Western imperialism is complicit in decades of oppression and extermination!
Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people!
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has made his government's murderous strategy crystal clear: "I have ordered a full siege of the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Nothing will go in and nothing will come out. We are fighting animals and we will act accordingly". These are the words of a consummate fascist, unconditionally supported by Washington and Brussels.
Attacks by Hamas militias over the past weekend have provoked a fierce response from Benjamin Netanyahu's Zionist, neo-fascist, racist and colonialist government. A new massacre in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories is underway without any power lifting a finger to prevent it. After the declaration of a state of war and the mobilisation of thousands of reservists, the heavy bombardment of the Strip has already left hundreds of victims, many of them children, thousands wounded and entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble. These figures are set to soar in the coming days, especially if there is a military invasion for which Israel has already massed 100,000 soldiers and hundreds of armoured vehicles on the border.
This unrestrained, brutal, completely unequal military response, with a land invasion that can only be carried out with the greatest violence against the more than two million Palestinians crowded into the Gaza Strip, has the approval of the US and the European Union. The spectacle is shameful. Whether it is Joe Biden and the US Democratic Party, Ursula von der Leyen, Macron, the British Prime Minister or the Spanish government led by Pedro Sánchez and including the PCE, Podemos and IU... the government representatives of Western imperialism have closed ranks in support of Netanyahu and his ultra-right government.
They all speak of "terrorism" to describe the military incursion of Hamas. But they are disgustingly silent in the face of the systematic and criminal state terrorism of the Zionist government of Israel, justifying it whenever it massacres the Palestinian people. These "democrats" of the West, protagonists of a long history of extreme colonial and imperialist violence, support Netanyahu's government composed of openly fascist ultra-orthodox organisations that demand the definitive wiping of Gaza off the map and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians.
It is no coincidence that Netanyahu just a few days ago blamed the Nazi genocide not on Hitler, but on the Arabs, with little criticism from his NATO allies. This is the fascist-led Israeli so-called "democracy" that the US and its European allies defend so much.
What cynicism and hypocrisy. The same people who have armed to the teeth the Ukrainian government, riddled with ultra-right-wingers and Nazis, and who talk about their right to defend themselves, are complicit in and responsible for the savage Zionist occupation of Palestine. An occupation based on a racist policy of apartheid, like that suffered by the black population in South Africa, and on crimes and systematic violations of human rights. Their double standards are despicable. That is why Western propaganda should not deceive us. The repeated statements about Israel's right to defend itself are an open call for the massacre of the Palestinian civilian population.
Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves against Zionist extermination
The Hamas operation does not come out of the blue, nor is it unexpected. Decades of unbearable and steadily worsening oppression in recent years, with thousands of Palestinians killed by military incursions and daily repression, are responsible.
The escalation of provocations in recent months, with a government whose agenda is set by the most fanatical ultra-Orthodox groups, has continued unabated: repressive actions at the Al-Aqsa mosque, the symbol of the Palestinians in Jerusalem; assassinations of Palestinian civilians, including children, by settler paramilitary groups who are protected by the Zionist police and judiciary; destruction of homes and crops, expulsion of hundreds of Palestinian families from their homes and expansion of Zionist colonies; bombings of mosques, schools, hospitals and buildings of international NGOs such as Doctors Without Borders or UNRWA[1]; dozens of military incursions in the West Bank and Gaza, and almost 700 killed so far this year, not counting those killed by the current bombings, thousands of prisoners and systematic torture of innocent civilians. This is the daily life of the Palestinian people.
Added to all this is the desperate situation in the Strip, which has become the world's largest concentration camp, the Palestinians' Warsaw ghetto, with more than 2 million people crammed into extreme poverty as a result of a genocidal policy. It is impossible to leave the territory or to receive food, medicine or resources except in dribs and drabs; almost half of its population faces starvation; thousands of destroyed buildings, including hospitals that Israel bombed, cannot be rebuilt for lack of materials; and there is hardly any electricity, now only four hours a day following new restrictions by the Israeli government. A full-blown military and economic siege that can only be described as war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in the face of which the US and European governments remain silent.
