Israel suffers massive defeat in ICJ genocide case: Ceasefire & sanctions now

Owen Jones explainer👇

 

 

Why are we still waiting on healthcare mask mandates to reduce SARS-CoV-2 infections?

 My article in todays' Indo. Huge thanks to my incredible editor, Tom Coogan. A dolphin in a sea of sharks😇🌟

https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/tess-finch-lees-why-are-we-still-waiting-on-a-healthcare-mask-mandate-to-deal-with-covid-over-to-you-minister/a144055388.html

Excerpts

"In Ireland, despite last year being the worst on record for hospital overcrowding and the resultant chaos that goes with that, the HSE’s chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry invoked infection prevention control (IPC) guidance, which put the burden of risk assessments on to individual healthcare settings. The same IPC guidance, the UK’s Royal College of Nursing and the British Medical Association have said, is now inconsistent with the WHO’s guidance on universal masking in healthcare.

Sars-CoV-2 transmission remains a global threat which requires decisive preventative action by governments at a national level. The HSE’s clinical lead in emergency medicine, Dr Gerry McCarthy, said recently that masks should be made mandatory in healthcare settings to curb the rise in Covid cases. The duty of care lies with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to act now"

"....Sars-CoV-2 is a level 3 biohazard which requires respiratory protective equipment for lab workers. Yet, since the removal of universal masking, healthcare workers elsewhere in hospitals are inhaling (becoming infected) and exhaling (infecting others) with the same biohazard, with no protection whatsoever. This surely contravenes the EC directive on the protection of workers from risks of exposure to biological agents....."

"Writing in the Los Angeles Times last week, renowned scientist Professor Eric Topol described the global response to the pandemic as “make believe”. He said: “There’s no getting over the pandemic until we recognise reality and double down on research that will allow us to block infections and achieve lasting, variant-proof immunity.”

In the meantime, we must use the tools that we have at our disposal. Starting with the immediate implementation of WHO guidance and mandating universal masking (ffp2/3) in healthcare".

Within the next few days I'll be publishing - here - the detailed letter I sent to my health insurer putting them on notice (backed by science/evidence that a) I do not consent to myself or my family being infected with a preventable level 3 biohazard whilst accessing facilities procured by them & b) we require a list of covid aware/safe healthcare practitioners & facilities. I will be sending it to my local hospital boards also. Sources included. Watch this space👍

The ONLY way to prevent long-COVID is to prevent getting infected with COVID in the first place

According to the WHO, around 1 in 10 infections result in long-Covid, a disabling, chronic condition, for which there's no cure. Anyone, including children, can get long-Covid. Vaccination may help but it doesn't prevent long-Covid. Risk increases with every infection. The only way to avoid long-Covid is to avoid getting infected with covid. How? For starters: Wear a snug fitting ffp2/3 respirator mask😷💜

Dr Ziyad Al Aly long-Covid researcher & specialist: "The burden of long-Covid is on a par with the burden of cancer & heart disease...... ".."There are zero approved medications for the treatment of long-Covid. Zero" 

Jordan's Long COVID story👇

Alicia's long COVID story👇

 

Children & teens are not immune from covid or long-Covid. Adults charged with their safety are exposing them to harm💔 If you're a parent, please join the community advocating for clean air in schools. As parents, our greatest duty, above all else, is protecting our children from harm. Specifically: being forcibly infected with a level 3 biohazard - in school.

Long COVID can present itself in many different ways - some symptoms include:

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Changes in smell or taste
• Chest pain
• Difficulty sleeping
• Anxiety or depression
• Headaches
• Cognitive dysfunction

COVID-19 infection also increases the risk of the following health conditions:

• Heart attacks, strokes or heart inflammation
• Blood clots in the lungs or elsewhere
• Diabetes or worsened control of existing diabetes
• Lung fibrosis or other lung problems
• Kidney damage
• Severe mental health issues

Brilliant Public Health messaging here from 

Victorian Department of Health

@VicGovDH

You can protect yourself & your loved ones from COVID with these 6 steps: Wear a mask Stay home if sick Test if you have symptoms Let fresh air in or meet outdoors Stay up to date with your vaccinations Talk to your GP about COVID medicines.

