London pro-Gaza workers conquer Foreign Office to demand Israel arms embargo
Press TV – July 24, 2024
Pro-Palestine protesters have obstructed the entrances to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) headquarters in London, expressing their dissatisfaction with lack of action on the part of the new Labour government in altering UK policy regarding Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Some 300 demonstrators outside the government office on Wednesday waved the Palestinian flag, while holding placards and banners that read “Genocide Made in Britain” and calling on the British government to ban arms exports to the occupying Tel Aviv regime.
At least nine activists were arrested after clashes erupted between law-enforcement and the protesters.
The Workers for a Free Palestine, which coordinated the demonstration, stated that their objective was to hold the foreign secretary, David Lammy, accountable for his previous statements and ensure that he follows through on his own calls for transparency by releasing legal guidance on UK arms sales to Israel.
A protester from the organization said that if the advice “confirms Israel has breached international law as the shadow foreign minister, Alicia Kearns, says it does – the government should immediately halt arms exports to Israel.”
In March, the FCDO faced allegations from former Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Alicia Kearns regarding the concealment of legal advice indicating that Israel is in breach of international humanitarian law in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Lammy, 52, is facing criticism for his inaction regarding the ongoing licensing of UK arms exports to Israel, and for not providing clarity on whether the UK would detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited Britain following an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan formally asked for the issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
Labour has up to this point only changed one aspect of their policy towards Gaza by declaring that the UK will reinstate funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians UNRWA.
“It is clear after a fortnight that the government could have acted by now, but is instead prevaricating as hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza die. Labour talks about due process, but the people of Gaza cannot wait. Palestinians are demanding answers now,” a person at the demonstration said.
The Workers for a Free Palestine has coordinated additional blockades, where thousands of workers and trade unionists have closed down arms factories throughout the UK.
On May Day, the organization orchestrated a demonstration at the Department of Business and Trade, effectively blocking all entrances to the building. As a result, the building was closed and employees were advised not to report to the office on that day.
The stunning audacity of Yemen’s drone strike on Tel Aviv
The Cradle | July 24, 2024
On 19 July, a low-altitude drone breached Tel Aviv’s airspace from the sea and detonated, causing one fatality and injuring ten others.
The incident sent shockwaves through the occupation state, with a panicked populace and bewildered policymakers grappling with the Israeli army’s “mega-failure” to intercept a single drone amid prolonged aggression against Gaza and the mounting tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The attack’s impact was magnified by its direct hit on Tel Aviv, the heart of Israel’s governmental and economic power, starkly exposing inadequacies in its defense strategies and further alarming a population that has for months been questioning the effectiveness of its military preparedness.
It wasn’t long before the de facto Yemeni authorities in Sanaa claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the strike a retaliation for Israeli massacres and threatening more to come.
But how did a Yemeni drone reach the heart of Israel’s most fortified region and strike a blow to Israeli military pride?
Tactical evolution of suicide drones
Suicide drones, as they are known, are a relatively modern weapon, posing significant challenges even for technologically advanced states like the US and Israel. These drones vary in range, warhead size, speed, and guidance methods.
Analysis of the wreckage revealed that the “Yaffa” drone, an enhanced version of Yemen’s Sammad drones, was employed in the operation. The name is deeply symbolic as it references the ancient port city of Jaffa, also known as Yaffa in Arabic, which now forms part of modern-day Tel Aviv.
Yaffa Drone
Its rectangular wing shape and V-shaped tail distinguish it, but it is notably the more powerful 275 cc (16 kW) engine that sets it apart. This engine enables the drone to cover distances exceeding 2000 kilometers – sufficient to reach Tel Aviv from Yemen.
Unlike with ballistic missiles, the difficulty in tracking drones lies in their ability to take unconventional paths, maneuver through winding routes, and hide behind terrain features, making them hard to detect by radar systems.
This detection challenge is a daily issue in northern occupied Palestine, where drones operated by Lebanese resistance groups often go unseen by the increasingly blinded occupation army.
Moreover, drones are typically constructed from lightweight materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, or various reinforced plastics that do not reflect radar waves effectively, which is crucial for detection and tracking.
Their low speeds reduce the need for the metallic compositions necessary in constructing conventional military hardware like missiles and fighter jets. Consequently, drones can be mistaken for birds by radar systems. This confusion has occurred regularly in northern occupied Palestine since the war’s onset, with Israel’s Iron Dome defense system spotted expending its limited supply of $50,000 projectiles shooting at birds during this conflict.
Yaffa’s route to Tel Aviv
The suicide drone likely took an unconventional path to evade detection. Previous Yemeni attempts have been intercepted in Egyptian Sinai airspace, with Israeli-allied Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt contributing to these detection and interception efforts.
On the night of the attack, however, no US aircraft carrier groups were in the Red Sea, and the nearest carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was positioned in the Indian Ocean. Israel’s air force has suggested that the drone may have taken a non-traditional route via Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt, crossing near the Suez Canal before entering the Mediterranean and turning east toward Tel Aviv.
