical trials.

The deaths occurred before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization (EUA) for the vaccine in December 2020. However, it wasn’t until September 2023, nearly three years later, that the FDA publicly released documents revealing the deaths of a 63-year-old Kansas woman and a 58-year-old Georgia woman who participated in the trials.

The revelations prompted Dr. Jeyanthi Kunadhasan — an Australian anesthesiologist and perioperative physician and one of the researchers analyzing the Pfizer documents on behalf of Daily Clout — to write to Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, requesting his office investigate the death of the 63-year-old Kansas woman.

“If the additional two deaths had been disclosed at the time of the EUA, it would have shown that the BNT162b2 mRNA COVID vaccine intervention provided no reduction in deaths,” Kunadhasan wrote in her letter.

In June, Kobach sued Pfizer, alleging the company misled the public by marketing its COVID-19 vaccine as “safe and effective” while concealing known risks — including myocarditis and pericarditis, failed pregnancies and deaths — and critical data on limited effectiveness.

In 2022, a federal court ordered the FDA to release the approximately 1.2 million pages of documents pertaining to the clinical trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, after rejecting the FDA’s request for 75 years to release the records.

The documents Kunadhasan analyzed revealed that Pfizer had the opportunity to disclose the deaths before the Dec. 10, 2020, meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) — but did not do so.

Pfizer also did not disclose the deaths — both classified in the documents as “sudden cardiac death” unrelated to the victims’ vaccination — in a December 2020 New England Journal of Medicine paper touting the “safety and efficacy” of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Kunadhasan told The Defender :

“The death highlighted in Kansas is significant as it occurred well within the reporting period considered for the EUA, and as my letter shows was not disclosed. There was every opportunity to disclose this death at the VRBPAC meeting.

“This death even had an autopsy, which I show was probably available before the VRBPAC meeting, and again was not disclosed.”

According to The Sentinel, “The fact that both participants died of heart attacks becomes more important when other studies showed risks of myocarditis and pericarditis — particularly after a second shot and particularly in young men under 25, but among other patients as well.”

Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), told The Defender the actions of Pfizer and the FDA are “duplicitous at best.” He said:

“All death data for clinical trials needed not only to be made available to the FDA but also to the public. Otherwise, informed consent is completely missing, regardless of whether the product is EUA or [fully] approved.

“It is also particularly devious that Pfizer lied about a reduction in deaths in the vaccination arm when, with these data, the opposite was true.”

Naomi Wolf, Ph.D., CEO of Daily Clout and author of “The Pfizer Papers: Pfizer’s Crimes Against Humanity,” told The Defender the documents show that the “FDA covered up the unlawfully concealed deaths” of the trial participants and that these records “may well reveal a direct connection to the mRNA injection.”

“The details that Dr. Kunadhasan and her colleagues revealed about the death of this poor woman could theoretically allow Kobach to demand the autopsy reports and interview witnesses with information about her passing,” Wolf said.

Dr. Chris Flowers, a retired radiologist and member of the Daily Clout team that examined the Pfizer documents, told The Sentinel that the two undisclosed deaths should have been enough to halt the clinical trial.

“If you put it in context, yes, there’s a small number of deaths,” Flowers said. “Normally, the FDA calls a stop to those clinical trials until further investigation is done. And in many cases, [this] is sort of the death knell of that clinical trial.”

Noting that these deaths “would have at least made it more difficult” for the FDA to grant the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine an EUA, Hooker said that “to release this information over two years later, after the obvious damage has been done, is criminal. Pfizer should be held accountable.”

Wolf said that while she’s “not an attorney, fraud, negligence and manslaughter come to mind.”

“This was one of the most important clinical trials in modern medical history,” Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist at CHD, told The Defender. “The people in political power chose to ‘trust the science,’ and they were wrong to do so.”

Undisclosed deaths may have led to FDA granting EUA ‘on incorrect premises’

In her letter, Kunadhasan said she wants to draw attention to “an undisclosed participant death from Kansas that occurred in the BNT162b2-vaccinated arm of Pfizer’s clinical trial.”

Kunadhasan pointed out that Daily Clout published a report about the two undisclosed deaths in October.

