David Halpin
| David Halpin LinkedIn Unwelcome Guests Website Wikispooks userpage (Doctor, surgeon, activist) | |
|---|---|
| File:David Halpin.jpg | |
| Born | David Sydney Halpin 14 April 1940 |
| Died | 14 August 2026 |
| Residence | Exmoor, UK |
| Interests | David Kelly/Death, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, NHS, Zionism, COVID-19 |
A retired UK orthopedic and trauma surgeon turned activist who was instrumental in questioning the official narrative as regards the death of Dr David Kelly | |
David Halpin was a UK orthopaedic surgeon who became an activist and campaigner over a range of issues. Craig Murray termed him "a redoubtable campaigner over the murder of Dr David Kelly"[1]. While firmly supporting the Palestinians, he was a strong critic of Zionism and its influence over the commercially-controlled media.[2] He also wrote about the use of psychological operations to create COVID panic in the UK.[3]
Medicine remained central to the way he saw the world. Halpin's maxim was simple:
"To do one’s best to heal and not to harm."
Background
Born in Lyndhurst in the New Forest on 14 April 1940, David Halpin trained at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London and qualified as a doctor in 1964. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1969 and, following 11 years of surgical training, was appointed as a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at the Princess Elizabeth Orthopaedic Hospital in Exeter and Torbay Hospital in 1975.[4]
Supporting Palestine
David Halpin felt compelled to speak publicly about war and about the Palestinian people. In February 2003, David and his wife Susan organised the Dove and Dolphin voyage to Gaza, chartering a cargo vessel to carry around 55 tonnes of food and other essential supplies.
He subsequently travelled repeatedly to Gaza. In a speech given by Dr Halpin in Nailsea on 29 July 2023, he recalled having been to Gaza ten times.
On 30 December 2008, Halpin was one of 16 people aboard the 'MV Dignity', travelling towards Gaza with the Free Gaza movement. The vessel was rammed by an Israeli gunboat in darkness while still far from the coast. The badly damaged Dignity remained afloat and eventually reached Tyre in Lebanon:
Free Gaza advanced the sailing of its 66ft 50 tonne 'MV Dignity' from 6 January 2009 to 29 December 2008 in response to the ‘greater shoah (holocaust)’ promised to the people of Gaza by the deputy defence minister Matan Vilnai in February 2008, this massacre having started with the killing of over two hundred people within the first fifteen minutes of the blitzkrieg on 27 December. The British master and the Greek mate had the boat readied as fourteen passengers joined in Larnaca. One was Cynthia McKinney. This erstwhile congress woman and very recent presidential candidate had come from the US at a day’s notice. There were also two surgeons and a Palestinian physician. 3.5 tonnes of medical supplies were loaded; the majority had been given by the Cyprus government. Cypriot customs and excise officers had inspected the vessel and its cargo. 'MV Dignity' slipped its moorings in the dark at 07.00 hrs and the two Detroit 840 hp engines drove it hard and south towards Gaza.
At 04.55 hrs EMT on 30 December, searchlights appeared astern. There were two Israeli gunboats. They came abreast, circled and stayed with us. These boats can do over 45 knots, carry ten tonnes of fuel and have sophisticated weapon systems including Hellfire missiles. Tracer bullets were fired skywards, forming ellipses, and flares put up. At 05.30 hrs approximately, one gunboat was playing its searchlight on the port side of Dignity. Suddenly there was a tremendous crash at the bow, and then another almost simultaneously, and another on the port beam across from where the author had sat vomiting for eight hours. The bow dipped and it seemed the boat was breaking up. It was dark, the wind force was 4 to 5 and there was a 10ft sea. The master shouted ‘we have been rammed’. It was feared the boat would sink. He broadcast a Mayday distress signal; there was no later response.
Cynthia McKinney and Caoimhe Butterly could not swim; the life vests were rapidly deployed to all. The hull was taking water but bilge pumps were working. The first words from a commander of one of the gun boats came over the radio. First there was the accusation that the ship’s company was involved with terrorists and that it was subversive. Then there came the threat to shoot. The master was forbidden from making for Gaza or further south to El Arish in Egypt. He was ordered to return for Larnaca – about 160 miles, though the boat was badly damaged and the Israeli did not know whether there was sufficient fuel, which there was not. He set a northerly course and the boat stayed buoyant in a moderating sea. A crew member arranged with the Lebanese authorities for a safe harbour in Sour (Tyre) where jubilant crowds thronged the quays.[5]
Halpin also campaigned over the Gaza flotilla of May 2010. Before it sailed, he wrote to the British government urging it to resist the threatened armed obstruction of the flotilla. Following the attack on 31 May, he continued pressing his MP and the government over those killed, injured and detained.
Inquest for Dr David Kelly
- Full article: David Kelly/Death
- Full article: David Kelly/Death
In December 2003, David Halpin wrote an open letter saying:
"As a past trauma and orthopaedic surgeon I cannot easily accept that even the deepest cut into one wrist would cause such exsanguination that death resulted. The two arteries are of matchstick size and would have quickly shut down and clotted. Furthermore we have a man who was expert in lethal substances and who apparently chose a most uncertain method of suicide. The picture fits more with 'a cry for help'."[6]
Aware of the report of the Shipman Inquiry that "all citizens are under a common law duty to report to the police or coroner any information likely to lead to an inquest", Halpin led a challenge to the cover up of David Kelly's death.
Mr Justice Nicol ruled on 20 December, 2011, that David Halpin had no legal basis for pursuing a full inquest into the unnatural death of Dr David Kelly, and that he must pay £5,638 towards the government's costs.[7] He has claimed that thousands of emails were wiped from one of his computers since he started campaigning for a review of the verdict of Dr Kelly's death.[8][9]
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
At the UK/General election/2019, Halpin stood as an Independent in the Newton Abbot constituency.[10]
Archive at Global Research
Between March 2007 and February 2026, Halpin wrote in excess of fifty articles that were published by Global Research[11]:
Death
Global Research published this memorial:
Dr David Halpin passed away on 14 August 2026. The world has lost a truly fine warrior for peace and justice.
The Palestinians, particularly, will miss David's steadfast and unbending activism. And other causes will miss his committed and articulate support too. Many people have long appreciated David, as a person of integrity and an engaged intellectual.
To honour David’s work, consult his archive of articles on Global Research.[12]
References
- ↑ https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2026/08/dr-david-halpin-and-david-kelly/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K43IMCDrobk
- ↑ https://dhalpin.infoaction.org.uk/52-articles/covid-19
- ↑ "HE REFUSED TO GIVE UP - DR DAVID HALPIN"
- ↑ "Piracy Off The Promised Land"
- ↑ "Political Assassination: Media Disinformation regarding the Death of Dr David Kelly"
- ↑ http://www.inquest4drdk.co.uk/
- ↑ "No Inquest into the Death of Dr David Kelly"
- ↑ "Dr David Kelly’s unnatural death: Murder of the Law"
- ↑ "David Halpin Election 2019"
- ↑ "Dr David Halpin - Archive at Global Research"
- ↑ "In Memory of Dr David Halpin"