Possible path of Yaffa drone that targeted a building in Tel Aviv
Some aspects of that route seem unlikely: the Suez Canal area is heavily patrolled by Egyptian air defense, with its 8th Brigade stationed there, so the Israeli announcement may have been an attempt to pressure Egypt.
Israel’s response: Bombing Hodeidah
On 20 July, Israeli aircraft launched punishing airstrikes on the besieged Yemeni port of Hodeidah, specifically targeting areas designated for fuel and oil storage, as well as destroying port cranes used for loading and unloading cargo and a power station.
But these were civilian targets in a country already suffering from the effects of the Saudi-led coalition blockade, which has caused severe shortages of fuel and essential resources needed for power generation and transportation.
The strike at these particular target banks, which killed at least six and wounded dozens of others, appears to be primarily aimed at creating significant explosions and large fires to help Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu score points at home.
But the Israeli response against civilian targets also reveals that Tel Aviv suffers from a dearth of intelligence on potential Yemeni military targets. It was also evident that the selected targets were ones that Saudi Arabia and the US have refrained from striking due to fears of Yemeni retaliation, which could strike Saudi commercial ports or oil exports in one of the world’s most vital energy passages.
Indeed, Riyadh was quick to deny any involvement in the assault, fearing reprisals from Sanaa, although reports that Israeli jets used Saudi airspace for this attack suggest otherwise.
Video footage shows that Israel used F-35 and F-15 fighter jets, as well as Boeing 707 tanker aircraft, due to the distance involved – a range exceeding 4,000 kilometers round trip. Israeli-released footage suggests that the strikes were carried out using Spice guided missiles launched from outside the Yemeni air defense range.
Some of these missiles are equipped with boosters that extend their range up to 150 kilometers, which only showcased Israeli operational limitations against Yemen in a broader conflict, in which Sanaa’s air defenses will be surely activated against enemy aircraft, drones, and projectiles.
Yemen’s retaliation
Yemeni officials, led by Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi and Yemeni Armed Forces Spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree, quickly announced a decision to launch retaliatory strikes against Israel, in which they declared Tel Aviv to be an “unsafe zone” and warned of Yemen’s readiness for a “long war” against the occupation state.
Given the targeting of vital civilian infrastructure, this places several Israeli targets on the list of potential Yemeni target banks. These include fuel tanks in Haifa, clearly shown in video footage taken by a Hezbollah drone weeks ago, as well as fuel tanks in Ashkelon and the power stations adjacent to these tanks.
What concerns Israelis the most, however, is Yemen’s potential targeting of vital gas platforms in the Mediterranean Sea, stationary targets highly susceptible to significant ignition and explosion. While there are currently only three active Israeli gas fields – Karish, Tamar, and Leviathan – in operation, these fields have become essential to Israel’s energy independence.
Underestimating Sanaa’s resolve
The damaging Israeli strike on Hodeidah Port was based on an assumption by Tel Aviv that it would deter a Yemeni counterstrike. But Yemen’s Ansarallah Movement, which has endured years of punishing Saudi, Emirati – and now US and UK – military attacks, has shown no inclination whatsoever to halt its operations in support of Gaza.
While the Israelis may have felt an obligation for a quick military fix by striking Hodeidah – the port, incidentally, has already reopened for business – it comes at the expense of any logical assessments of losses and gains. Already facing strategic defeat in Gaza and unable to follow through with its threats against Lebanon, Tel Aviv has cracked open a new front with Yemen, the most fearless component of West Asia’s Axis of Resistance.
The Israelis are between a rock and a hard place, desperately trying to cleave to old narratives of regional military superiority to keep domestic faith in the Zionist project, yet unable to score victories anywhere.
Based on Yemen’s oft-declared resolve not to retreat from any escalation, it is expected that the outcome of the Hodeidah strike will lead to a compounded retaliatory operation against the occupation state. Israel, however, has limited operational freedom due to issues related to geographic distance – such as the airspace and uninterrupted refueling access required – which makes waging war against Yemen a nonstarter.
Harsher strikes on critical Israeli centers are likely to drive Israel into greater missteps and strategic errors, especially at a time when escalation and the further weakening of its deterrence are counterproductive to its interests.
By targeting the Yemenis directly, Israel has underestimated the resolve and capabilities of a formidable adversary, potentially choosing the worst possible opponents in this round of conflict.
UK chief of staff says West should be ready for war in three years
Al Mayadeen | July 23, 2024
The new chief of the British Army General Staff has warned that Britain must be ready to fight a war in three years and double the army’s lethality as threats from Russia, China, Iran, and the DPRK escalate.
General Sir Roly Walker, the head of the general staff, told reporters that the West was facing “an axis of upheaval” with rising military ambitions, warning that a conflict with one nation may lead to another detonation elsewhere.