According to the documents Kunadhasan cited, the death of the Kansas woman occurred “well before the data cutoff date of November 14, 2020” and nearly a month before the December 2020 VRBPAC meeting.

She said there was a 37-day delay in reporting the results of the Kansas woman’s autopsy, which revealed “sudden cardiac death,” Kunadhasan noted.

“Notably, the omission of the deaths and autopsy report from the vaccinated arm of the study at this critical juncture of EUA issuance raises substantial concerns about the overall safety reporting of Pfizer’s clinical trial,” Kunadhasan stated in the letter.

Kunadhasan also told the attorney general that Pfizer’s clinical trial protocol required that serious adverse events be reported: “immediately upon awareness, and under no circumstances to exceed 24 hours … Pfizer-BioNTech’s own clinical trial protocol indicated that it should have been disclosed.”

Referring to the New England Journal of Medicine paper, Kunadhasan noted that the paper disclosed only six deaths — two among vaccinated clinical trial participants and four among participants in the placebo group.

FDA documents released in September 2023, however, “included information showing that Pfizer-BioNTech was, in fact, informed of two additional deaths in the BNT162b2 arm of the trial well before the EUA data cutoff and that those deaths were not disclosed to the FDA,” Kunadhasan wrote.

The documents showed that the 63-year-old Kansas woman signed up for the Pfizer-BioNTech trial at the Alliance for Multispecialty Research LLC, in Newton, Kansas. She received the two doses of the vaccine on Aug. 18, 2020, and Sept. 8, 2020, and “had appropriate follow-up tests” done on Oct. 7, 2020.

“There is no documentation of any untoward clinical events during these visits,” Kunadhasan wrote. But on Oct. 19, 2020, 41 days after her second dose and less than two weeks after her follow-up visit, the woman died. A subsequent autopsy found the cause of death to be “sudden cardiac death,” not related to the vaccine.

“It is extremely important to know … Why this death (which occurred well within the reporting period) and the autopsy results were not disclosed publicly at the December 10th, 2020, VRBPAC meeting,” Kunadhasan said in her letter.

The letter also highlighted the death of the 58-year-old Georgia woman, who received her two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Aug. 4, 2020, and Aug. 27, 2020. She died in her sleep on Nov. 7, 2020. Kunadhasan noted that her death was “not added to the data for 26 days.”

Kunadhasan told The Defender these discrepancies prompted her letter to Kobach.

“As a doctor, the non-disclosure of a death and autopsy of a clinical trial participant is a profound betrayal of medical ethics. I hope Kobach pays attention to this, and there can be accountability for this Kansan,” Kunadhasan said.

“Kansans should contact Kobach for action in regards to this letter and other AGs should follow suit with investigating Pfizer’s crimes in their states,” Wolf said.

Kobach’s office did not respond to a request from The Defender for comment as of press time.

Prominent cardiologist joins calls for suspension of mRNA COVID shots

Kunadhasan’s letter comes amid growing calls for a moratorium — or an outright ban — on the mRNA COVID-19 shots, and an independent investigation into their safety.

In an 11-page letter to U.K. regulators and health officials last week, cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra joined these calls.

“There is overwhelming evidence that calls for the suspension of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine (which, by technicality, is a genetic therapy) because of serious harms,” Malhotra wrote in the letter.

The letter was addressed to Charley Massey, CEO of the U.K.’s General Medical Council; Wes Streeting, the U.K.’s secretary of state for Health; Sir Christopher Whitty, the U.K.’s chief medical officer; and Lord Patrick Valance, the U.K.’s minister of state for Science Research and Innovation.

Malhotra wrote that these officials’ decision “to not support a pause and independent investigation of the safety of the vaccines is now untenable given accumulating evidence of harm and corrupt practices.”

The letter also referred to The Hope Accord — a petition Malhotra drafted earlier this year signed by over 64,000 people, including 1,900 medical doctors and over 2,000 scientists and academics.

The petition calls for the suspension of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, “comprehensive re-evaluation of the safety and efficacy of all COVID-19 vaccine products,” “immediate recognition and support for the vaccine-injured,” “restoration of ethical principles” and “addressing the root causes of our current predicament.”