Global day of action for Palestine today: March from Garden of Remembrance (Ireland)

 National Demonstration for Palestine to take place in Dublin TODAY Saturday 13 January

March part of a global day of action calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal war

Press Release, Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friday 12 January 2024, 4.45pm

Tomorrow, SATURDAY 13 JANUARY, there will be a National Demonstration for Palestine taking place in Dublin, organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign and supported by over 70 Irish civil society groups (full list below*). In what looks set to be the biggest Irish protest for Palestine in history, people will gather at 1pm at The Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square, and march to the Department of Foreign Affairs on St. Stephen’s Green.

The march is happening as part of global day of action calling for an end to Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people in Gaza, and comes against the backdrop of the ICJ hearings on South Africa’s genocide filing against Israel.

Speakers on the day will include Senator Frances Black, Palestinian scholar Rania Muhareb, legendary social justice activist Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey, retired pro-boxer Tyrone McKenna, ICTU President Justin McCamphill, Palestinian activist Walaa Ajjawi, and IPSC Chairperson Zoe Lawlor.

Speaking ahead of the march, Zoe Lawlor, IPSC Chairperson said: “This march - endorsed by scores of Irish civil society organisations from trade unions to community groups - has been called as part of the Global Day of Action for Gaza, and we will make this the biggest Palestine solidarity demonstration in Irish history! We encourage everyone who has protested with us before, and everyone who hasn’t but is silently outraged to come to Dublin and march to show your anger and your grief – let’s make our demands for action from the Irish government unignorable! Let’s raise our collective voice to demand an immediate end to Israel’s genocidal war, an end to Israel’s regime of apartheid, and to call for sanctions on Israel now, and freedom and justice for the Palestinian people!”

IPSC Vice Chair Fatin Al Tamimi, whose family members remain trapped in Gaza, said: “The live-streamed genocide that is being allowed to happen in Gaza is horrendous beyond imagination, and yet the Irish government won’t act to punish Israel – not a single sanction, not a single change in foreign policy, just words, words and more yet meaningless words. It won’t join South Africa’s ICJ genocide filing, call for Israel to be prosecuted under the genocide convention or even name Israel’s system of oppression as ‘Apartheid’. The people of Ireland, not least Palestinian-Irish citizens like myself, demand so much better. I urge everyone who can to join our march this Saturday to make our voices heard. No more business as usual with the genocidal apartheid state of Israel!”

Notes for Editors

* In addition to the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the full list of organisations that have endorsed the march are:

Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Irish Council for Civil Liberties, Union of Students in Ireland, Le Cheile - Diversity Not Division, Jews for Palestine - Ireland, Academics for Palestine, Adult Education Tutors for Palestine, Afri - Action from Ireland, Bloody Sunday Trust, Bray & District Council of Trade Unions, Cairde Palestine, Centre for Global Education, Comhlámh, Comhlámh Justice for Palestine, Community Action Tenants Union - CATU, Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Cross-Cultural Conversations, Dublin Council of Trade Unions, East Wall Here for All, Ecojustice Ireland, Gaza Action Ireland, Ireland Palestine Mental Health Network, Irish Anti-War Movement, Irish Artists for Palestine, Irish Football Fans Against Israeli Apartheid, Irish National Teachers' Organisation, Irish School Student's Union, Irish Social Workers and Social Care Workers for Palestine, Irish Sport for Palestine, Irish Traveller Movement, Lawyers Against Racism, Mothers Against Genocide, Mullingar 4 All, National Women's Council of Ireland, Palestinian Rights Institute, PalFest Ireland, Peace and Neutrality Alliance, Phibsboro for All, Psychologists for Palestine, Sadaka - The Ireland-Palestine Alliance, Shannonwatch, Socialist Lawyers Association of Ireland, Teachers' Union of Ireland, TCD BDS Campaign, TCD Students' Union, Teachers for Palestine, The People's Movement, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, UCD Students' Union, SIPTU, Unite the Union, Communication Workers Union, Friends of the Earth Ireland, Independent Workers' Union, Financial Justice Ireland, Praxis Artist Union, TUD Students' Union, Dublin 4 Gaza, Dublin Bay North for All, Balbriggan Palestine Solidarity, Access for All Ireland, Trademark Belfast, Left Bloc, Irish Lawyers for Palestine, Muslim Sisters of Eire, Mandate Trade Union, Kairos Ireland, Greystones Against Genocide, Dún Laoghaire for Palestine, Peadar Brown's Bar, Irish Pakistani Community Network, Kashmir Peace and Solidarity Council Ireland, Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland, Pavee Point Traveller and Roma Centre, Energy Services Union, and NCAD Students' Union.