He argued that the UK and its allies must prepare “to deter or fight a war in three years,” emphasizing the seriousness due to China’s “threat” to Taiwan, Iran’s nuclear goals, and Russia’s military buildup evidenced by the war in Ukraine.
Walker cited US reports claiming that China’s President Xi Jinping had directed military readiness for a potential Taiwan “invasion” by 2027, alongside concerns about Iran potentially violating nuclear agreements and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
In a subsequent speech, Walker stated that he had “a bold ambition” for the army to “double our fighting power in three years and triple by the end of the decade,” not with additional resources but by utilizing technology and techniques developed on Ukrainian battlefields, such as drones and AI.
He argued that Russia, China, Iran, and DPRK‘s independence was growing, citing that they are becoming more supportive of each other with weapons and intelligence.
Walker predicted that it would take “five years to grind their way through” to re-capture the eastern Donbass, costing 1.5 million fatalities, arguing that Russia could recover despite this and may emerge with “a sense of wanting retribution for the support that was given to Ukraine,” thus constituting a higher medium-term threat than previously thought.
As the Labour administration has only recently begun a strategic military review following the election, Walker asserted that Britain has an “absolute urgency to restore credible hard power in order to underwrite deterrence.”
America’s Palace Coup
By Brad Pearce | The Libertarian Institute | July 24, 2024
On Sunday, July 21 at around 1:30pm Eastern time someone with access to President Joe Biden’s social media accounts posted that he was dropping out of the presidential election. The announcement was not on any form of official stationary and the signature was obviously different than usual when compared by the untrained eye. Just the night before, Joe Biden’s social media accounts had insisted he was staying in the game, though he was “in isolation” due to allegedly testing positive for COVID (something which people still inexplicably do). It didn’t take any great insight to see that America’s stuffed corpse had finally been given the shepherd’s crook. Around a half hour later, the Biden accounts posted that he would be endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris—the only person in American public life less coherent than Joe Biden—for president. While we have been joking about necromancers and Weekend at Bernie’s and the “They” Biden refers to as being in charge for years, in some ways it feels like it became true all at once. For all of this, at least thus far, we are meant to believe that Biden will be continuing through the end of his term as president; but there is no mistaking it, there has been a palace coup at the White House.
It has been a long road to this point, and I should not make any predictions given my track record on Joe Biden. In 2020 I was sure no one would vote for him in the primaries, and it certainly seemed that way until he won the fourth contest in South Carolina, and most of the rest of the field besides Bernie Sanders dropped out so the party could “come together.” Of course, it was at about this time that Donald Trump allowed the COVID madness to be unleashed and destroy the end of his presidency. When Trump couldn’t close the Pandora’s Box he had opened, Biden had an excuse to campaign from his basement. They managed to keep Biden out of the public eye as much as possible while Donald Trump ran a mostly normal campaign. I was sure he wouldn’t win the general election, and we could argue all day about last minute rule changes and if the election was fair, but one way or another, Biden was carried across the finish line and became the president of the United States.
It has been an ignominious term in office. 2020 was an indecisive election, and any normal political party would have sought to govern moderately and spend time selling America on their agenda for the midterms. Instead, Democrats set to re-shape America on the smallest of margins, taking Franklin Roosevelt, who once had over 75% of the House, as their model. More than anything they did this by refusing to enforce immigration laws, leading to an unprecedented number of humans being let into our country. However, they did hammer through the inappropriately named “Inflation Reduction Act,” which was a substantial spending package to get through on such a small legislative majority. Still, the term was primarily defined by a wide range of disgraces, not just Biden’s constant confusion but also the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the mandate for vaccines that didn’t work, the notorious trans freak show at the White House, and of course the confirmation that the Hunter Biden laptop was real and the president’s son is a depraved crackhead. Still, for all of this we were told Joe Biden was in charge and that it was some sort of conspiracy theory to think this obviously failing man was not running the show (to whatever limited extent Presidents are normally in charge).
This all changed after the debate at the end of June. At all prior public performances Joe Biden had seemingly been injected with just the right amount of drugs and performed decently. He had scary black eyes but could talk. However, while there was some confusion and malapropisms from Biden during the debate, I didn’t think it was as bad as people made it out to be. More than anything, the debate rules clearly made to favor Biden which stopped interruptions and the lack of a crowd let Biden ramble on incoherently. Further, one notices that he is a liar and he was constantly insulting Trump despite his much vaunted “decorum.” People say they want a politician with “fire in his belly” but in the case of Joe Biden, this just looks like Alzheimer’s rage. Still, to those of us who had been expecting this each performance, it was kind of incredible it finally happened, but also not as bad as it could have been. However, to people who believe the news media and their carefully curated worldview, it had been the case that it was just “malinformation” and “cheapfakes” giving people the false impression that the president was unwell. It was very much a matter of the party’s final command being to not believe your own eyes, to paraphrase George Orwell.
