Venezuelan Interior Minister Accuses U.S. of International Law Violations
teleSUR – September 4, 2025
On Wednesday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello denounced a disinformation campaign and attacks from the United States against Venezuela, which he said include flagrant violations of international law under the pretext of a supposed fight against drug trafficking.
More specifically, he referred to the dissemination of false information by the United States about an attack on a vessel in the Caribbean. The Bolivarian official said the boat shown in videos did not match Venezuelan fishing boats.
Cabello alleged that the administration of President Donald Trump had committed legal violations by allegedly sinking a vessel in international waters, an act he said left 11 people dead.
The Interior minister emphasized that U.S. actions contravened fundamental principles of international law and the right to life, as the ships did not seek to capture and prosecute the people on board.
Cabello listed some of the multilateral treaties that were violated, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), the 1988 Vienna Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.
He also said U.S. military actions contradicted U.S. legislation itself, such as the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act and the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, which enshrines due process.
“We have never seen Washington seek to dismantle a drug cartel inside the United States,” Cabello said, questioning the Trump administration’s alleged anti-drug campaign.
The Bolivarian minister recalled that the United States is the country with the highest drug consumption in the world and suggested that Congress should investigate who is behind these military operations in the Caribbean, which he said appeared aimed at a “regime change.”
“By contrast, Venezuela does fight drug trafficking, wherever it comes from and wherever it goes,” Cabello emphasized, adding that his country does not execute people at sea.
Cabello cited an example of effective cooperation between Venezuela and France on May 30, when 780 kilograms of cocaine were seized in a joint operation, after which the detainees were brought to justice and “not shot or massacred as the United States does.”
The interior minister also noted that U.N. reports describe Venezuela as a country free of drug crops and laboratories, where drug trafficking routes are nonexistent.
“The United States lives off lies and fake news, seeking to destroy the image of any person or country,” Cabello said, recalling that Commander Hugo Chavez was also the victim of disinformation campaigns.
“The imperialism’s historic practice has been to sow falsehoods to strike at the people’s truth,” he said, urging Venezuelans to remain with “firm footing, nerves of steel and maximum popular mobilization.”
Diosdado Cabello, who is also secretary of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), said that transnational far-right forces and their local spokesperson Maria Corina Machado are trying to create “false flags” to justify a possible military attack on the Bolivarian nation.
“They live hiding behind lies!,”he said, recalling that Washington’s narratives create fictitious enemies such as the alleged Cartel of the Suns, which symbolically replaces the non-existent Aragua Train.
Utrecht University becomes first in West to boycott Israel over Gaza genocide
Press TV – September 3, 2025
The Netherlands’ Utrecht University has become the first Western academic institution to enact a full academic boycott of Israel in response to the regime’s genocide in Gaza, marking a historic step that shatters a long-standing taboo in Western academia.
The decision, confirmed in a statement from Rector Wilco Hazeleger, comes after sustained pressure from “demonstrating students and staff.”
The university has “effectively stopped or suspended all institutional collaborations with Israeli parties and will not start any new collaborations,” establishing a boycott that will remain “until further notice,” the statement said.
In his statement, Hazeleger described the move as a moral necessity. “The situation in the world, and in Gaza in particular, requires us to act with a moral compass. There is great human suffering,” he said.
While emphasizing the academy’s duty to foster open dialogue and research for peace, Hazeleger stated a clear red line had been crossed. “It is also clear when there is genocidal violence and a line has been crossed.”
The move aligns with the goals of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which considers it the result of strategic, principled work by students and university staff.
The boycott comes amid increasing international condemnation of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and its decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands.
Across the world, academic communities and students have intensified their demands for institutions to divest and boycott all entities complicit in apartheid and war crimes.
Academic institutions have come under significant pressure from professors and students to sever ties with Israeli entities that play direct or indirect roles in normalizing apartheid, research for military purposes, or sustaining the occupation.
