Mossad chief denies political ties to PM
Citizens ‘unlawfully’ not told that they were taking part in a ‘medical experiment’
Mossad Director Yossi Cohen on Sunday denied he has any political ties to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or his Likud party in a highly unusual publicly released letter.
On Saturday night, Netanyahu told Channel 13, “Yossi Cohen is an excellent Mossad chief. He is due to retire from his role in about two months. And I am thinking about how to integrate him afterward. He will make a significant contribution to the government I will form and I will know how to utilize his talents.”
This led the Movement for the Quality of Government in Israel to demand from Cohen that he clarify that he has no political connections to Netanyahu.
The spymaster responded that he has no partisan connections and that his sole role is Israel’s security, regardless of who happens to sit in the prime minister’s chair.
In the same interview with Channel 13 News, Netanyahu rejected recurring allegations that resurfaced last week that Cohen promised to be loyal to the prime minister and his wife when he sought the position of national security adviser in 2013.
In the past, Netanyahu named Cohen and former Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer as his most natural successors to lead the Likud whenever he retires.
Sources close to Cohen have made it clear to The Jerusalem Post that he is drawn to politics, though he will only be able to serve in more unofficial envoytype roles after he steps down in June since there is a three- year cooling off period before he can run for the Knesset.
Anshei Emet (People of Truth), a group against coronavirus vaccination, filed a suit against the Israeli government with the International Criminal Court (ICC) earlier this month, arguing that Israel’s administration of the coronavirus vaccine and policies to encourage vaccination are considered “crimes against humanity” according to the Nuremberg Code.
“It is our intention to present to you and detail how in the State of Israel this year, the Government of Israel with its ministers and its Knesset members, heads of cities, and additional senior factors, violate the Nuremberg Code in an unlawful manner, blatant and extreme. And to our regret, not only in a single aspect but many – too many!” the group wrote in the suit filed by Tel Aviv-based A. Suchovolsky & Co. Law Offices.
Israelis were unlawfully not informed that they were taking part in a “medical experiment,” and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had signed an agreement with Pfizer to receive a large amount of vaccinations if Israelis were used as “experimenters,” Anshei Emet argued. The state did not present “alternatives for treating the Corona disease” and concealed information regarding the vaccines, the suit said.
In an interview last month, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called Israel the “world’s lab” due to the country’s high vaccination rate, which provides real-world data on the vaccination campaign’s effect on health and the economy.
Members of the Helsinki Committee did raise concerns that the agreement with Pfizer could violate privacy rights, as information about the vaccination’s effectiveness is shared with the company.
“Many” were killed, injured and severely damaged by the vaccine, Anshei Emet said in the suit, adding that the Health Ministry “openly admitted that 41% of police persons, military, education and medical personnel who were vaccinated suffered severe side effects.” The Jerusalem Post was unable to verify whether the ministry did this.
There were “no full reports of the numbers of dead or injured,” despite the data from the clinical trials being released and the Health Ministry releasing reports on side effects experienced by those who received the vaccine, the suit said.
Despite the suit’s claims of severe side effects, death and injuries allegedly related to the vaccine, Health Ministry data released amid the vaccination campaign showed that only about 0.25% of Israelis who received the vaccination experienced any side effects, and that the vast majority of these reported side effects were light and temporary, including general weakness and headaches, dizziness, feeling faint, muscle pain, fever, joint pain, nausea, stomach pain, chills, throat pain, coughs and runny noses.
During clinical trials of the Pfizer vaccine, two participants died after receiving the vaccination, but the deaths were deemed to be unrelated to the vaccine by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Meanwhile, the vaccine has been found to be 97% effective against severe cases of the virus and 94% effective against asymptomatic infections, according to data recently released by Pfizer and the Health Ministry. Those who did not receive the vaccine were found to be 44 times more likely to develop a symptomatic case of COVID19 and 29 times more likely to succumb to the virus when compared to individuals who had received their second dose two weeks prior.
Companies and associations that threatened to prevent unvaccinated employees from arriving at work were acting against the Nuremberg Code, the suit said, and policies preventing unvaccinated people from receiving certain services and entering certain locations were against the code. The vaccination policies go against Israeli state law as well, it said.
Anshei Emet called on the
ICC to halt Israel’s administration of coronavirus vaccinations and to stop its policies promoting vaccinations.