Then, it came time to write Biden out of the plot. Our public life has become surreal. We are meant to believe it is normal that the president is missing. He made a Twitter post and then ghosted us. His schedule was cleared. Everyone with power in the Democratic Party, with the notable exception of former President Barack Obama, immediately lined up behind Kamala Harris. At her first appearance as she went to take over her supposed boss’ campaign, she played what she almost called a “recording” but then corrected herself and referred to as a “call” with the president. Kamala said, “You’re not going anywhere Joe” and laughed maniacally in front of a crowd of dupes. Perhaps he is fine, perhaps he isn’t. Of course we will never know the truth about how they got Biden out after insisting he would continue to campaign no matter what. We are left to wonder if his man can be trusted with the nuclear codes…well, how that is allowed, we know he cannot be. There is talk that they threatened to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment against him if he didn’t drop out. One way or another, the revolution was: in around thirty-six hours it was reported that the majority of Democrat National Convention delegates were pledged to Kamala. Our nation’s most unfit president has been forced out of his own campaign, in a seamless transition, to an even more pliable puppet.
For all of this, perhaps the most incredible thing is that our usually panic-addicted media wants to act like this is normal. Biden’s legacy will be as a self-less patriot who, of his own free will, stepped down for the good of the country. He would be our own Cincinnatus, if the people in media knew that reference. There is nothing to see. Move on. The president is fine. Do not look behind the curtain. Kamala Harris has always been the Democratic nominee. She is the will of the voters. This is the glorious new age of Democracy™. It is morning in America.
Plot to Kill Georgia’s Ruling Party’s Founder Linked to Ukraine – State Security Service
Sputnik – 24.07.2024
TBILISI – Georgia’s State Security Service said on Wednesday it was investigating a plot by former Georgian officials living in Ukraine to assassinate Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
“The State Security Service is investigating criminal actions, which were funded and organized by former high-ranking Georgian officials and former law enforcement agents living in Ukraine, including the plot to assassinate the honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili,” the statement read.
The agency accused the suspects of planning to stage riots and overthrow the elected Georgian government.
Georgian media reported that the security service had summoned a dozen people for questioning. Most of them are said to have experience of fighting Russian troops in Ukraine.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze compared the foiled attempt on Ivanishvili to assassination attempts on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and US presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“Two terrorist attacks have happened recently — one in Slovakia and the other in the United States. They bear the telltale marks of global political forces,” Kobakhidze told a news briefing.
Fico was left fighting for his life after a man shot him in the abdomen at close range as he greeted supporters following an off-site cabinet meeting in the town of Handlova on May 15. Trump sustained a gun wound to his right ear in a shooting at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13 and was briefly hospitalized.
Russia responds to Zelensky proposal for talks
RT | July 24, 2024
Vladimir Zelensky’s signal that Ukraine is ready to resume peace talks with Moscow is not credible, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
In recent weeks, Zelensky has said that Kiev wants to end the conflict “as soon as possible,” preferably “by the end of this year.” He has also insisted on holding a second ‘peace summit’ to achieve that goal.
The previous such event, hosted by Switzerland last month, focused on several points of Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ – which demands that Russia withdraw its troops from all territory claimed by Ukraine. Moscow has dismissed the plan as detached from reality.
Commenting on the possibility of peace with Ukraine, Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday that “nobody trusts [Zelensky].”
“Everyone knows perfectly well that this is a man who can twist anything, who can lie, who can refuse everything,” she said.
She recalled that Ukraine and its Western backers have done nothing to rescind Zelensky’s presidential decree barring Kiev from any talks with the current leadership in Moscow. The Ukrainian leader approved the document in the fall of 2022 after four former Ukrainian regions voted overwhelmingly to join Russia.
Last week, however, Zelensky suggested that he saw “no difference” in whether he had to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin, or someone else, to end the conflict.
“We hear a lot of words, but we don’t see actions at all,” Zakharova noted, suggesting that Zelensky’s statements are no more than another attempt to promote Kiev’s ‘peace formula’ and dupe countries around the world into supporting the initiative.
The spokeswoman also opined that Zelensky’s unexpected “flexibility” on peace talks could be linked to recent major shifts in the US political landscape. She was referring to a recent assassination attempt on Republican presential nominee Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race.
The GOP candidate has repeatedly vowed to end the conflict within 24 hours if elected and has criticized US support for Kiev.
Zakharova’s comments come after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Kiev “is willing to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia,” which he said must be “rational” and aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Kuleba’s words as being “in unison” with Russia’s stance. “The Russian side has never refused negotiations, [but] the details that we do not know yet are important here,” he added.
Slovakia Warns Ukraine of Retaliation Over Halt of Russian Oil Transit
Sputnik – 24.07.2024
BRATISLAVA – Slovakia may take retaliatory measures if Ukraine does not resolve the issue of oil transit from Russia, said Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said on Wednesday.