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance fighters carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the regime in response to its decades-long campaign of death and destruction against Palestinians.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 63,633 Palestinians have been killed and more than 160,914 injured since the beginning of the war.
Euro-Med: Israel escalates killing of civilians in Gaza’s so-called humanitarian zone
Palestinian Information Center – September 3, 2025
GAZA – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have escalated attacks on civilians in Gaza’s so-called “humanitarian zones,” turning areas meant for shelter into deadly traps, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. The Monitor warned in a statement on Wednesday that this is part of a systematic genocidal policy aimed at eradicating Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The IOF is reportedly firing directly at displaced persons inside their tents in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, using sniper rifles, drones, artillery, and airstrikes. These attacks have resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries, including children, women, and journalists, despite Israel labeling the area as “humanitarian.” Eyewitnesses reported instances where soldiers appeared to shoot at civilians for sport.
Among the victims documented recently are 26-year-old mother of two, Ahlam Raed Fayyad al-Shaer, shot while preparing tea for her children, and journalist Iman Ahmad al-Zamli, killed while fetching drinking water. The attacks have destroyed homes and personal belongings, leaving displaced families vulnerable.
Adding to the humanitarian disaster, UNRWA spokesperson Adnan Abu Hasna revealed that deaths from starvation and untreated disease are far higher than reported by Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
Many victims are buried near or inside their tents, with their deaths unrecorded. Over 43,000 children under five, along with tens of thousands of pregnant or breastfeeding women, suffer from severe malnutrition, while the collapse of Gaza’s health and sanitation systems accelerates the spread of deadly diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis.
The Euro-Mediterranean Monitor described the IOF’s deliberate targeting of civilians in displacement zones as a form of genocide, leaving Palestinians with two fatal options: immediate death from bombardment or slow death due to starvation and disease.
Thousands of families are living without adequate food, water, or medical care, while overcrowding and exposure to harsh conditions exacerbate the crisis.
The Monitor called on the UN General Assembly to invoke its emergency powers under Resolution 377 A(V) to deploy a peacekeeping force in Gaza, ensure unimpeded humanitarian access, protect healthcare facilities, lift the siege, and begin reconstruction. It urged the international community to act decisively to stop the ongoing genocide and uphold international law.
Belgium announces sanctions against Israel
RT | September 2, 2025
Belgium will recognize Palestinian statehood and impose sanctions on Israel over its war in Gaza, the country’s Foreign Ministry has announced.
The Western European country, which hosts the headquarters of both the EU and NATO, unveiled the measures on Tuesday as pressure grows on Israel to reach a ceasefire with Hamas and allow more humanitarian aid into the besieged Palestinian enclave.
In light of the “humanitarian tragedy in Gaza,” Belgium has decided to “increase pressure on the Israeli government and Hamas terrorists,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote on X. “This is not about punishing the Israeli people, but about ensuring that their government respects international and humanitarian law and takes action to change the situation on the ground,” he added.
The sanctions include a ban on imports of products from Jewish settlements in the West Bank and restrictions on consular assistance for Belgian nationals living in settlements considered illegal under international law.
Brussels will also review procurement involving Israeli companies and blacklist “two extremist Israeli ministers, several violent settlers, and Hamas leaders,” Prevot said. He added that Belgium would push for the suspension of the EU’s trade agreement with Israel.
Several countries, including France, plan to recognize Palestine at the UN General Assembly later this month, drawing strong criticism from Israel.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused France and Australia of failing to tackle anti-Semitism, arguing that recognition of Palestine would only embolden Hamas.
Israel has rejected UN warnings of famine in Gaza, where more than 63,500 people have been killed since October 2023, according to local health authorities. West Jerusalem has pledged to allow the delivery of aid, but not through distribution points it claims are controlled by Hamas.
Gaza: Over one million people face relocation to overcrowded zone
Palestinian Information Center – September 2, 2025
GAZA – Gaza’s civil defense service has warned of Israeli efforts to evacuate tens of thousands of citizens from Gaza City and northern areas and force them to go to the central and southern parts of the territory.