Speaking on medical commentator John Campbell, Ph.D.’s YouTube show on Dec. 11, Malhotra said evidence supporting withdrawal of the vaccines is “overwhelming.”

Explaining why he wrote to U.K. officials, Malhotra told Campbell, “Sunlight is a very powerful disinfectant for malodorous health policy,” and said that there may be an explosion of people in the near future who are currently asymptomatic but who may develop vaccine-related conditions.

“We’ve got a lot of asymptomatic people in the population who I feel are at risk of heart attack, stroke and cancer. Until we get that addressed full on, more people are going to be harmed from a vaccine they took three years ago,” Malhotra said.

“My conscience will not allow me to stay quiet and just do this behind the scenes. As healthcare professionals, we need to address it because it’s not going away.”

“What we need to do is create almost a culture … where people aren’t afraid to admit that things have changed or they’ve got things wrong and they can change their mind,” Malhotra said.

Watch Campbell interview Malhotra 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.

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Science and Pseudo-Science, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

A Critical Analysis of Covid-19 Vaccine Impact Claims

By Dr. Joseph Fraiman | Brownstone Institute | December 9, 2024

Introduction

“Do you think there would have been less deaths overall if we hadn’t had a vaccine?”

This question was posed to Dr. Aseem Malhotra by Steven Bartlett during an interview on Bartlett’s podcast Diary of a CEO. To which Dr. Malhotra responded simply “Yes.”

Full Fact, a fact-checking organization, has written a verdict on Malhotra’s answer, claiming: “False. There is clear evidence that the vaccines saved far more lives than they cost.”

While we appreciate Full Fact’s attention to this important question, their verdict is premature, given that the true answer has not yet been conclusively determined by medical science.

Part I: The Illusion of Certainty – Deconstructing Claims of Vaccine Efficacy

The assertion that “There is clear evidence” of Covid-19 vaccines’ benefits outweighing their harms” exemplifies a dangerous oversimplification of complex medical realities. This claim, often propagated by fact-checkers and mainstream narratives, fails to acknowledge the fundamental limitations in our current understanding and the methodological flaws inherent in much of the existing research.

The Missing Gold Standard: Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs)

In evidence-based medicine, properly conducted RCTs measuring all-cause mortality are the gold standard for determining an intervention’s overall impact. For Covid-19 vaccines, no such trials have demonstrated an all-cause mortality benefit. The original trials were not designed or powered to detect differences in all-cause mortality, and follow-up periods were too short to capture long-term effects. Without this crucial evidence, claims of clear benefit are premature at best and misleading at worst.

The Pitfalls of Observational Studies

In the absence of robust RCT data, fact-checkers often turn to observational studies. However, these studies are fraught with potential biases that consistently overestimate benefit and underestimate harm:

Selection Distortion: Healthy user bias and time-dependent effects inflate apparent vaccine benefits and mask potential harms due to inherent differences in vaccinated groups and changing study conditions.

Temporal Misclassification: Survivorship bias and miscategorization of vaccination status in early post-injection periods artificially inflate efficacy estimates and underestimate potential harms.

Classification Bias: Vaccine status classification errors occur in a single direction, with the vaccinated often misclassified as unvaccinated. This results in infections and harms in the vaccinated being misattributed to the unvaccinated group, overestimating benefit and underestimating harms.

Reporting Bias: Systematic underreporting of adverse events following vaccination due to factors like lack of recognition, dismissal of potential vaccine-related causes, or fear of professional repercussions leads to underestimation of vaccine risks and overstates safety.

Publication Bias: The preferential publication and promotion of studies showing positive vaccine effects, coupled with the suppression or non-publication of studies showing no effect or negative effects, skews the overall body of evidence and public perception.

The Modeling Mirage

Fact-checkers often rely on modeling studies to support dramatic claims of lives saved, compounding the issues of observational studies:

  • Amplification of Errors: Small inaccuracies in input data or assumptions lead to wildly inaccurate projections
  • Oversimplification: Complex real-world dynamics are reduced to equations that may not capture crucial nuances
  • Confirmation Bias: Models can be inadvertently (or deliberately) tuned to produce expected or desired results
  • Lack of Falsifiability: Unlike controlled experiments, many model predictions are not truly testable
  • Overconfidence: Precise-looking numbers create a false sense of certainty

In conclusion, modeling studies often use overestimates of benefit taken from observational studies to create oversimplified models tuned to further amplify these overestimated benefits. By extrapolating across millions, they produce unrealistic estimates that can never be verified by proper scientific experimentation.