“I consider what Ukraine did in relation to Slovakia to be a very serious matter and a very unpleasant interference in our good relations. I firmly believe that Ukraine will be able to put this in order as soon as possible, because Slovakia, as a sovereign state, will eventually have to take some kind of countermeasures. This would not benefit either Ukraine or its citizens,” Pellegrini said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto earlier said that Lukoil’s oil supplies through Ukraine via the Druzhba oil pipeline had been stopped. Slovakia’s economy ministry confirmed that the republic had stopped receiving oil from Lukoil due to Ukraine stopping its transit through its territory. It noted that Lukoil had been sanctioned by Ukraine.
Slovakia’s Slovnaft refinery is supplied with Russian oil from another supplier, but the country is discussing the current situation with the Ukrainian side.
Poland demands Ukraine resolves WWII massacre before joining EU
RT | July 24, 2024
Ukraine should not be allowed to join the EU until Kiev and Warsaw resolve their differences over a World War II massacre in which Ukrainian Nazi collaborators slaughtered tens of thousands of Poles, Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said.
The issue of the Volyn massacre has long been a flashpoint in Ukrainian-Polish relations, despite Warsaw’s support for Kiev in its conflict with Russia. Between 40,000 and 100,000 Poles are estimated to have been murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which collaborated with the Third Reich, in the Volyn and Galicia Regions in 1943 and 1944.
In 2016, the Polish parliament declared the Volyn massacre a “genocide.” While Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda jointly attended an event to honor the memory of Volyn victims in 2023, Kiev has so far been reluctant to call the massacre a genocide, arguing that such a crime can only be perpetrated by a state, while the atrocities were carried out by partisan units.
In an interview with the Polish broadcaster Polsat on Tuesday, Kosiniak-Kamysz said that while Poland intends to support Ukraine as much as possible, “not everything is perfect in our relations due to unresolved historical issues,” particularly when it comes to the atrocities committed by Ukrainian nationalists against Poles. “There will be no Ukrainian accession to the European Union if the Volyn issue is not resolved,” he stressed.
He reiterated that the fulfillment of Ukraine’s EU aspirations depends on whether it exhumes the bodies of the victims of the Volyn massacre. His remarks echoed a statement made by Polish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary of State Pawel Jablonski, who said in the autumn of 2023 that “without a solution to this issue… Ukraine cannot dream of joining the European Union,” while describing it as a condition for “long-term reconciliation with Ukraine.”
Zelensky promised to lift a moratorium on the exhumation effort in 2019, with searches resuming that same year in Ukraine’s western Lviv region after Poland agreed to restore a memorial to UPA guerrillas on its soil that had previously been destroyed by vandals.
Ukraine applied for EU membership in February 2022 after the escalation of the conflict with Russia and was granted EU candidate status in June of the same year. In June 2024, the EU opened official accession talks with Kiev, although its membership remains a distant possibility, with officials in Brussels demanding that Ukraine do more to combat rampant corruption and carry out a slew of other reforms.
Common Surgeries Surprisingly Fail to Outperform Placebo
Esteemed orthopedic surgeon Ian Harris joins the Radically Genuine Podcast!
DR. ROGER MCFILLIN | JULY 23, 2024
Welcome to a landmark episode of the Radically Genuine Podcast! I’m thrilled to present our first full video episode, exclusively available to our valued paid subscribers. Your support has made this exciting new format possible, allowing us to bring you an enhanced, immersive experience of our thought-provoking conversations.
In this shocking episode, I interview Professor Ian Harris, an esteemed orthopedic surgeon and author of the book “Surgery, The Ultimate Placebo”. This conversation unravels the complexities of surgical outcomes, challenging conventional wisdom and highlighting the critical need for evidence-based practice in modern medicine.
Key points explored:
1. The placebo effect in surgery: We dissect how patient expectations and non-specific effects can significantly influence surgical outcomes, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing these from the procedure’s direct physiological impacts.
2. Challenges in surgical research: We discuss the difficulties in conducting placebo-controlled surgical trials, shedding light on the methodological hurdles that complicate efforts to establish definitive evidence of surgical efficacy.
3. Surgeon bias and decision-making: The conversation explores the cognitive biases that can affect surgeons’ judgments, potentially leading to unnecessary procedures or overestimation of benefits.
4. Overuse of surgical interventions: Harris presents compelling arguments about the prevalence of surgeries that may lack solid scientific backing, advocating for a more cautious approach to surgical recommendations.
5. Non-operative alternatives: The discussion highlights the often-overlooked potential of conservative treatments, particularly emphasizing the benefits of weight loss and exercise for conditions like knee arthritis.
6. Financial incentives in healthcare: We touch on the complex interplay between economic motivations and medical decision-making, exploring how these factors can influence treatment recommendations.
7. Placebo and nocebo effects: The conversation examines how both positive (placebo) and negative (nocebo) expectations can impact patient outcomes, underscoring the power of patient beliefs in the healing process.
8. Informed consent and patient education: We stress the importance of providing patients with accurate, evidence-based information to facilitate truly informed decision-making about their care.