Spokesman for the civil defense Mahmoud Basal told a news conference on Tuesday that the Israeli plan to forcibly relocate about one million people from their homes in Gaza City and northern Gaza would lead to a major catastrophe.
Basal said that the Israeli occupation army had already destroyed over 85 percent of the homes and infrastructure in Gaza City’s ash-Shuja’iya and al-Tuffah neighborhoods, and about 70 percent of the az-Zeitoun, al-Sabra, Jabalia an-Nazla and Jabalia al-Balad areas.
Basal pointed out that several reports issued by international and UN organization confirm that the so-called humanitarian zone, where the Israeli army plans to relocate the population, comprises no more than 12 percent of the total area of the Gaza Strip.
“This would mean forcing over two million Palestinians to live in a densely packed area lacking the minimum living means,” he said.
Cracks in ranks: No victory, no exit in ‘Israel’s Gaza predicament
Al Mayadeen | September 2, 2025
“Israel’s” military is mobilizing 60,000 additional reservists, adding to the 70,000 already under call-up orders, in preparation for a renewed ground incursion into Gaza City as part of the ongoing “Iron Swords” campaign.
The last major operation to occupy Gaza City came at a high cost. Now, according to Israeli military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi in a report published by Maariv, commanders are warning that the next stage could prove even more dangerous.
The dense urban terrain, vast tunnel networks, and high-rise buildings of Gaza City remain formidable battlegrounds. The report states that Hamas has had months to bolster its defenses, planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), booby-trapping buildings and tunnels, and deploying snipers and anti-tank units across likely combat zones.
Two-stage strategy, high-stakes caution
According to Maariv, the Israeli military plans to execute the campaign in two phases:
- Encircle Gaza City to restrict movement and initiate the evacuation of remaining civilians
- Deploy ground divisions to enter and attempt to control key urban sectors
This operation is expected to last months, not weeks.
Mounting friction between the military and the government
The report by Avi Ashkenazi highlights growing tensions between military leaders and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Senior Israeli officers reportedly urge continued negotiations, warning against launching another high-risk incursion without exhausting all diplomatic options.
Meanwhile, on the ground, reservists and active-duty soldiers have begun questioning the broader strategy. “What comes after Gaza City?” one soldier reportedly asked, reflecting the skepticism felt across the ranks.
Veterans of recent operations point to Rafah, Khan Younis, Jabalia, Beit Hanoun, and al-Zaytoun, all of which were invaded multiple times but failed to produce a lasting outcome.
An elusive ‘image of victory’
Even if the military succeeds in re-entering Gaza City, doubts persist over whether such an operation will alter the broader course of the war. As Ashkenazi notes, the symbolism of “battlefield achievements” has become increasingly hollow.
In December 2023, a Hanukkah menorah was lit in Gaza’s Palestine Square, a moment widely circulated in the occupation’s media as a symbol of control. Just days later, the Israeli occupation forces showcased their bombing of al-Shifa Hospital, parading it as another so-called milestone.
Yet, as noted by military correspondent Avi Ashkenazi in Maariv, such displays failed to produce the long-promised image of victory. The Israeli occupation continues, the Palestinian resistance endures, and international criticism mounts.
Now, with tens of thousands of reservists once again deployed and Gaza facing another wave of devastation, Ashkenazi and others raise the critical question: Where will “Israel” find its image of victory, and how many lives will it cost this time?
