Caitlin Johnstone

Australian authorities were fully aware that inviting Israel’s president for a visit was going to ignite unrest and furious opposition. They invited him anyway, and sent in the police to assault the protesters.

I saw a video of two cops pinning a kid in a keffiyeh face down on the ground and proceeding to punch him over and over again long after he’d been subdued.

I saw another video of police repeatedly punching a middle-aged man who was holding his hands in the air until he fell to the ground.

I saw another video of police repeatedly pepper spraying a demonstrator directly in the face as he was visibly complying with their demands to move and providing no resistance whatsoever.

I saw another video of police manhandling Muslim men who were literally on their knees praying, presenting no possible threat of any kind.

That’s right kids, welcome to Australia, where the government invites the head of a genocidal apartheid state for a happy cuddle party and then beats the shit out of anyone who opposes this.

It’s a testament to the courage and vitality of the pro-Palestine movement in Australia that people keep showing up to anti-genocide protests even as authorities do everything they can to create a chilling effect on them.

After all, this happens as the state of Queensland moves to make it illegal to utter the pro-Palestine phrases “from the river to the sea” or “globalise the intifada”, with violations punishable by two years in prison. This is easily the single most bat shit insane speech suppression legislation in Australian history, and that’s an extremely high bar.

To be clear, not one person sincerely believes that “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” is a genocidal or antisemitic statement. This is one of those many, many instances in which Israel supporters are pretending to believe something they do not actually believe in order to further outlaw criticism of Israel.

They’re trying to make it so that nobody feels comfortable opposing Israel’s abuses without first consulting with a lawyer about what exactly they are legally permitted to say in that moment, thereby throwing a chilling effect on pro-Palestine activism throughout the nation.

This comes weeks after the Australian government passed frightening new “hate speech” laws in the name of “combatting antisemitism” which will make it much easier to designate activist groups as “hate groups”. Australian officials have conspicuously refused to say that the new laws will not be used to ban groups for speech that is critical of Israel, which tells you all you need to know about the real intentions at work here.

This also comes as the state of New South Wales cracks down on protests with extreme aggression, banning protests in certain areas and seeking to outlaw the use of the phrase “globalise the intifada” to appease Australia’s obscenely powerful Israel lobby. Premier Chris Minns is presently defending the actions of the police he sent in to crack skulls at the Herzog protests on Monday.

Just two months ago a prominent member of the Australian Israel lobby publicly announced that he wants a total ban on pro-Palestine protests throughout the nation, and said it is criticism of Israel that is the problem, not just hatred toward Jews. Joel Burnie, Executive Manager of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC), explicitly said that what he wants is “No more protests! No more protests!” in Australia.

“I for one as a Jewish leader will no long talk about antisemitism in isolation from Israel, because it’s the rhetoric and language on Israel that motivates the people to come and kill us,” Burnie said during a video conference, later adding that “ language on Israel invading all of our social spaces in Australia have made this country a very unsafe space and place for Jews.”

Increment by increment, Joel Burnie and his ilk have been getting their wish ever since. Australian civil rights are indeed being disintegrated to protect the information interests of a genocidal apartheid state.

As I often remind readers, Australia is the only so-called democracy in the world which has no national charter or bill of rights of any kind. A tremendous amount of faith has been placed in state and federal legislators to simply do the right thing, which has proved foolish and ineffective. Professor George Williams wrote for the Melbourne University Law Review in 2006:

“Australia is now the only democratic nation in the world without a national bill of rights. Some comprehensive form of legal protection for basic rights is otherwise seen as an essential check and balance in democratic governance around the world. Indeed, I can find no example of a democratic nation that has gained a new Constitution or legal system in recent decades that has not included some form of a bill of rights, nor am I aware of any such nation that has done away with a bill of rights once it has been put in place.”

This system plainly does not work. Australians desperately need speech protections enshrined in our Constitution, because we cannot trust our leaders to resist efforts to silence us whenever our speech becomes inconvenient to powerful people and influential lobbying groups.

[…]

Via https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/02/10/in-australia-the-police-beat-you-up-for-opposing-genocide/

A simple labeled model showing aluminum bridged to two fluoride ions and the glyphosate structure, illustrating the phosphate-like geometry.

Michelle Perro, MD

Jan 27, 2026

It turns out they form a partnership that neither regulators nor the public fully understand. Once they come into contact with a common third player, aluminum, the trio can create a complex molecule that alters how the body performs some of its most fundamental biochemical tasks.

1. Two Everyday Chemicals With Hidden Interactions

• Fluoride is a highly reactive halogen. The form added to drinking water (as hydrofluorosilicic acid or sodium fluoride) is industrially derived rather than mined from natural mineral sources.
• Glyphosate is a synthetic amino acid derivative designed to kill plants by disrupting a pathway that humans supposedly “do not have.” But our gut microbes do depend on that pathway, and so do our mitochondria through similar enzymes.

Each chemical on its own is already contentious. But when fluoride and glyphosate interact with aluminum, something new emerges: a ternary complex that behaves like a phosphate imposter in the body.