ENDS

DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL - THIS ACCOUNT IS NOT MONITORED

For advance comment, interview or promo [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

Zoe Lawlor, IPSC Chair: 087 950 4397
Fatin Al Tamimi, IPSC Vice Chair: 086 026 7721
Betty Purcell, IPSC Media Team: 087 259 6003

For liaison with spokespeople/speakers on the day [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]

Betty Purcell, IPSC Media Team: 087 259 6003
Karen Moyhinan, IPSC Media Team: 085 754 7874

DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL - THIS ACCOUNT IS NOT MONITORED

The ICJ must Stop Israel's genocidal campaign & allow access for humanitarian aid

Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh at the Hague yesterday presenting evidence - already in plain sight - of Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza. Next up, the UK & US....

 "The first genocide in history where it’s victims are broadcasting their destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope, that the world might do something" 💔

UNICEF: "This is a war on children" 

"The world should be ashamed"

Evidence of Israel's genocidal intent👇

"The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it's also overwhelming & incontrovertible" 

Bombing Yemen, killing yet more innocents, was a willful act of provocation, moral bankruptcy, insanity & stupidity. War mongering is to go to dead cat for dead beat politicians. Power at any cost.

"Don't dissociate": 2024 looks set to be the year fantasy collides with reality. Buckle up.

New Year, new opportunities to help make the world a better place 💪💞

I've spent the past 2 weeks (Took time out over Christmas) reading & attempting to respond to messages from around the world in response to my last article about Jess, the 4 year old infected with SARS2 by her doctor and was hospitalised with RSV weeks later. Jess' case is not isolated. Messages were split predominately between healthcare workers' safety concerns & those of patients. All of whom share a fear of accessing healthcare facilities with absolutely no airborne protections in place. And, apart from being lone maskers, have no agency over their own safety.

Also in my inbox, the usual anti-maskers who want to give me a good kicking/slapping. They’re the same trolls whether I write about immigration, Brexit, genocide in Palestine & Sudan or masks. In the same way that not everyone who voted for Brexit was racist, all the racists likely voted for Brexit. Similarly, not all ant-maskers/science are racist but the racists do seem overwhelmingly anti-maskers and anti-science. Public health policy, like our streets, have been captured by far-right thugs.

Things must be bad because the WHO is worried: About rampant, uncontrolled transmission constantly spawning new, more immune escaping variants, such as JN1, worried that, even though we're currently experiencing one of the biggest all time pandemic surges, actual infections may be 2-19 times higher than reported. Since hardly any countries are testing, carrying out surveillance or reporting cases, the WHO cannot make accurate global assessments. Note to WHO: The decision to end the public health emergency of international concern (NOT the pandemic) enabled the dismantlement of surveillance systems. Note to world leaders: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. 

They're worried that repeat SARS2 infections might lead to cardiac, pulmonary, neurological impairment 5, 10, 20 years from now. There's still so much we don't know about this virus but what we do know is ALL bad. Very bad.

In recent days & weeks, the WHO has reminded the world that we remain in a SARS2 pandemic & issued guidance for universal masking in healthcare, as well as improved ventilation in crowded indoor spaces. How can that NOT include schools? It does. But where are the children's rights advocates? What has happened to parental duty, and feral instinct, to protect our kids from harm?