What drives Americans to fight on the frontlines of Gaza’s war crimes
By Jamal Kanj | MEMO | September 1, 2025
Serving in the military is the ultimate test of loyalty. When young Americans raise their right hand, they pledge to defend their nation, their Constitution, their people. Yet for many young Americans, that oath is NOT made to the United States military. Instead, they pack their bags, fly across the Atlantic, and enlist in a foreign army—the Israeli War Machine, aka, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
The numbers speak loudly. According to the Washington Post, 23,000 Jewish American citizens are currently serving in the Israeli military. By contrast, US Department of Defence data shows that in 2006 fewer than 4,000 American service members identified as Jewish. A later DoD report in January 2019 placed the figure at roughly 0.4 per cent of active-duty personnel. Put simply, more Jewish Americans, both in numbers and percentage, serve under the misappropriated Star of David than under the Stars and Stripes.
Naturally, many new Americans maintain personal cultural and ancestral ties to their homelands—a land they actually come from, with real last names, not Hebraized East European family names. No ethnic group, however, has a lobby dedicated to serving the policy of a foreign country, like AIPAC. Mexican Americans celebrate Mexico’s victory on Cinco de Mayo, but do not promote enlisting in Mexico’s military. Irish Americans rejoice Saint Patrick’s Day, but had not lined up to join the Irish Republican Army. No ethnic American group raises nonprofit tax deductible funds for a foreign army, other than the Jewish billionaires, who bankroll “Friends of the IDF.”
Controlled by this foreign lobby, Congress not only tolerates the Israeli exception, rather it tries to reward it. Two Jewish Republican lawmakers; Guy Reschenthaler and Max Miller, have proposed legislation, H.R. 8445, to amend the American Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to include (Jewish) Americans serving in the Israeli army. If passed, the amendment would grant these “foreign” soldiers the same benefits reserved for Americans in uniform.
Let that sink in: Israeli (American) soldiers would have the same protections as American army soldiers. An Israeli who is starving babies and committing war crimes in Gaza, would be legally indistinguishable from an American marine guarding Camp Pendleton in California.
When it comes to Israel, AIPAC, through the disproportionate Jewish representation in both Houses—three to five times higher than their share of the U.S. adult population—exerts outsized clout. Combine this with the campaign finance power over elected officials, AIPAC can flex its muscles to institutionalize the Israeli exception. One could pose the question, if this is good for Israeli (American) soldiers, why not provide all Americans serving in foreign armies the same benefits? Maybe for a Muslim American soldier, if any, serving in Pakistan or Egypt. Such an idea would most likely cause a revolt in Washington. Accusations of dual loyalty, even treason, would dominate the headlines. If so, why not in the Israeli case?
One of those soldiers is David Meyers from California who spent six years in the Israeli navy. He explained his decision to enlist in the Israeli military, citing “… an incredibly deep and long connection that I have to Israel.” Answering a question for reasons he chose a foreign army over his own, his answer was more telling: “The United States with its strength and size, perhaps, isn’t quite needing your abilities and your efforts.”
Since when did America’s strength become an excuse to abandon it for a foreign army? Regardless, Meyers’s statement suggests he does not have a deep or long connection to the country of his birth—or at least not one as deep as to a foreign country. America is strong only because its citizens choose to serve it, not ditch it in favor of a foreign uniform. To dismiss the U.S. military as too mighty to need Jewish Americans isn’t about necessity, it’s about misplaced loyalty.
Many of the Americans serving in the Israeli army are called lone soldiers. They are the young Americans with New York or Texas accents; I’ve encountered at occupation checkpoints throughout Palestine. Their job is to humiliate Palestinians in the West Bank, and starve children in Gaza.
Some may frame their service as defending “the Jewish people.” When in fact, they are fueling Jewish hate in the West for being the face of the “Jewish-only” colonies built on stolen Palestinian land, or for imposing an apartheid occupation on behalf of a foreign political entity, whose leaders stand indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
With this in mind, these Americans are participating in what the UN, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have described as war crimes—from the engineered starvation of babies in Gaza, to the subjugation of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. As the ICC continues to investigate Israeli crimes, one day, these “Americans” could face reality, not as heroes, but for their roles in the crimes against humanity. Ironically, Congress wants to make these potential war criminals equal to American servicemembers.