This episode serves as a compelling call to action for increased scientific rigor in surgical practice and a more critical evaluation of established medical interventions. It challenges listeners to reconsider their assumptions about surgical efficacy and encourages a more nuanced understanding of the factors contributing to medical outcomes.
Human Rights Watch Report on October 7 accused of bias, Here’s why
By Robert Inlakesh | Al Mayadeen | July 23, 2024
On July 17th, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a 236-page report that accused Hamas and other Palestinian Resistance groups of committing war crimes on October 7th. However, the report has significant shortcomings, including a heavy reliance on Israeli sources and forensic evidence based on analogies of information provided by the infamous ZAKA rescue service, known for fabricating crime scenes and disseminating various propaganda hoaxes.
Despite its length and the new details it brings to light on the events of October 7 during the Hamas-led Al-Aqsa Flood offensive, the new HRW report is perhaps the most biased international investigation so far, and does not make mention of the ‘Hannibal Directive’ and “Israel’s” role in killing its own non-combatants on that day.
Given the report’s extensive nature, with over 800 footnotes, it’s impossible to cover every aspect in a single article. However, it’s important to examine some areas where it falls short.
Dealing with claims that HRW was biased
To begin with, Sari Bashi, the Israeli Program Director for the report and co-founder of the “Gisha- Legal Center for Freedom of Movement,” which is funded by Zionist sources such as the “New Israel Fund“, stated the following on X:
“This is the most comprehensive account of October 7 by an independent international organization and concludes that Hamas-led attacks against civilians in Israel rise to the level of crimes against humanity. We need accountability and civilian protection. Now.”
The methodology of the report is perhaps the most telling part, from which we can decipher how HRW reached its conclusions. Many of these conclusions do not hold up to scrutiny or, at the very least, demand further answers.
In their methodology section, HRW notes that it interviewed “94 survivors and witnesses from the October 7 assault”, which suggests a comprehensive picture of what occurred across “19 kibbutzim and five moshavim (cooperative communities), the cities of Sderot and Ofakim, two music festivals, and a beach party” that they noted in their overview. However, they admit that they were only able to actually interview survivors from the Moshav Pri Gan, Moshav Yachini, and the Psyduck music festival sites – just three out of 24 locations mentioned in their summary of events.
The report goes on to state that for its actual forensic information, HRW “spoke to two medical experts hired by the Israeli government to examine the remains collected by ZAKA (see below) and provide forensic advice.” They further note that “following October 7, some ZAKA members provided information to the media that proved unfounded”, which is a major understatement. The head of the “Search and Rescue” service has repeatedly peddled debunked lies, as ZAKA produced false claim after false claim, ranging from grotesque stories of rape, sexualized torture, babies strewn on clothing lines, to the infamous “40 beheaded babies” lie.
Despite this, HRW interviewed 10 ZAKA members who were all first responders on October 7 and claimed that it only used independently verifiable information. However, it admits that the two experts they spoke to that were tasked with examining the forensic evidence provided by ZAKA, were both hired by the Israeli regime directly.
Without going through every detail in their methodology, it consists of interviews with Israeli journalists, ZAKA members, an Israeli soldier, a range of experts without specifying who they were exactly, in addition to some interviews with Palestinian citizens of “Israel” and Palestinians in Gaza. “Most of those interviewed were Jewish Israelis, but we also interviewed Palestinians from Gaza, Palestinian citizens of “Israel”, and foreign workers from Nepal, Thailand, and the Philippines. Interviews were primarily conducted in Hebrew with the assistance of interpreters, and in Arabic, English, Spanish, and Thai”, the report states.
Then there is the fact that the HRW was prevented by the Israeli authorities from entering any other site than Kibbutz Be’eri, where they were not given unrestricted access, meaning that their ability to actually inspect would have been restricted. In the segment of the HRW report on Kibbutz Be’eri, they cite survivor testimonies and build a narrative about what occurred there, without bothering to mention the fact that the Hannibal Directive was triggered there.
In one case, at Yossi Cohen’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri, where the Israeli military opened fire with light arms and then tank fire, killing 13 Israelis, the account is completely one-sided and omits key information that is readily available online. It mentions a key witness, Yasmin Porat, who survived the battle between Hamas fighters and the Israeli military. While the report says that Porat “briefly spoke to Human Rights Watch and confirmed these events, albeit in less detail“, this comes off as an attempt at providing a linguistic loophole in order to provide cover to the fact that Porat did not actually confirm the precise characterisation of events presented by HRW.
In reality, Yasmin Porat was lambasted after a number of appearances she made on Israeli television, where she said that during hours of being kept under Hamas captivity “they did not abuse us. They treated us very humanely,” adding that “they give us something to drink here and there. When they see we are nervous they calm us down. It was very frightening but no one treated us violently. Luckily nothing happened to me like what I heard in the media.” Porat also said that a Palestinian fighter spoke to her in Hebrew in order to calm her down and said “‘Look at me well, we’re not going to kill you. We want to take you to Gaza. We are not going to kill you. So be calm, you’re not going to die.’ That’s what he told me, in those words.” Porat lost her husband on October 7 and undoubtedly endured significant trauma, which is why her testimony was so powerful at the time.