Parents, teachers, healthcare workers, mental health practitioners, public health advisors and opposition politicians, I know it's hard to tune into covid when you've tuned out for so long, but believe me when I tell you, it's not too late to start protecting yourself, your kids and your community. No matter how many infections you've had, you can limit further infections and potential for cumulative damage by wearing an ffp2/3 respirator mask (not the baggie blues) This incredible young woman nails it👇, Please watch & share widely🙏

"Don't dissociate" 💥🔥💓

Bombardment, hunger & genocide for the children of Gaza & Sudan this Christmas

Tried & failed to publish articles about the genocidal campaigns in Sudan & Gaza recently. Will keep trying. Silence & apathy in the face of humanitarian and human rights violations is not an option. 

This from Banksy💔😢

 

Nollaig shona gach duine, Feliz navidad, eid milad saeid,عيد ميلاد سعيد joyeux Noel....

Spread joy not diseases this festive season🎅🎄

Lit a candle tonight for a loved one lost this year. Strength & virtual hugs to others isolated in grief. You're not alone💜

Baking mince pies with my real life angel is one of the highlights of Christmas every year💓

They look scrummy but I won't lie, they'd break your teeth😬

Happy Winter Solstice (belated)

 Hauntingly beautiful Wales💓

We cannot handwash our way out of an airborne pandemic. Pretending otherwise is futile, and cruel

Excerpts from my article in today's article in Indo👇

Read full article here: https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/tess-finch-lees-covid-and-other-respiratory-illnesses-are-surging-and-its-a-nightmare-for-hospitals/a2120593308.html.

Germany’s health minister, Professor Lauterbach, warned that the increased incidence throughout Europe of cardiovascular disease in 25-50 year olds is associated with covid infections. “It’s not a cold” he said. “Colds don’t cause autoimmune disease or brain damage/inflammation, potentially increasing the risk of major long term neurogenerative diseases”. “Long-covid”, he warned, “is a debilitating disease, for which there’s no cure, the burden increases with every wave”. He’s advising working from home, boosters, testing and avoiding indoor Christmas parties.

I'm invariably over word count so not everything makes the cut. Such as this full para👇

Meanwhile, our Chief Medical Officer, Professor Smyth, has re-launched her Hello Again World Campaign, nudging our elderly to socialise indoors, unmasked, unventilated in the midst of an airborne pandemic. Novavax and antivirals are being withheld. Hospitalisations doubled four weeks after Smyth’s last campaign ahead of Paddy’s day. It’s the greatest public health heist since Camels got doctors to endorse cigarettes with the slogan, “smoke your anxiety away”, except worse: It’s sponsored by Ireland’s CMO.

SARS-CoV-2 is a vascular disease that can damage blood vessels, potentially causing cardiovascular disease, strokes, neuropsychiatric disorders, organ damage etc, which may present months later. Reinfections increase these risks and that of developing long-covid. It’s often asymptomatic. Everyone is vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 – the clinically vulnerable disproportionately so. SARS-CoV-2, RSV and other airborne diseases can be prevented with snug ffp2/3 masks, testing, isolating when sick, ventilation and HEPA filtration. Boosters help reduce severity.

These last 2 paras pushed word count but is available exclusively here for my lovely blog readers!👇💞😎

Our government and CMO have abdicated public health to individuals whilst withholding data and information necessary to assess risk. Jess’ mother pleaded with medics to mask, they refused. Children did not consent to being harmed by those entrusted to heal them.

With warnings of healthcare collapse over Christmas, health minister, Stephen Donnelly’s failure to reinstate masks and clean the air in hospitals now, will lead to countless preventable disease, disability and death: for staff and patients. We cannot handwash our way out of an airborne pandemic. Pretending otherwise is futile, and cruel.

