With less than six weeks before the election, Vice President Kamala Harris has been striking a populist tone, especially when it comes to taking on Big Pharma in her stump speeches. At a recent campaign rally, she touted her tie-breaking vote to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which granted Medicare the ability ‘to go toe-to-toe with Big Pharma and negotiate lower drug prices.’ 

And to great fanfare, just before the Democratic National Convention, the White House announced that the first round of those drug price negotiations would save taxpayers a cool $6 billion – a major win for the American taxpayer.  

Yet at this very moment, the Biden-Harris administration is quietly pushing for a multi-billion-dollar bailout of one of the nation’s largest and wealthiest drug companies – a bailout that would be funded by those same taxpayers.  

The proposed bailout revolves around a patent infringement lawsuit. Arbutus and Genevant Sciences, two small biotech companies, allege that Moderna stole their patented lipid nanoparticle technology, which proved critical in developing Moderna’s mRNA vaccine for COVID-19. 

Though the case is yet to be decided, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals have already determined Arbutus’ patents to be valid, despite Moderna’s attempt to invalidate the patents before the pandemic. Given the stakes of this case, court-ordered damages could reach $3 billion, according to some analysts. 

While this may appear to many as an obscure issue of corporations battling it out over patent infringement, there are serious ramifications for taxpayers here as well.  

In a rare statement of interest filing, Department of Justice officials recently argued that due to an obscure federal law dating back to World War I, Moderna is excused from any patent infringement that may have occurred during Operation Warp Speed, the historic federal campaign to support COVID-19 vaccine development. If that’s the case, the lion’s share of the financial penalty for Moderna’s potential wrongdoing will fall on U.S. taxpayers.  

The law, known as Section 1498, essentially states that the government will compensate an inventor for patent infringement if the technology in question is ‘used or manufactured by or for the United States.’  

In times of great national need, the government may decide they need niche technology at a scale that the original patent-holding manufacturer can’t provide. The law absolves the larger manufacturer from having to worry about licensing the patent from the original patent-holder or deal with the patent-holder taking them to court for infringement. 

Put more simply, Section 1498 is similar to eminent domain, but rather than letting the government seize private land, it allows the government to seize patented inventions in emergencies and retroactively compensate the patent holders. 

Here’s where the DOJ’s argument falls short, as Moderna’s infringement clearly should not be covered by Section 1498. The government never asked them to infringe on the intellectual property of anyone else and never authorized widespread production of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine by other companies due to manufacturing capacity issues.  

And critically, the vaccines in question weren’t used exclusively or even primarily by the U.S. government – meaning military service members or other federal employees – but were instead distributed to regular Americans like you and me.  

Yet at this very moment, the Biden-Harris administration is quietly pushing for a multi-billion-dollar bailout of one of the nation’s largest and wealthiest drug companies – a bailout that would be funded by those same taxpayers.  

‘By or for’ government use has always been understood to mean that the U.S. government is the end user of the product in question – for instance, a patented technology that’s appropriated for U.S. military use – not that it’s merely a purchaser. Objectively, the U.S. government was merely one buyer among many purchasers of the vaccines – including many foreign governments and other foreign state-owned companies.  

If the court overseeing the case accepts the DOJ’s interpretation of Section 1498, it will set a precedent that companies that merely sell to the government, among other customers, are immune from patent infringement lawsuits. That result would be disastrous for our economy and a boon to wrongdoers. 

Patents encourage innovation and risk-taking by enabling anyone with a novel idea to turn it into a real-world product – without bigger, entrenched rivals stealing it. Allowing huge corporations to essentially steal patented technology from small upstarts is the opposite of standing up for the little guy. It’d greatly disincentivize investments in research and development. 

Harris has a strong history of standing up for the ‘little guy’ going back to her early years as a prosecutor and San Francisco District attorney. The vice president should continue that legacy and make clear that in a Harris administration, large corporations will be held accountable if found responsible – a winning message in the final campaign stretch.  

Tali Hadad is a 49-year-old mother of six and a kindergarten teacher whose days would normally be spent teaching basic reading, math and social skills to 5-year-olds. She never imagined that one day she would be forced to make life-or-death decisions while under fire in the middle of a war zone. 