Porat did not attempt to justify the actions of Hamas, but she presented a completely different picture to the one depicted in the HRW report, which is not at all acknowledged. If anything, the way the report deals with this specific incident is evidently omitting important details.
Then we have the allegations of a premeditated mass rape campaign, which the Israeli regime claims was carried out on the orders of Hamas that day. The report, in its section titled “Crimes Involving Acts of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence”, admitted the following:
“Human Rights Watch was not able to gather verifiable information through interviews with survivors of or witnesses to rape during the assault on October 7. Human Rights Watch requested access to information on sexual and gender-based violence in the possession of the Israeli government, but this request was not granted.”
Although this is a massive blow to the Israeli narrative about a mass rape campaign, they did claim that “forced nudity, and the posting without consent of sexualized images on social media”, but provided no in-depth information and simply stated that it came to these conclusions after “interviewing first responders, and experts on sexual violence who provided information about the context, and reviewing images captured during the assault”. It did not name who these experts and first responders were, however, we can reasonably assume from the information presented on methodology that ZAKA and Israelis were the bulk of those sources. The photographic evidence aspect is also not clearly explained or detailed, which does not enable us to further inspect such claims.
This segment seems, however, to rely heavily on a report by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, which concluded that there is “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery” despite admitting no conclusive evidence. This report was made at the request of the Israeli regime and did not claim to be investigative in nature, however, it did reveal the below-mentioned issues:
“At least two of the allegations of sexual violence previously reported were determined by the mission team to be unfounded, due to either new superseding information or inconsistency in the information gathered, including first responder testimonies, photographic evidence, and other information. These included the allegation of a pregnant woman whose womb had reportedly been ripped open before she was killed, with her fetus stabbed while still inside her. Another such account was the interpretation initially made of the body of a girl found separated from the rest of her family, naked from the waist down. It was determined by the mission team that the crime scene had been altered by a bomb squad and the bodies moved, explaining the separation of the body of the girl from the rest of her family. Allegations of objects found inserted in female genital organs also could not be verified by the mission team due in large part to the limited availability and low quality of imagery.”
In addition to this, the HRW report notes that they viewed and analyzed hundreds of videos and photos from that day, most of which were from Telegram channels and have long been available to the public. These only provide snapshots of what went on and are no way conclusive.
On top of this, there was no analysis, investigation, or even mention of “Israel’s” triggering of the Hannibal Directive at numerous sites that day, which has now been confirmed as per sources cited by the Israeli daily Haaretz. Right here, this is the biggest red flag that indicates bias and debunks the idea that this report was in any way comprehensive, as it completely left out the role of Israeli forces in killing non-combatants that day. The most recent UN report which focused heavily on October 7, released on June 12 under a Human Rights Council resolution, mentions the Hannibal Directive and reports of Israeli forces killing their own people, making it a lot more balanced than the HRW report.
Overall, if we look at the examples noted above, the claim that this report is unbiased and presents a comprehensive view of the situation is false.
What’s behind Israel’s war against UNRWA?
By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | July 23, 2024
Targeting a school during a war could be justified as, or at least argued, to have been a mistake. But striking over 120 schools, and killing and wounding thousands of civilians sheltering inside, can only be intentional, with each attack a horrific war crime in its own right.
Between 7 October last year and 18 July, Israel has done precisely that, targeting with total impunity UN infrastructure in the besieged Gaza Strip, including schools and medical centres. According to the estimates of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), at least 561 internally displaced Palestinians sheltering in UNRWA buildings have been killed and 1,768 have been wounded since the start of Israel’s war. Within just ten days between 8 and 18 July, at least six UNRWA schools serving as makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians were targeted by the Israeli army, resulting in the killing and wounding of hundreds.
Historically, UN-linked organisations have been more or less immune from the impact of wars. The privilege of being neutral outsiders to any conflict allowed those affiliated with such organisations to carry out their duties largely unhindered. The Israeli war on the Palestinians in Gaza, however, is the primary exception among all modern conflicts. According to UN sources, 274 aid workers and over 500 healthcare workers linked to the international organisation have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces.
These figures are consistent with all other statistics produced by the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. Indeed, not a single category of people has been spared: neither doctors nor civil defence workers, mayors or even traffic police, let alone the children, women and elderly.
It was obvious from the very start of the war that Israel wanted to criminalise all Palestinians.
Not only those affiliated with Hamas or other groups, but also the civilian population and any international organisation that came to their aid. Blaming and dehumanising all of Gaza was and remains part of Israel’s strategy that lets its army operate without any restraints, and without even the most minimal moral threshold or respect for international law.