The numbers do not lie. Over-represented in elected offices, and underrepresented in the U.S. military, Jewish Americans enlist in the Israeli army at more than five times the rate they serve in their own country’s forces. This begs the question: why are so many Jewish Americans more willing to die for a foreign country than for nations that gave them everything they have? That is not an anti-Jewish statement; it is a fact that would, and should uniformly apply to any ethnic group.
If some Jewish Americans choose to devote their lives and loyalty to a foreign state, that is their business. However, it is an insult to every American in uniform when Congress considers equating American soldiers with those serving in a foreign army. Worse, by ignoring the moral and legal ramifications, U.S. policymakers risk entangling America in war crimes committed by these “paper” American citizens, crimes that may one day be judged in The Hague, and for which today’s members of Congress should be held to account by their own constituents.
Tribal loyalty, often disguised as religious or nationalistic virtue, distorts judgment and blinds individuals to injustice, elevating kinship above truth, morality, and humanity. It is this tribal blindness that drives some Jewish Americans to join a foreign army, and stain their souls with the blood of Gaza’s war crimes.
COVID Vaccines ‘Unleashed Profound Harm’ New Peer-Reviewed Paper Says
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | August 29, 2025
A new peer-reviewed study suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for COVID-19 shows signs of “deliberate engineering” and that these features, including the spike protein also found in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, are responsible for widespread health harms globally.
The study, authored by 11 scientific and legal experts, was published in the fall edition of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
The authors argue that the man-made features of SARS-CoV-2 and the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are likely the outcome of controversial gain-of-function research, in violation of the United Nations’ Biological Weapons Convention.
Gain-of-function research, which increases the transmissibility or virulence of viruses, is frequently used in vaccine development.
According to the paper, the spread of COVID-19 — followed by the rollout of mRNA vaccines — resulted in unprecedented health harms, ranging from “autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular catastrophes to pregnancy complications and aggressive cancers.”
“Far from benign, these vaccines have unleashed profound harm, disrupting nearly every system of the human body and contributing to unprecedented levels of morbidity and mortality,” the paper states.
Dr. Andrew Zywiec, principal physician at Zywiec & Porter, is the paper’s lead author. He said the paper reveals a “pattern of harm too consistent, too pervasive to be dismissed as chance.” He added:
“The systemic toxicity unleashed by these interventions, manifesting as autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular devastation, aggressive cancers, and catastrophic reproductive harms, represents not merely a public health failure but a profound betrayal of trust.”
Joseph Sansone, Ph.D., a psychotherapist who filed a lawsuit to prohibit mRNA vaccines in Florida, said the paper is “extremely significant” as it is “the first peer-reviewed journal article stating that both COVID and the COVID injections violate the Biological Weapons Convention and that both COVID-19 and the COVID injections are biological weapons.”
SARS-CoV-2 virus ‘indicative of laboratory manipulation’
According to the paper, the SARS-CoV-2 virus “displays multiple genomic features indicative of laboratory manipulation,” including its furin cleavage site, which “enhances infectivity” and which is “absent in SARS-like viruses found in nature.”
Several other features of the SARS-CoV-2 virus “enhance immunological evasion and aerosol transmissibility,” making the virus “unusually durable … and five times more stable in air” than other respiratory viruses.
“These combined traits, along with the virus’s mutation patterns, are strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 could not have evolved naturally,” the paper states.
The paper cites two peer-reviewed journal articles by military scientists stating that SARS-CoV-2 contained “evidence of manipulation” that makes the virus an “attractive pathogen” due to its features, which resemble those of a biological weapon.
These manipulations “represent a violation of the Biological Weapons Convention,” the paper argues.
Enacted in 1975, the convention “effectively prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons.” Nearly 200 countries have signed it.
Paper accuses Fauci of deliberately concealing SARS-CoV-2 origins
According to the paper, gain-of-function research involves “viral manipulation techniques” that can lead to the development of pathogens that are banned under the convention.