But on Oct. 7, 2023, she was thrust into unimaginable circumstances.

As Hamas launched its assault at 6:45 a.m., she awoke to the sound of sirens and gunfire in her hometown of Ofakim, a small, working-class city in southern Israel 15 miles from the border with Gaza. The piercing alarms that filled the air signaled this was not an ordinary rocket attack, to which much of the region had, over the course of many years, become accustomed.

Hadad instantly knew her family was in grave danger.

Her son, Itamar, a soldier in officer training, was home on leave for the weekend. As the sounds of gunfire grew closer, he grabbed his rifle, fully aware that there was fighting just outside their door. Without hesitation, he ran toward the terrorists. Hadad, still in her pajamas, quickly slipped on running shoes and chased after him, her instincts as a mother taking over.

‘I ran toward the playground,’ Hadad told Fox News Digital. ‘I hid behind a wall and saw a line of terrorists walking with rifles, heading in the direction where my son had gone.’ Moments later, she heard gunshots. ‘I knew Itamar was in the middle of it. I waited, hoping he would come out, but he didn’t. So, I ran toward him.’

Dodging through alleys while gunfire rang out around her, Hadad saw the devastation unfold. ‘People were yelling from windows, begging for help,’ she said. ‘But there were no ambulances coming, no one to save them.’

Then, she saw Itamar. He had been shot multiple times – in the stomach, leg and thigh. Two of his comrades lay dead on the ground beside him.

‘He looked at me and said, ‘Mom, what are you doing here?’ I told him, ‘You’re hurt, I’m going to take you to the hospital,’’ she recalled.

With gunfire still echoing around her, Hadad sprinted back to her house, jumped into the family car and drove straight back to her son. ‘They put Itamar in the car, along with more of the wounded, and I drove as fast as I could, 120 kilometers per hour, to the Magen David Adom station (Israel’s national emergency medical service) at the entrance to the city,’ she said. ‘I knew if I drove slowly, the terrorists would shoot me.’

After handing Itamar over to the paramedics, she made a fateful decision. ‘I told him, ‘Mom isn’t coming with you. You’ll go in the ambulance, I’ll join you later. I have to go back and help the others.’’

Hadad returned to the scene of the fighting and made three more trips to rescue 13 people in total, all while under constant fire. ‘People tried to stop me,’ she said. ‘They told me it was too dangerous, but I took Itamar’s rifle, and I knew this was something I had to do. I had no choice but to act.’

After hours of intense fighting involving police officers, forces from the Yamam special-operations unit, armed civilians and off-duty soldiers, Israeli forces regained control of the town. A helicopter arrived to evacuate the wounded. Only then was Hadad able to step away from her role as a rescuer and check on her son at the hospital. Itamar had survived, but his road to recovery would be long.

‘Half of the rehabilitation is physical, and half is mental,’ Itamar Hadad told Fox News Digital, reflecting on the traumatic events of that day, the friends he lost in the battle, and those he has lost since in Gaza, where his unit, Sayeret Nahal, has suffered many casualties. Despite the pain, his dream remains to return to his unit and continue fighting in the ongoing multi-front war.

On Oct. 7, 47 of Ofakim’s 50,000 residents were murdered, and the street where Hadad lives became known as Rechov Ha’Mavet – ‘Death Street.’

A year after the attack, Ofakim is rebuilding. Death Street, once a symbol of horror, has been renovated. The city has built a memorial, painted murals and planted olive trees – a sign of life replacing the destruction.

‘We’ve gathered the pieces, all the memories of the victims, and we’re trying to bring life back to the place that was destroyed,’ Hadad said.

Ofakim was not among the many towns and settlements in the south that were resettled in other parts of Israel. But the psychological scars remain. The waiting list for trauma counseling has grown, overwhelming the available therapists. In response, the Israel Psychoanalytic Society and the NGO IsraAid established a multidisciplinary trauma center, offering free mental health support to survivors of the massacre.