However, the Israeli attacks on all UN institutions, in particular UNRWA, the agency responsible for the welfare of Gaza’s Palestinian refugees, serve a different purpose than that of mere “collective punishment”. Israel does not attempt to mask or justify its attacks on the agency as it did during previous Gaza wars. This time around, the Israeli war was accompanied, from the very beginning, with the outlandish accusation that UNRWA staff had participated in the 7 October cross-border incursion by Hamas and other Palestinian groups.
Without providing any evidence, Tel Aviv launched an international vilification campaign against the UN agency which has, for decades, provided essential educational, medical and humanitarian services to millions of Palestinian refugees, not only in occupied Palestine, but also in refugee camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. Sadly, and tellingly, some Western, and even non-Western governments, answered the Israeli call to punish UNRWA by withholding badly-needed funds, the urgency of which did not only stem from the direct impact of the Israeli war, but also the acute famine resulting from the war. UNRWA depends almost entirely on such voluntary donations from UN member states.
True, a number of governments eventually resumed their funding of the agency, but such action was only taken when much damage had already been done. Moreover, most, if not all, Western governments have taken no action against Israel for its continued targeting of UNRWA facilities, and thus the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinians in the process.
This non-committal attitude has emboldened Israel to the extent that, just this week, the Israeli Knesset (parliament) passed the first reading of a bill to designate UNRWA as a “terrorist organisation”. On 18 July, Israeli spokesman David Mencer accused the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, of being a “terrorist sympathiser”.
Israel’s hate for UNRWA, however, stretches back long before the current war.
For years, successive Israeli governments, not least with the aid of the Donald Trump administration in the US, have sought to shut down the agency altogether.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s former advisor on the Middle East, said in January 2018 that it was “important to have an honest and sincere effort to disrupt UNRWA.” For him, the dismantlement of the agency meant the eradication of the legitimate Right of Return for Palestinian refugees.
Indeed, the issue is not just about UNRWA, but rather the historic role the agency has played as a reminder of the plight of millions of Palestinian refugees in occupied Palestine, the Middle East and across the world.
UNRWA was established through General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949. The founding of UNRWA came one year after the passing of UN Resolution 194, which granted Palestinian refugees the right to “return to their homes”. Although UNRWA’s mission has turned into a de facto permanent mandate (albeit one that has to be renewed periodically), since Palestinian refugees were not granted their right of return, the role of the agency has remained as critical as it was decades ago.
Since Kushner and others have failed to have UNRWA shut down, the Israeli government has taken advantage of its war on Gaza to try to do so. According to Israeli “logic”, without a UN agency specifically for Palestinian refugees, there must be no more Palestinian refugees, so the issue of their return would lose its main legal platform and would ultimately disappear. This would give Israel the space and leverage to “resolve” the problem of the refugees in any way it sees fit, especially if it has Washington’s full support.
Israel must not be allowed to dismantle UNRWA or to dismiss the generational struggle of Palestinian refugees, which is the core of the Palestinian fight for justice and freedom. The international community must challenge Israel’s vilification of UNRWA and insist on the centrality of the Right of Return for Palestinian refugees. Without it, no real peace is possible.
Palestinian Factions Sign Unity Deal in Beijing
Al-Manar – July 23, 2024
Palestinian factions have signed a “national unity” agreement aimed at maintaining Palestinian control over Gaza once Israel’s war on the enclave concludes.
The deal, finalized on Tuesday in China after three days of intensive talks, lays the groundwork for an “interim national reconciliation government” to rule post-war Gaza, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
The agreement was signed by long-term rivals Hamas and Fatah, as well as 12 other Palestinian groups.
“Today we sign an agreement for national unity and we say that the path to completing this journey is national unity,” said senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk at a news conference in Beijing.
Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, one of the 14 factions to sign the accord, told Al Jazeera the agreement goes “much further” than any other reached in recent years.
He said its four main elements are the establishment of an interim national unity government, the formation of unified Palestinian leadership ahead of future elections, the free election of a new Palestinian National Council, and a general declaration of unity in the face of ongoing Israeli attacks.
The move towards a unity government is especially important, he said, because it “blocks Israeli efforts to create some sort of collaborative structure against Palestinian interests”.
Reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah would be a key turning point in internal Palestinian relations.
“We’re at a historic junction,” Abu Marzouk said, according to CNN. “Our people are rising up in their efforts to struggle.”
Barghouti said the Israeli war on Gaza was the “main factor” motivating the Palestinian sides to set aside their differences.
“There is no other way now but for Palestinians to be unified and struggle together against this terrible injustice,” he said.
“The most important thing now is to not only sign the agreement, but to implement it.”
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From the Archives
Confronting the Threat of Ethnic Bioweapons
By Tony Cartalucci – New Eastern Outlook – 29.11.2017
The United States Air Force’s 59th Medical Wing’s molecular biology branch recently was revealed to have been collecting specifically Russian RNA and synovial (connective) tissue samples, prompting fears in Russia of a possible US directed ethnic-specific bioweapons program. … continue
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