The magnitude of benefit from Covid-19 vaccines is likely much smaller than portrayed by observational and modeling studies. To determine the net effect of the vaccines, both known harms and potential yet unknown harms must be carefully considered against this uncertain benefit.

Part II: Evaluating the Evidence of Harm

Given the uncertain and likely overestimated magnitude of benefit, it is crucial to consider the potential harms of the Covid-19 vaccines. Dr. Malhotra’s expert opinion that the vaccines may have resulted in a net loss of life for society is justifiable and defensible based on various studies and their logical implications.

Reanalysis of Clinical Trial Data

A re-analysis of the original clinical trials of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines revealed an increased rate of serious adverse events of 1 in 800. Serious adverse events are defined as either death, hospitalization, or prolonged disability, most of which would certainly reduce life expectancy. Considering that billions of doses have been administered worldwide, this suggests millions may have suffered serious vaccine-induced harms. This rate is orders of magnitude higher than the typically accepted rate of serious harm from other vaccines (approximately 1-2 in a million).

Observational Studies and Autopsy Findings

The high rate of serious harm identified in clinical trials has been corroborated by observational studies from surveillance systems in the US and European Union. Additionally, autopsy studies have confirmed that a significant percentage of deaths occurring within 30 days after Covid-19 vaccination were caused by the vaccine, unequivocally demonstrating that the vaccines can cause death.

It’s worth noting that while observational studies consistently overestimate benefits, they simultaneously underestimate harms due to factors such as healthy user bias, publication bias, reporting bias, and classification bias.

If the Covid-19 vaccines offered more benefit than harm, we would expect to see decreased excess deaths in highly vaccinated populations after 2021 compared to 2020. However, nearly all nations with high mRNA vaccine uptake experienced higher excess mortality in 2021 than in 2020, contrary to the typical pattern following a pandemic. These elevated excess deaths have persisted beyond 2021, raising concerns about the vaccines’ ongoing impact.

Moreover, since 2022, an overall mortality benefit from the Covid-19 vaccines has become less likely, given that variants have become less deadly, most of the population has been infected, and vaccine efficacy appears greatly reduced. Yet, the serious harm caused by the vaccines likely remains constant, suggesting a worsening harm-benefit ratio over time.

Part III: Current Harm-Benefit Analysis

While uncertainty remains without a Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial testing all-cause hospitalization or mortality, we can attempt an informal harm-benefit analysis using existing data:

  • Re-analysis of clinical trials found that within the original clinical trials the rate of serious adverse events in the vaccinated was greater than the protection offered against Covid-19 hospitalization
  • Using UK Health Security Agency observational data on vaccine effectiveness and the rate of serious harm from clinical trials, they found for people over 90 (the highest risk group), vaccinating 7,000 people would prevent one Covid-19 hospitalization that requires oxygen but cause about 7 serious adverse events
  • The benefit-to-harm ratio becomes increasingly unfavorable for younger age groups based on the UKHSA data, with those under 45 requiring nearly a million vaccinations to prevent one hospitalization

Ethical Considerations in Continued Vaccination

Even if the initial introduction of Covid-19 vaccines offered a net mortality benefit (which remains uncertain), it is much less likely that they offer a net benefit today and moving forward. Without a proper clinical trial, we will remain uncertain about the true harm-benefit balance. Continuing to offer a prophylactic intervention with an unknown and potentially negative harm-benefit profile is unethical.

Conclusion: The Call for Reassessment

The complex nature of mRNA vaccine risk-benefit analysis underscores the need for ongoing, rigorous scientific inquiry and open, honest dialogue about the impacts of large-scale medical interventions. Dr. Malhotra’s position that the Covid-19 vaccines may have had a net negative impact is justifiable based on the available evidence and the significant uncertainties that remain. In response to these concerns, the Hope Accord was created. This petition, of which Dr. Malhotra and the authors of this article are founding co-signers, calls for the suspension of Covid-19 vaccines and a return to fundamental ethical principles that were abandoned during the pandemic.