Yet, the U.S. government — particularly the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci until 2022 — has long been involved in gain-of-function research, “including a long-standing collaboration between U.S.-funded institutions and the Wuhan Institute of Virology” in China.
Proponents of the “lab-leak theory” of the origins of SARS-CoV-2 argue that gain-of-function research at the Wuhan laboratory and a subsequent leak led to the global outbreak of COVID-19, which was covered up.
In April, the Trump administration launched a new version of the government’s official COVID-19 website, presenting evidence that COVID-19 emerged due to a leak at the Wuhan lab. The CIA, FBI, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Congress and several foreign intelligence agencies have endorsed this theory.
The paper refers to Project DEFUSE, a proposal the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan scientists submitted to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in 2018. Although the proposal was rejected, it described the creation of coronaviruses with features that enhanced their infectivity, including the furin cleavage site.
EcoHealth Alliance and its former president, Peter Daszak, Ph.D., collaborated with Wuhan researchers. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) suspended all funding for EcoHealth Alliance after finding the organization had failed to properly monitor risky coronavirus experiments.
The paper states that Fauci and the U.S. Intelligence Community never disclosed the existence of the research. Instead, “they obfuscated what is, in fact, proof of intent to produce a virus much like the one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The paper cites a Feb. 1, 2020, teleconference with Fauci and key virologists, including several of the co-authors of the now-infamous “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2” paper. The paper, which promoted the natural origin of COVID-19, was published in Nature Medicine in March 2020.
Although several of the co-authors of “Proximal Origin” expressed doubts that SARS-CoV-2 developed naturally, Fauci “aimed to suppress” such concerns during the Feb. 1, 2020, call.
“Proximal Origin” became one of the most-cited papers of 2020 and has been accessed over 6 million times. In 2023, The Nation reported that over 2,000 media outlets cited the paper.
The U.S. government, the scientific community and the media subsequently used “Proximal Origin” to promote the “zoonotic” — or natural origin — theory of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and to discredit proponents of the “lab-leak theory.”
“The deliberate concealment of critical genomic features delayed public awareness and pandemic mitigation efforts, potentially allowing wider spread and more deaths,” the paper states.
In May, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that paused gain-of-function research in the U.S. for 120 days while a new regulatory framework is developed. It also ended U.S. funding for such research in some countries.
Spike protein poses ‘potential for irreversible harm’
According to the paper’s authors, the development of SARS-CoV-2 — and the COVID-19 features that contain similar gain-of-function properties — resulted in significant harm to global public health.
The paper references statistics from the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database which show a significantly increased incidence of myocarditis (151.4%), pulmonary embolism (43.6%), ovarian dysfunction (34.9%), hypertensive disease (22.9%), Guillain-Barré syndrome (14.9%), esophageal cancer (12.5%) and breast cancer (7%) in 2021, the year the COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out globally.
Additional U.S. military data cited in the paper show “persistent elevations” in myocarditis, digestive organ cancer, brain cancer and other injuries between 2022 and 2025.
Reproductive harms also significantly increased following the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, the paper argues. It cites data from sources including the U.S. government-run Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), Pfizer’s 2021 post-marketing surveillance report and its Phase 2/3 clinical trial data for its COVID-19 shot, showing increased miscarriages, stillbirths and neonatal deaths.
The paper cites the spike protein in the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines as one of the likely factors for the increased incidence of cancers and other health conditions in recent years.
“Prolonged protein expression, exemplified by S1 spike protein detection more than 700 days post-COVID vaccination, underscores the potential for irreversible harm,” the paper states.
The paper argues that suppression of “proven or promising treatments” such as hydroxychloroquine in favor of universal COVID-19 vaccine mandates — and the policy decision to implement mass vaccination during the pandemic — further exacerbated global public health and had “damaging effects on public trust.”
Growing calls to suspend mRNA vaccines
The paper was published just as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ended its broad authorization of COVID-19 vaccines earlier this week, restricting the shots to people at higher risk for severe illness.