2. The Chemistry Simplified

In the presence of aluminum (Al³⁺), fluoride (F⁻) and glyphosate bind tightly to form a stable molecular structure known as an Al–F–Glyphosate complex. This can occur in acidic soils, water pipes, or inside living tissue.

Biochemically, this complex mimics phosphate, a fundamental molecule used in energy transfer (ATP), DNA, and numerous cellular signaling processes. The body cannot easily distinguish between true phosphate and this imitation.

When that happens, enzymes responsible for energy metabolism, hormone regulation, and neuronal activity can become confused. They may remain permanently switched “on” or “off,” misfiring the delicate systems that keep metabolism and brain function stable.

3. Why This Matters Biologically

When these complexes form, they are small enough and neutrally charged enough to cross protective membranes including the blood–brain barrier. Their phosphate-like geometry allows them to enter brain tissue, thyroid cells, and kidneys through natural phosphate transport channels.

The result can include:

• Energy metabolism fatigue through disruption of ATP synthesis
• Neurological stress from interference with nerve signaling enzymes
• Thyroid suppression, because fluoride and glyphosate both block iodine uptake
• Reduced detoxification capacity as the kidneys struggle to excrete the complex

In laboratory systems, aluminum–fluoride molecules are already known to mimic phosphate so precisely that scientists use them experimentally to “freeze” enzymes in active states. Imagine that happening not just in a Petri dish, but inside living human cells.

4. The Environmental Equation

This chemical combination is not exotic. It appears wherever three modern conditions overlap:

1. Widespread glyphosate application on crops and lawns
2. Municipal water fluoridation
3. The presence of aluminum, from cookware, processed food additives, geoengineering, or the soil itself in acidic regions

These elements coexist in most industrialized settings.

Across the United States, approximately 73 to 74 percent of residents served by community water systems (over 200 million people) drink fluoridated water each day.

Regional contrast is striking: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2024-12-06/map-fluoride-in-drinking-water-by-state:

• Kentucky, West Virginia, Illinois, and Georgia maintain fluoridation rates above 95 percent.
• Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and much of Florida remain largely unfluoridated.
• In May 2025, the State of Florida formally banned community-water fluoridation, joining Utah in rejecting the practice after state‑level health reviews cited safety uncertainties and escalating infrastructure costs.

5. The Human Cost of Chemical Complacency

Our regulatory framework still evaluates each compound in isolation. Pesticide agencies examine glyphosate. Dental-health agencies examine fluoride. Environmental departments handle aluminum. No one studies what happens when all three combine in the bloodstream of a child.

This siloed approach blinds policymakers to chemical synergy which is the way molecules can amplify each other’s effects even at very low levels. The emerging evidence on Al–F–Glyphosate complexes suggests that chronic low-dose exposure may produce subtle, but widespread biological stress, especially in infants, developing children, and those with impaired renal filtration.

6. Reducing Exposure Naturally

While we wait for regulators to catch up with reality, individuals can take protective steps to safeguard their families:

1. Filter your water thoroughly. Reverse osmosis or activated‑alumina systems remove fluoride and aluminum together.
2. Choose food consciously. Glyphosate residues cluster in non‑organic grains, legumes, and oats; select certified organic regenerative food when possible.
3. Rebuild mineral balance. Adequate calcium and magnesium help keep fluoride from binding to aluminum or displacing essential ions.
4. Strengthen antioxidant defenses. Nutrients such as vitamin C, selenium, and plant compounds like turmeric and moringa counter oxidative stress.

7. A Broader Perspective

The story of fluoride and glyphosate is about more than chemistry. It reflects a mindset that treats human biology as a controlled experiment and assumes small exposures are harmless. But the data suggest that “safe in isolation” does not equal “safe in combination.”

Public health advances will depend on reframing how we assess environmental mixtures. A truly protective policy must look at interactions, not averages.

[…]

Via https://michelleperromd337477.substack.com/p/the-hidden-chemical-partnership-how

Al-Kindi

Episode 7 – The House of Wisdom

Islamic Golden Age (2017)

By Eamon Gearon

Film Review

Hunhan ibn Izhaq (809-873 AD), an Arab Nestorian Christian, was the Baghdad House of Wisdom’s most prolific translator of Greek as well as personal physician to caliph al Ma’mun. In the latter role, he was imprisoned for a year for refusing to prepare a poison to kill one of Ma’mun’s enemies.

Following his release, al-Ma’mun appointed him as the House of Wisdom’s head of translation. It’s thanks to him that Europe gained access to Galen (a Greek physician 129-216 AD), Euclid, Hippocrates, Plato  and other Greek philosophers and scientists whose work inspired the European renaissance. Ibn Izhak also translated (into Arabic) the entire Greek version of the Old Testament.

As a representative of the world’s largest and wealthiest empire in history (to that date), Ibn Izhak paid House of Wisdom translators the book’s weight in gold for each text they translated. It’s also under his guidance, al-Ma’mun contacted the Persian emir and the Byzantine emperor, requesting a copy of every book in their libraries. Amazingly they complied.