Tens of thousands of individuals have already signed the Accord, reflecting growing concerns about the continued use of these vaccines without comprehensive safety data. We invite all who share our concerns to join us in signing the Hope Accord and supporting a thorough reassessment of Covid-19 vaccine policies.

To conclude, the complex medical question of Covid-19 vaccine’s impact on all-cause mortality across society remains one of profound uncertainty. In this context, Full Fact’s unequivocal verdict demonstrates a concerning level of hubris in scientific interpretation. When contacted about their scientifically invalid verdict, Full Fact maintained confidence in their position, citing the same synthetic modeling studies and unreliable observational data from their original article. This case illustrates a broader concern: fact-checking organizations often oversimplify complex medical questions and present certainty where none exists. The public deserves more rigorous and truthful evaluation of such complex scientific questions.

This article was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Kelly.

Dr. Joseph Fraiman is an emergency medicine physician in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Fraiman earned his medical degree from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY and completed his training at Louisiana State University, where he served as Chief Resident as well as Chairman of both the Cardiac Arrest Committee and the Pulmonary Embolism Committee.

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular | | Leave a comment

COVID-19 Injection Mandates Devastated Healthcare Workers’ Well-Being

By Nicolas Hulscher, MPH | Courageous Discourse | December 13, 2024

A new study by Chaufan et al, titled COVID-19 Vaccination Decisions and Impacts of Vaccine Mandates: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Healthcare Workers in British Columbia, Canada, has just been uploaded to the MedRxiv preprint server. They found that COVID-19 injection mandates took a massive toll on the well-being of healthcare workers:

Goal: To document the experience and views on mandated vaccination of healthcare workers in British Columbia.

Methods: Between May and July of 2024, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of healthcare workers in British Columbia. We recruited participants through a snowball sampling approach, including professional contacts, social media, and word-of-mouth.

Results: Close to half of respondents, with 16 or more years of professional experience, were unvaccinated, and most had been terminated due to non-compliance with mandates. As well, and regardless of vaccination status, most respondents reported safety concerns with vaccination and felt unfree to make their own vaccination choices, yet did not request exemptions due to high rejection rates by employers. Most of them also reported experiencing anxiety or depression, with about one fourth considering suicide, as a result of mandates. Nevertheless, most unvaccinated workers reported satisfaction with their choices, although they also reported significant, negative impacts of the policy on their finances, their mental health, their social and personal relationships, and to a lesser degree, their physical health. In contrast, within the minority of vaccinated respondents, most reported being dissatisfied with their vaccination decisions, as well as having experienced mild to serious post vaccine adverse events, with over half within this group reporting having been coerced into taking further doses, under threat of termination, despite these events. Further, a large minority of all respondents reported having witnessed underreporting or dismissal by hospital management of adverse events post vaccination among patients, worse treatment of unvaccinated patients, and concerning changes in practice protocols. Nearly half also reported their intention to leave the healthcare industry.

Discussion: Our findings indicate that in British Columbia, mandated vaccination in the healthcare sector had an overall negative impact on the well-being of the labour force, on the sustainability of the health system, on patient care, and on ethical healthcare practice. Findings resemble those of a similar study in the province of Ontario, with perhaps the most salient difference being that in British Columbia the policy was implemented at the provincial, rather than the healthcare establishment, level, leaving no room for individual establishments to opt out.

One of the most shocking findings from this study is that employer vaccination mandates led to suicidal thoughts in 23.5% of healthcare workers and depression/anxiety in 81.4%. This is likely because 80.1% of the respondents were terminated from their job for refusing experimental injections and subsequently suffered negative impacts on their finances, mental health, social and personal relationships, and physical health. These results suggest that vaccine mandates are likely a major contributing factor to the record-high depression rates observed since 2021:

The findings of this study confirm that vaccine mandates should never be implemented again, anywhere in the world, under any circumstances. As the authors concluded, the policy of mandated vaccination “failed on several fronts – scientific, pragmatic, and ethical.” Compensation is highly warranted for all individuals who refused to comply with mandates and were unethically terminated.

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

December 14, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | Leave a comment