Earlier this month, HHS announced it canceled nearly $500 million in contracts and grants for the development of mRNA vaccines.
A growing number of scientists have called for the suspension or withdrawal of mRNA vaccines. The paper’s authors said their findings strengthen these calls. They stated:
“The surge in autoimmune diseases, aggressive cancers, pregnancy losses, cardiovascular fatalities, societal fragmentation, and the looming risks of advanced mRNA platforms demand an immediate halt to mRNA vaccine and biologic use, comprehensive investigations into the motives behind this unprecedented violation of public trust, and robust measures to restore safe therapeutics and ethical public health practices.”
Dr. Irene Mavrakakis, one of the paper’s co-authors and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, said the paper supports calls for “complete recall of all COVID-19 vaccines and biologics and a moratorium on all mRNA biologics.”
Mavrakakis also called for the “criminal prosecution of decision-makers who were criminally negligent and failed in their duties.” She said vaccine manufacturers should be stripped of the immunity they enjoy under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 and the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) of 2005.
Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist at Children’s Health Defense, agreed. He said gain-of-function research “will always have its cheerleaders,” but humanity faces “extreme risk and inevitably pays a heavy price for that research.”
“Labs can and do leak,” he said. “One singular event at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in late 2019 caused innumerable suffering and death. Until we can construct a leak-proof lab, we shouldn’t be assembling world-ravaging viruses in them.”
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.
Israel blows up 80 booby-trapped robots in residential neighborhoods in Gaza City
Palestinian Information Center – August 31, 2025
GAZA – The Government Media Office (GMO) said that the Israeli occupation army detonated more than 80 booby-trapped robots in residential neighborhoods in Gaza City over the past three weeks, confirming that more than one million Palestinians in Gaza and the north refuse to be displaced to the south.
It added that the Israeli occupation army continues to commit systematic and grave crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, in blatant violation of international law and international humanitarian law.
The statement pointed out that these crimes include the targeting of unarmed civilians, including children and women, and the forced displacement of residents in a crime of mass forced transfer that meets all elements of war crimes.
The GMO stressed that detonating robots is part of a criminal pattern that reflects a scorched-earth policy during Israel’s ground operations against residents and civilian neighborhoods, leading to large-scale destruction of homes and property and exposing civilians to grave dangers.
The occupation army also continues to commit the crime of starvation against more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip, including over one million in Gaza City and the north, by deliberately preventing the entry of food and water, in clear violation of Article (54) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.
The statement noted that this starvation policy has already caused the deaths of more than 332 people, including 124 children, stressing that this is accompanied by systematic destruction of what remains of the healthcare system, and deliberate targeting of essential elements of civilian life, with the aim of eliminating any possibility of normal life continuing.
The GMO confirmed that more than one million Palestinians remain in Gaza City, refusing to succumb to forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, affirming their legendary steadfastness in the face of the Israeli war machine.
The statement saluted the resilience of the heroic Palestinian people, strongly condemned the Israeli occupation army’s ongoing crimes against civilians, and held Israel and the US administration fully responsible for the continuation of this genocide.
The GMO called on the international community, with all its institutions and bodies, to take a serious and effective stance to immediately stop these crimes, halt the ongoing genocide, protect civilians, and hold Israeli leaders accountable for their crimes before the competent international courts.
60% of Gen Z support Hamas over Israel, but majority of Americans support genocide: Survey
MEMO | August 31, 2025
Some 60% of Generation Z in the US favor Palestinian resistance group Hamas over Israel in Tel Aviv’s ongoing war in Gaza, a new survey found, Anadolu reports.
As part of a broad set of questions, the survey asked online respondents: “In the Israel-Hamas conflict, do you support more Israel or more Hamas?”
According to the online survey released this week, 60% of the young people aged between 18 to 24 expressed support for Hamas over Israel.