Ceasefire now: Keep learning & speaking about Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza. Evil thrives when good people do nothing

Confused about how we got here? I recommend this compassionate, empathetic interview with holocaust survivor, Dr. Gabor Maté, and his daughter, Hannah. 👇💔

Lowlights of life in lockdown hell

Autumn has been a veritable foraging fest. All those hours spent making crab apple jelly, foraging with friends for mushrooms, sorrel & berries to cook up lakeside with freshly caught trout. To think we could have spent that time perusing the bog-off baskets in Aldi & being happy by eating a happy meal on plastic seats with all the other happy meal noshing happy people instead.  Our kids will never get those lost indoor childhood moments to the sound track of muzak & kerching on loop - back 🙃

Getting ready for bonfire/firepit evening in Sussex🔥

 

Starry night around the campfire with lovely humans. Rock star👇😎💓

What's the matter with these kids? Out & about in all weather & never sick. Getting on for 4 years & no colds, flu, RSV, Strep A, diabetes, hepatitis...& funnily enough - no SARS-Cov-2. Constant sickness is yet another pandemic childhood experience our kids are missing out on  Robbed trolley days in A&E. With more than 70% of household SARS2 transmission reportedly starting with children, sending them unmasked into overcrowded, unventilated schools with unfiltered, level 3 biohazard laden air is the best way to keep that sickness/new onset chronic illness level up. Recent study shows that SARS2 infection increases risk of RSV in kids by 32-47%. Not "immunity debt"🙈🙉🙊

Making a bow & arrow in forest school

Teen Park art😎

Homemade rhubarb & black current crumble made from home grown produce from a lovely friend💖

Fishing, foraging & forest bathing in splendorous Wales with fabulous folk (agony obvs)🌳🎣🍄

Mother nature's sculpture just sitting on the forest floor ready to delight 

SARS-CoV-2 is airborne. It hangs in the air like smoke, except it's invisible. Don't breathe in contaminated air exhaled by others. Mask up. Crack open windows & clean indoor air with HEPA filters, in the same way we filter dirty water.

Geneva Convention: In situations of genocide, silence = complicity. Babies & children in Gaza being starved & bombed to death by Israel. For the love of God, speak up

Don't be silenced by the deliberate campaign to smear people calling out Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza as, antisemitic.   

Israeli-British Oxford University Professor, Avi Shlaim, speaking at

@ICJPalestine

on October 30th 2023: "Anti-Semitism is a very ugly thing and can never be justified. Most of the anti-Zionist statements that I've come across are reasonable, evidence-based and legitimate. The problem is, Israel and it's friends conflate the two, so to claim that any criticism of Israel and it's policies are ant-Semitic." "The Secretary General of the UN made a very humane statement about the need for ceasefire and to protect civilians. And the Israeli representative immediately accusing him of anti-Semitic"

Please click on the link & watch/listen to his powerful speech - then make a stand against genocide👇🙏

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1721256932348973480

Not in our name: Ireland denounces Israel's genocidal attacks on Gaza

 “We have no food,.. I am traumatised and trapped. I need your help”. The words of a 13 year old Palestinian girl begging the international community for help. “I am a child like any other…I am not trash, I am human”.

This week, a hospital in Gaza was bombed, killing hundreds of people, including children. Perhaps it's a coincidence that, four days ago, Israel openly admitted intent to bomb hospitals in Gaza The WHO condemned that as “a death sentence for the sick and injured” Channel 4 correspondent Alex Thomson’s analysis of the evidence so far shows the Israeli account to be contradictory, producing an alleged Hamas recording that experts say is fake. He reminds viewers of the Israeli government’s history of denying culpability only to be found culpable. He invoked the killing of Palestinian journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh as an example, which I wrote about at the time.

Israel has also said it is planning a “ground invasion". Yet yesterday, the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution that would have condemned Hamas' attack on Israel while calling for a pause in the fighting to allow humanitarian assistance into Gaza. The UK abstained. Decades of exceptionalism and impunity has emboldened Israel’s rogue despotic acts.

Livestream footage from Gaza shows children's bodies laid out - mangled - on white sheets, stored in ice cream vans because the morgues are full. Israeli forces have reportedly killed 1,030 children in Gaza in recent days and images of mass graves are emerging.