Hadad, like many others in Ofakim, and in the entire country, continues to struggle with the emotional aftermath. ‘We’re still bleeding,’ she said. For her, the experience was life-changing. She hasn’t returned to work since the attack, choosing, instead, to stay home and care for Itamar. Five of her six children are serving in the IDF, either on active duty or in the reserves. At the moment, two of them are fighting in Gaza. Her youngest daughter will enter the army in a month. 

The community of Ofakim continues to heal, but the memories of Oct. 7 will never fade. ‘We remember how our children ran through the streets barefoot, fighting like lions. No politicians come here anymore. No tour buses arrive. But we remember. We will always remember,’ Hadad said. 

One year ago, Iran took a gamble and started a war in Gaza with the attack by Hamas that killed nearly 1,200 Israelis, including over 40 Americans, and took more than 200 hostages 

A year later, it is clear that Iran is losing this war.  

For his part, Ayatollah Khamenei on Friday, October 4, 2024, remembered the massacre as ‘logical and legal’ and used his first public Friday sermon in five years to proclaim that Iran ‘won’t back down.’ He also had a rifle at the podium. He’s that worried.  

You can measure the defeat of Iran in two ways. The first is restoring Israel’s security and carrying out the military destruction of Iran’s terror agents Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and more.  

Israeli strikes of the past several weeks have brought this goal closer. 

Second, getting Israel and Saudi Arabia back on track toward normalizing relations will be the ultimate defeat for Iran. 

Of all the vile causes for the Hamas attack, the strategic tipping point came because Saudi Arabia and Israel were close to a historic normalization of relations.  

Iran couldn’t stand it.  

Last fall, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman were in serious, quiet negotiations. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrote in his Foreign Affairs article that the work toward joint infrastructure projects and new partnerships between Israel and its Arab neighbors was ‘bearing fruit.’  

‘Every day we get closer,’ bin Salman said in an interview aired Sep. 20, 2023. 

‘We can forge a historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to President Joe Biden during a televised meeting in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly sessions that same day. 

The impending deal included a significant Palestinian component of concessions by Israel. ‘It is not a done deal and there are many variables, but the odds are more than 50%,’ a senior Israeli official told Axios at the time. 

Diplomacy was bubbling along, with Netanyahu invited to Washington, D.C., at the end of the year. 

You can imagine how that went over in Tehran. 

Less than two weeks later, Iran gave ‘the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut’ on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023, sending word to Hamas and Hezbollah, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

The objective was to force Israel into a war to blacken its reputation and scorch any path to peace. 

To do it, Iran coached Hamas to change tactics.  

Just three years earlier, in May 2021, Hamas waged an all-out missile war with huge salvoes to overwhelm Israel’s missile defenses, to no avail. Even with the incredibly brief warning times characteristic of short-range launches, Israel’s multi-layered defensive system held. Of course, the Israeli Air Force hit weapons caches and launch sites. Egypt stepped in to broker the ceasefire.  

This time, the kind of war sought by Iran would have to go beyond missile attacks.  

Officers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began specific planning with Hamas for the attack in August 2023. The goal was ‘the most significant breach of Israel’s borders since the 1973 Yom Kippur War,’ the Journal reported Oct. 8, 2023. 

And so it was. Note Iran was content to let the civilians of Gaza pay a terrible price being caught of the middle of a war zone.  

Most of the Hamas military structure in Gaza was destroyed by the spring of 2024. Biden offered a ceasefire on May 30. Hamas toyed with agreement, but this time there would be no ceasefire despite strenuous efforts by Egypt and Qatar. Iran wasn’t ready.  

Enter Hezbollah. A surge in rocket attacks across the alleged UN ‘blue line’ effectively saw Hezbollah take the lead in fighting. Now, Israel would have to contend with Hezbollah, too. The war entered a new phase with the July 30 killing of Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Politburo, in Tehran itself.  

Israel’s systematic campaign has decimated Hezbollah’s leadership, culminating with the pager attacks and the death of Hassan Nasrallah. Israel’s strikes in Lebanon are now attempting to restore border safety. 