Among the age groups that sided with Israel were 25-34-year-olds with 65%, 35-44-year-olds with 70%, 45-54-year-olds with 74%, 55-64-year-olds with 84%, and 65 and older with 89%.
The poll also found that voters were evenly divided on whether Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza, with a 50-50 split.
It also revealed that the slight majority of the respondents (51%) believe criticism of Israel is driven more by a concern for Palestinian human rights rather than antisemitism.
Conducted by The Harris Poll and HarrisX between Aug. 20-21 with 2,025 registered voters and a margin of error of 2.2% points, the poll has been widely cited as evidence of a fundamental shift in American public opinion.
Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 63,400 Palestinians since October 2023, devastating the enclave as famine spreads in the second year of genocide.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Zelensky threatens ‘new deep strikes’ into Russia
RT | August 31, 2025
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has threatened new strikes into Russia, days after claiming that Kiev possessed a brand-new long-range missile capable of reaching Moscow.
Zelensky wrote on Telegram that he had been briefed by Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Aleksandr Syrsky, on the current battlefield situation.
“We will continue our active actions exactly as needed to protect Ukraine. Forces and means are prepared. New deep strikes have also been planned,” he said on Sunday, without providing further details.
Earlier this month, Zelensky claimed Ukraine had developed the long-range Flamingo missile with a reported range of 3,000 kilometers – which would be enough to reach not only Moscow but also Russian cities beyond the Ural mountains. The Ukrainian leader, however, said that mass production is not expected for the next several months.
British media outlets cast doubts on whether the Flamingo was developed in Ukraine, noting similarities with the FP-5 cruise missile produced by the UK-based Milanion Group and unveiled at an arms expo in Abu Dhabi this year. The UK has also been supportive of Kiev’s long-range strikes, having provided it with Storm Shadow missiles in the past.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that there is “nothing surprising” in the similarities, adding that “Ukraine has long turned into a testing ground for Western weapons. There are more than enough examples.”
On Friday, the Kyiv Independent also reported that Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau has launched an investigation into Fire Point, the defense firm linked to the development of the Flamingo missile, after reports it misled the government on pricing and deliveries.
Earlier this month the Wall Street Journal reported that the US had blocked Ukraine from carrying out strikes deep inside Russian territory. Throughout the conflict, some of Kiev’s Western backers have been wary of authorizing unrestricted strikes into Russia using Western-supplied weapons, citing concerns over escalation with Moscow.
Ukraine has regularly carried out long-range attacks inside Russia, which Moscow says frequently hit civilian areas and critical infrastructure. Russia has retaliated with strikes on Ukrainian military-related facilities and defense enterprises but maintains that it never targets civilians.
Mass displacement from Gaza City’s northeast begins as Israeli attacks intensify
MEMO | August 30, 2025
The mass displacement of Palestinians from northeastern Gaza City began on Friday evening as Israeli forces escalated attacks from the north and south, bombarding entire neighbourhoods, Anadolu reports.
A Palestinian security source told Anadolu that the situation in the city’s eastern neighbourhoods is deteriorating “at a rapidly accelerating pace” due to Israel’s intensifying offensive.
The source said the Israeli army has increased demolitions in southern and northeastern Gaza City, using explosive-laden robots alongside artillery shelling and airstrikes.
Anadolu’s correspondent reported “mass displacement” of residents from the city’s northeastern districts toward western Gaza City or farther south in the enclave.
He also reported additional shelling in Gaza City’s southern al-Sabra neighbourhood.
Israel declared a “dangerous combat zone” on Friday and launched one of its most intense bombardments since the war began, striking by air, land, and sea, while nearly 1 million Palestinians are still trapped inside.
The offensive is part of an Israeli plan approved earlier this month to gradually reoccupy Gaza, beginning with the enclave’s largest urban centre, which houses roughly half of the population.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) warned that the assault could force up to 1 million people to evacuate their homes again.
Israel has killed over 63,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