Mark P. Dillon, head of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s Information and Evidence Unit, reportedly acknowledged receipt of the suit. The suit would be considered, but this “does not mean an investigation has been opened, nor that an investigation will be opened by the Office of the Prosecutor,” he wrote in a letter to Anshei Emet.
The Nuremberg Code, published originally in the judgment of an American military tribunal in 1947 against Nazi doctors, laid out guidelines for medical experimentation, including the requirement for consent and the need to avoid suffering and unnecessary risk. While the exact code was never adopted in any official policy, it has served as the basis for medical-ethics policy in a number of countries.
the Israeli woman who crossed into syria earlier this year and was returned in a controversial agreement was asked by syrian authorities to help carry out a terrorist attack against Israeli soldiers, but refused to do so, according to the indictment against her published on sunday.
the indictment details how the woman entered syria. on january 31, the woman traveled to Kiryat shmona in the Golan heights, and on February 1, she traveled by bus to Majdal shams. From Majdal shams, she walked on foot to Mount hermon with a bag of food, personal equipment, a phone and a camera.
at about midnight, she crossed the border into syria and left the bag behind. she then walked for a number of hours before arriving at the syrian village of hader, located east of Majdal shams, where she was surrounded by a large crowd and brought to the local police station. at the police station, her camera was confiscated and she was transferred to a jail and interrogated before being transferred to a prison in damascus, where she was kept in harsh conditions for a number of days.
While imprisoned, she told syrian authorities where she crossed the border and showed them the location on a map, as well as explained to them how she made the journey. the authorities asked her to show them how she walked and to return on the path and to lead syrian soldiers to an IdF position so that they could shoot IdF soldiers. the woman refused to do so and said that she wasn’t interested in death or killing and was told that the IdF soldiers wouldn’t be killed, but would instead be kidnapped and brought to syria.
the woman was kept in syrian custody until February 16, and, after a deal was reached between Israel and syria, she was flown to russia and returned to Israel on February 19.
the woman is being charged with illegally leaving the country and illegally entering syria.
this was not the first time the woman has illegally crossed borders or put herself at risk with Israel’s neighbors.
the indictment described the woman as having a “nomadic lifestyle and cruising throughout Israel, without a permanent
address.” the woman illegally visited sites in the palestinian authority many times.
In octoBer last year, the woman traveled to the Galilee and drove along the border with lebanon. during the
visit, she stopped along the border and talked to lebanese citizens near the border fence. the indictment confirmed that photos published by hezbollah-affiliated reporter ali shoeib of an Israeli woman in a vehicle near the lebanese border
were, in fact, of the woman who crossed the border into syria.
photographs taken from lebanon in october 2020 and shared on twitter showed an Israeli woman in a vehicle near the border fence. hezbollah-affiliated media claimed at the time that she was a soldier sent to the border by the IdF in civilian clothing.
“since there are no men in the Zionist army out of hiding and fear!! today, they sent a female soldier in a car and in civilian clothes to scan the military road... note: two and a half months ago, the enemy did not dare to send soldiers to the region!!” read a tweet by shoeib at the time.
the hezbollah-affiliated reporter claimed that the road is inaccessible by civilians as it is closed off by an iron gate that can only be opened with the approval of the IdF. Israel was also in the midst of a national coronavirus lockdown at the time, meaning that if the woman was more than 1 kilometer from her home, she was also breaking health Ministry regulations.
the woman also traveled along the border with the Gaza strip on november 30 and even tried to enter the strip, but was caught before she could do so. Israeli authorities explained to her that this was illegal and dangerous, but she tried again, this time by sea on a surfboard, but was caught by the Israeli navy and arrested within an area considered a closed military zone.
at the beginning of january, the woman crossed into jordan illegally on a bicycle and arrived at a jordanian military position, where she talked with the soldiers and had coffee with them. she was then taken to a few sites for a few hours before she was questioned by a person who introduced himself as the head of jordanian intelligence. she was subsequently returned to Israel through the yitzhak rabin border crossing.
details of the agreement reached between Israel and syria through russian mediation to bring the woman back from syria are still unclear and some details are under military censor. Israel released two shepherds who had crossed into Israel in exchange for the woman and also reportedly agreed to buy over a million dollars worth of russian coronavirus vaccines for syria.
prime Minister Benjamin netanyahu stated that no Israeli vaccines were sent to syria in the exchange deal, but did not deny that Israel paid for vaccines. syrian state news agency sana rejected the reports that vaccinations had been provided by Israel.