A year after the initial attack, Iran is the loser by any military standard. Two big missile attacks on Israel have been thwarted. The military advantage rests with Israel. However, I suspect more strikes on legitimate military and infrastructure targets to reduce Iran’s power may be required.  

Despite Israel’s military successes, dangers remain. For a year, the American military has done everything President Joe Biden asked in the name of deterrence. This includes steps that made sense: U.S. Navy destroyers intercepting Iran’s missiles, aircraft carriers and F-22s deployed with strike options. And measures that didn’t, such as the Gaza aid pier. The bottom line is 40,000 U.S. forces deployed to the U.S. Central Command region, all to keep a lid on Iran. That can’t go on forever (although China would like it). 

The path ahead depends on restoring Israel’s security and taking out Iran’s capabilities. After that, the goal is to get back to the normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a goal shared by the Trump and Biden administrations. It’s not easy – the two-state dilemma remains. But it is the one sure way to defeat Iran, for good.  

Of all the vile causes for the Hamas attack, the strategic tipping point came because Saudi Arabia and Israel were close to a historic normalization of relations.  

And it’s important for Americans to stay committed to Israel’s security and to the diplomatic goals, despite the pain caused by the shock unleashing of antisemitism. Too many 21st Century Americans turned out to be biased, ignorant, susceptible to foreign instigation, or all of the above. We Americans have to do better than this.  

Don’t forget that in the words of the Justice Department’s Indictment of Hamas, the government of Iran’s regional and global campaign of terrorism aims to ‘weaken and ultimately destroy both the United States and Israel.’  

America’s best interest remains to support Israel – and take all military steps necessary to get back to the regional diplomacy that will shut down Iran for good. 

‘When was the last time you talked to your kid? Do you know where he slept last night? Do you know what he ate? Do you know if he had a blanket on him?’ Ruby Chen, father of Itay Chen who was taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, asked in a sit-down interview with Fox News Digital.

‘All those types of questions are questions that we ask ourselves constantly,’ he said. ‘The feeling is that we’ve been failed.’

Itay,19 years old when he was taken, has remained a hostage held in Gaza for 365 days after his unit in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was attacked in southern Israel when Hamas terrorists flooded the border in a series of mass assaults. 

Chen, a New York City native, said he and his wife have been given ‘unprecedented’ access to the White House, the CIA and other top agencies throughout the last year to discuss ongoing strategies to try and get the hostages out of Gaza.

The Chens have not only met with national security adviser Jake Sullivan a dozen times, as well as CIA Director William Burns and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, they also hold a weekly call with the White House. 

But ultimately, these supportive efforts have fallen flat when it comes to the real needs of American families whose loved ones are still held hostage by Hamas. 

‘We have been failed by the Israeli government, we, as U.S. citizens, feel we’ve been failed by the Biden administration despite all of the access that they’ve provided us,’ he explained. ‘They share as much as they can. But at the end of the day, it’s… very black and white.

‘Where is he?’

Chen explained that following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, the Israeli government pushed a strategy to secure the release of the then 251 hostages by bombarding suspected Hamas positions in Gaza.

In the initial weeks following the deadly Hamas attacks, Israel began pounding northern Gaza – a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believed would bring Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar ‘to his knees’ and make him be ‘willing to release hostages.’

A week-long cease-fire in November saw the release of 105 hostages. Twelve other hostages have been freed following negotiations during the immediate aftermath of the attack, or because of IDF rescue operations between February and August. 

None of the eight American hostages that were kidnapped have been released, and only seven continue to be held by Hamas after the body of Hersh Goldberg-Polin was discovered by IDF forces in late August, after he along with five others were killed by the terrorist group.

More than 100 hostages remain in captivity in the Gaza Strip – 97 of whom were abducted on Oct. 7, 2023.

The Chens, other American families and the international community have repeatedly urged Israel and Hamas to reach a cease-fire agreement and return all hostages to their families. 

But disagreements over security corridors in Gaza have created a seemingly insurmountable hurdle as U.S., Egyptian and Qatari officials work to get Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement.