Muslim Arab philosopher, mathematician and physician al-Kindi was the House of Wisdom’s most senior scholar and sometimes translator during the ninth century. One of his projects was to apply Aristotle’s and Plato’s emphasis on logic and reasoning. to support the concept of monotheism. Neither Al Ma-Mun nor al-Kindi aw any conflict between the Islamic faith and logic, though this view would change with the advent of Islamic fundamentalism.

Both ibn Izhak and al-Kindi set a new standard for translation that, instead of translating word for word, emphasized the overall context of the translated text. The two scholars checked and corrected each other’s translations.

The author of 230 original works, al-Kindi was the first philosopher in history to do a detailed outline of all the branches of science

His Decrypting Encrypted Correspondence was the most comprehensive and advanced treatise on code breaking until World War II. He primarily used frequency analysis of letters and combinations of letters to decipher codes.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/5756987/5756999

Israel is waging chemical warfare against both Lebanese and Syrian lands. (Photos: Anadolu, Wikimedia. Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Robert Inlakesh | The Palestine Chronicle | February 8, 2026

Reports that Israeli aircraft sprayed chemical agents along the Lebanese border — later identified as toxic defoliants — have intensified concerns over environmental damage, civilian harm, and possible violations of international law, with similar incidents also reported in southern Syria.

Key Takeaways

• UN peacekeepers suspended patrols after being warned that aircraft would spray chemical agents near the Blue Line.
• The sprayed substance was later identified as a toxic herbicide linked to cancer.
• The campaign is seen as serving both military land-clearing and civilian displacement purposes.
• Similar chemical spraying incidents have been reported in southern Syria.
• Rights groups say targeting farmland may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law.
• Spraying along the Blue Line

Israel is waging chemical warfare against both Lebanese and Syrian lands, a campaign that may not only have dire environmental repercussions but also inflict long-term health problems on local civilian populations.

On February 1, the United Nations peacekeeping forces stationed in southern Lebanon – UNIFIL – were forced to suspend their patrols along what is known as the Blue Line that demarcates the de facto Israeli-Lebanese border. They did so out of safety concerns for their soldiers, after Israel informed them it would be using planes to spray chemical agents in the area.

Tel Aviv initially informed UNIFIL that the chemical agent was “non-toxic.” Nevertheless, the UN reiterated its “concerns” about flight movements in the area, stressing that such activities violate UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

It wasn’t long until it was discovered that the agent being sprayed was, in fact, toxic. Allegedly, the specific agent used, for which a toxicology test was conducted, is a defoliant and herbicide that is linked to cancer.

Israel is currently on its way to violating the Lebanon ceasefire, which went into effect on November 27, 2024, nearly 10,000 times. This makes it the most violated ceasefire deal in recorded history.

Israeli strikes, targeting north to south and even the capital city of Beirut, have killed hundreds. Despite this, there have been no recorded violations by Hezbollah or the Lebanese Army.

A Strategy of Erasure

What is so consequential about Israel’s use of chemical agents in southern Lebanon is that it has two primary purposes. The first is to kill everything it touches, to clear the land for military purposes. The second is that it is being used as a form of collective punishment, a likely intention behind which is to drive Lebanese citizens from their homes.

Perhaps the most horrifying part of this is that there is a dark history of such chemicals being used for the same purposes elsewhere. The most infamous case is that of the US military spraying Agent Orange, also a herbicide and defoliant, during the Vietnam War.

As a result of the callous use of Agent Orange, both the civilian population of Vietnam and US soldiers alike ended up contracting serious chronic health problems. One of the results was birth defects, cancers such as Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and even neurodegenerative diseases. This was in addition to what was labeled ecocide in the country.

While some may argue that the Israelis are simply using chemical agents to clear the land, as a security precaution, this is not plausible. Israel has the capability and has historically used heavy equipment to clear the land.

Deploying chemical agents, which it is of note that they haven’t done so on their side of the Blue Line, is clearly a malicious attack on Lebanese lands and the civilian population living there.

Beyond Lebanon

Israelis have frequently expressed their dismay over the immediate return of Lebanese villagers to their destroyed homes in the south, particularly near the unofficial border, as Israel has never declared its borders.

Meanwhile, a considerable percentage of Israelis, formerly living in settlements like Kiryat Shimona, that were hit the hardest by Hezbollah during the last war, have refused to return.

It has not only been Lebanon that has been subjected to such chemical agent attacks, but southern Syria has also fallen victim to the Israeli military spraying similar chemical agents on its lands.

While the Lebanese government has come under criticism for often ignoring the plight of its citizens in the south, the Syrian government completely refrains from addressing the ongoing occupation and war crimes committed in the south of their country.

The refusal of Damascus to even voice its concern about the chemical warfare being waged against its people and lands has made it less of an issue than in Lebanon, as Beirut has raised its voice.

“The deliberate targeting of civilian farmland violates international humanitarian law, particularly the prohibition on attacking or destroying objects indispensable to civilian survival,” commented the Switzerland-based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor.

It also demanded accountability for Israel’s “large-scale destruction of private property without specific military necessity amounts to a war crime and undermines food security and basic livelihoods in the affected areas.”

[…]

Via https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-toxic-border-how-israels-chemical-spraying-is-reshaping-life-in-south-lebanon/