At time of writing, according to the BBC almost three hundred people have died in Israel’s latest attack on the people of Gaza. This is a purely military statistic that does not include the death toll from the civil unrest in Israel itself, as Arab Israeli communities come under attack from Zionist lynch mobs, and the police look on. Of the stated casualty figures, over one hundred are confirmed as having been women or children.
The sad truth is that this is not in any way surprising. The catalyst of renewed Israeli aggression is always slightly different – this time it was Hamas responding to Israeli police attacks on the Al-Aqsa mosque. But Israel’s periodic violent outbursts towards the people of Palestine are not a response to Palestinian resistance. They are the inevitable result of Israel’s very existence; it is an apartheid state that cannot tolerate the existence of a politically independent minority. Hamas could disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow and Israel’s attacks on Gaza would not stop. Iran, Syria and Hezbollah could all similarly cease to exist, but Arabs in and around Israel would be no safer. Israel as a national project is an ethnostate, and any minority cultural, ethnic or political institutions that don’t align with the vision of the Zionist state cannot be tolerated.
Israel as an international project takes on a rather different character. With more footage, pictures and news coverage than ever before, the general public in the Western world are beginning to wonder why this state of affairs is allowed to continue. The intentional targetting of civilian infrastructure, the intentional bombing of hospitals, schools and the media, the indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. Wars of humanitarian interventions have been launched for less.
The reason for the world’s inaction over Israel’s crimes is quite simple: America. The UN Security Council has had four meetings to address the recent spike in violence, and has attempted to issue a statement calling on Israel to suspend it’s military activity. This would be the first step in singling Israel out as a rogue state. America has blocked it. US President Joe Biden has laughably called for a ceasefire, whilst wrecking the only chance the international community has at forcing Israel to stop slaughtering civilians. Biden knows that Israel’s war crimes are almost universally unpopular with the public at large, and wants to be seen to be acting. But his first priority – the first priority of any leader of a capitalist and imperialist nation like the US – is the security of America’s imperial interests, followed closely by the financial success of America’s arms industry, which sells Israel the weapons it needs to continue it’s assault on Palestine.
When you consider that Israel buys these American weapons with military aid money given to it by – you guessed it – America, it becomes easy to see why the Palestinian people will never be given safety or freedom: they are going to have to take it.
We encourage readers to get involved in solidarity actions. Highlighting the crimes of the Israeli state, subverting their interests in our own nations and boycotting Israeli goods are all essential elements in the fight for Palestinian survival. Palestine solidarity is widespread, there is almost definitely a Palestine Solidarity group near you. Join it. Unfortunately, many on the left have been cowed into silence on Palestine over the recent sickening displays in the Labour Party. The weaponisation of bogus anti-racism to silence legitimate criticisms of Israel are a mark of shame for Labour. But solidarity action has long been a political lifeline for Palestine, and we cannot allow our own ruling class to cripple our movement the way America has.
0161 offers it’s unconditional solidarity to those Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation and American imperialism, and to those resisting it. The fight for Palestine is a fight for human rights, for the right of a nation of people to exist, and against capitalist-sponsored war and ethnic cleansing. To be an anti-fascist is to stand with Palestine.