The father of the IDF soldier pointed out that so long as no one is discussing a ‘day after’ plan for the Gaza Strip and the Palestinians there, Hamas will continue to hold tightly to its most powerful bargaining chip, the hostages.

‘Where is Hamas in the day-after? And if no one is willing to talk about it, then Hamas believes that they are better off holding on to the hostages until something changes,’ he explained. ‘It’s a jihad organization. They wish to have chaos. They are looking for a regional conflict.

‘When they see that there’s now a conflict with Lebanon, that does not motivate them to get into a cease-fire agreement. On the contrary, they wish to belong, and have other players join in this jihad against Israel,’ Chen continued. ‘So I question, what is the plan?’

‘I am very critical of the time,’ Itay’s father said. ‘The last 10 months, I’ve been asking Mr. Sullivan, What’s plan B?

‘I haven’t heard of a Plan B. And that’s unacceptable,’ he added.

Securing peace in the region became even more precarious last week after Israel, against the objections of the U.S. and its international allies, launched an incursion into southern Lebanon with the expressed intent of dismantling the threat posed by Hezbollah.

Chen pointed out that this second front not only added another dimension to securing the release of the hostages, but it also seemingly pushed talks with Hamas on the backburner as concerns remain high over a broader regional conflict.

‘If you could follow the news, you could see that the hostage issue has been less prioritized,’ he said. ‘And that’s a very difficult feeling for us and the families.’

Netanyahu has said his top priority is securing the release of the hostages, but his refusal to withdraw from the Philidelphi Corridor due to security reasons has created a negotiation impasse and questions have begun to mount over whether the prime minister is truly prioritizing the hostages over his push to ‘eliminate Hamas.’ 

But the parents of Itay – who has been described as a ‘fun-loving kid,’ the ‘sandwich’ of the family with an older sibling and younger sibling, everybody’s ‘best friend,’ and a former Boy Scout turned a young man with a loving girlfriend – cannot allow for him, or the others still in Gaza, to be at the mercy of any political agenda. 

‘I’m a guy that comes from New York City – and we talk less, we look at actions. The actions of the last year show the opposite.’ Chen said. ‘He can say whatever he wants. I don’t believe a thing that comes out of his mouth, I believe in what he does.’

The father of three also urged the Biden administration to question whether it is still in the U.S.’s strategic interest to unequivocally back Netanyahu.

‘There is no accountability from either side for failed negotiation. You do not see any equation that says, ‘OK, if you do not do A, then there’s a consequence’ on either side,’ Chen said in reference to both Israel and Hamas. ‘There’s no consequence associated with a negative action to a strategic interest of the United States.’

Chen also argued that ‘effective pressure’ needs to be put on Hamas by reevaluating what other ‘pressure points’ can be utilized.

The father pointed to the clear need for tougher economic and diplomatic involvement when it comes to international aid sent to Gaza – including tougher sanctions not only on adversarial nations but on partner countries that allow aid to flow into Gaza.

This includes stricter oversight of United Nations-provided humanitarian aid, which though intended for the Palestinian people, is falling into the hands of Hamas, a group that is not designated as a terrorist organization by the UN.

Hamas has long been accused of seizing basic goods in Gaza and then reselling them in a black-market scheme at exuberant prices. 

Reports have further indicated that Hamas for years has had substantial access to monetary aid siphoned from funds provided by top organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which has been directly used for combatant operations against Israel, including tunnel building and access to arms.  

But aside from the substantial need to address aid-based concerns, Chen also argued that diplomatic solutions are not being fully recognized by the U.S.

Nations like Russia and Thailand secured the release of their citizens taken by Hamas, and Chen argued Washington – which was able to negotiate with its biggest adversary just months ago to free U.S. citizens from Russian prisons – should be working to do the same to secure the release of those held in Gaza.

‘So, it’s possible,’ Chen said. ‘Complicated, yep. Doable, yep.’

‘The assumption that was put in front of us at the beginning was that U.S. hostages will come out via a larger deal that Israel will be a part of. And if that assumption is not working out after a year, then yes, we need to challenge the administration and look at that assumption.

‘Is that still valid after one year?’