We are bearing witness, in real time, to war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by Israel against innocent Palestinian civilians, half of whom are children. Israel has cut off food, water, fuel, humanitarian aid and medical supplies, issued evacuation orders then bombed civilians fleeing through the "safe route". When this happened in Ukraine, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen denounced it as constituting war crimes. Not only did she not condemn Israeli actions, she unilaterally condoned them.

President Michael D Higgins criticised Von der Leyen’s intervention as “thoughtless and reckless”, stating that she did not speak for Ireland. On Israel, he said: “It’s one thing, when we look at historic breaches of international law, that is incredibly bad, but to actually announce in advance that you’re going to break international law…It reduces it to tatters”.

Violence and murder of any civilians anywhere is abhorrent. My heart goes out to the traumatised and grieving families in Palestine and Israel. To break the cycle of violence, we must acknowledge the root cause.

For the past 75 years, Israel has forced thousands of Palestinians off their land, occupying and illegally creating settlements for Israeli settlers. Entire Palestinian communities have been displaced, their homes and livelihoods destroyed, their movements restricted, as is access to water and natural resources. They are relentlessly persecuted, oppressed and attacked by occupying Israeli forces.

In 2021, Human Rights Watch described Israel’s policies against Palestinians as crimes against humanity, persecution and apartheid. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and Amnesty International also describe Israel as an apartheid state perpetrating human rights abuses against Palestinians. 

Amnesty International has provided evidence that Israel has deployed white phosphorous in Gaza. These acts and the collective punishment of civilians are in contravention of international law, cheered on by Joe Biden and other Western leaders, as millions worldwide protest their government’s’ complicity in war crimes. Leo Varadkar is one of few exceptions, showing principled leadership by condemning Israel’s actions.

UN human rights expert, Francesca Albanese warns, “Israel has already carried out mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians under the fog of war...Again, in the name of self-defence, Israel is seeking to justify what would amount to ethnic cleansing”.

Israel’s propaganda machine is going all out, manufacturing consent for ethnic cleansing. Actively using dehumanising language describing Palestinians as “animals”. Propagating un-substantiated reports of Hamas beheading babies, which were repeated by international media outlets. The CNN journalist who reported this as fact, fuelling hatred and revenge, later admitted that the Israeli government could not confirm the claim and that she was “misled”.

Inciting racial hatred fuels atrocities in Gaza and beyond. On Monday, a 6 year old Palestinian-American boy was fatally stabbed, and his mother seriously injured by a man, in what has been reported as an anti-Muslim hate crime, prompted by Gaza coverage.

Claiming that civilian targets are legitimate because Palestinians voted for Hamas is codswallop. Palestinians haven’t had elections for 17 years meaning half the population weren’t eligible to vote. Noteworthy: The same justification was invoked by Osama bin Laden for targeting American civilians.

Israeli attempts to draw comparisons with Bloody Sunday backfired when the Bloody Sunday committee said it was “Outrageous to have the memory of our innocent dead sullied by the apartheid forces of the Israeli State”. 

Four days after Hamas brutally attacked Kibbutz Be’eri, a 19 year old Israeli survivor, made a video plea to the world. She did not want revenge. She showed empathy with civilians in Gaza saying: “ For people to go through what I went through and not have anyone to extract them. It cannot be. It cannot be”. Adding, “I blame Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu] 100% for this”, by failing to find a political solution. She asked the world to reflect on our values and to demand a just peace.

The World Health Organisation warns there’s less than 24 hours’ worth of supplies left in Gaza, hospitals have only hours of fuel and a UN agency says people are forced to drink sea water. We need to demand an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid access and a just peace respecting international law.

If a traumatised Israeli teenager is capable of recognising that a 13 year Palestinian girl begging for her life is human and deserves protection, why can’t Western leaders? We must never accept that some human lives are deemed more worthy of saving than others. Under the Geneva Convention, silence is complicity. The children of Gaza are relying on us to be their voice. Speak up. Time is running out.

People Before Profit TD, Paul Murphy, expressing the views of Irish citizens👇