In this context, trying to equate Palestinian resistance or Hamas's actions with the violence of the Israeli state is a real fraud. For thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, who have no perspective for the future, who suffer daily horror, fighting is their only alternative, as they have nothing to lose. From Revolutionary Left International we defend the right of the Palestinian people to fight with all their might against the murderous and colonialist Zionist state, to mass mobilisations, to the general strike and, of course, to armed self-defence. We do not stand on the sidelines and we are not equidistant. The question, as we will explain, is under what political programme this struggle to overthrow the Zionist bourgeoisie and it’s repressive and militarist apparatus can take place. And this is where the fundamentalist and bourgeois strategy of Hamas and the Islamist militias ultimately proves completely impotent.
Nobody knew anything? Who benefits from this new scenario?
This Hamas offensive has been the largest attack on Israeli territory since the Yom Kippur War, just 50 years ago, and has already killed more than 700 Israeli civilians and military. Hundreds of militiamen have penetrated Israel by land, sea and air, occupying settler border towns, those settlers who have carte blanche to shoot and kill Palestinians and who enjoy and cheer from their homes the criminal bombardment of Gaza. Hamas forces have stormed a military base, seized war materiel, taken over police stations and kidnapped more than 100 hostages, including some Israeli military commanders, whom they intend to use for negotiations. But it is highly doubtful that this will be the case. As we are already seeing, the Zionist state is preparing for a bloody revenge in what has been described as its own particular 9/11.
In this context, many analysts and media outlets are quick to point out that this is a historic failure of Israeli intelligence, probably one of the best in the world. Is this true? Did Mossad and the CIA really not have any information about an operation of this magnitude by Hamas, in which they also point to Iran's involvement? Was one of the most militarised borders in the world, with a recently completed security barrier with state-of-the-art technology capable of detecting any movement[2], really not prepared to prevent such an assault?
The reality is that this explanation lacks credibility, as military experts such as Kobi Lavie, a lieutenant colonel in the reserves and former head of the Palestinian affairs branch (COGAT) of the Ministry of Defence, have made clear: "It is impossible to organise an operation of this scale in Gaza without Israel knowing about it. The intelligence information existed. What has failed is the understanding of that information. There has been talk of a war for three or four months". Added to this is the fact that three battalions were moved from the Gaza border to the West Bank, leaving it even more unguarded. It does not seem, therefore, that we are simply dealing with a chain of mistakes and security failures.
This offensive by Hamas comes at a critical moment in Israel. The judicial reform that the opposition denounces will do away with the 'independence' of the justice system, and which, among other things, seeks to exonerate Netanyahu from the numerous corruption scandals that beset him[3], has caused a deep fracture in society and divisions within the ruling class.
Netanyahu is building a totalitarian and Bonapartist regime by relying on ultra-Orthodox fanatics who seek to impose a state that resembles, in terms of social regulation and repression of freedoms, to the Iran of the mullahs. They want to do away with any element of secularism and take society back to the Middle Ages. Israel's political regime is extremely reactionary and based on oppression of the Palestinian people, but hundreds of thousands of Israelis are not ready for such a step backwards. The situation has reached such a point that Israel's president, a purely symbolic position, warned a few months ago of a serious danger of civil war.
In July this year, 10,000 reservists signed a letter threatening to refuse to be moved to the occupied territories in the face of the government's authoritarian drift. A growing and dangerous division in the army has led former military commanders, such as General Amiram Levin, to publicly denounce the occupation of the West Bank as "war crimes" similar to those of the Nazi Germany[4]. Now, in the wake of the Hamas incursion, reservists are already expressing their unconditional support for the government, closing the fractures in the army for the time being.
Hamas's offensive has become, regardless of its intentions, a gift for Netanyahu to repair his battered situation, to call for "unity of the nation" to face a "long and difficult" war, and to have more room for his totalitarian and militaristic policies. His government will, of course, cover up any investigation into alleged security failures by Israeli intelligence and the Israeli army, and by declaring a state of war, which was not done in previous conflicts, they will further limit democratic rights, preventing possible demonstrations and protests against the government.
In the short term, such national unity will be achieved and the more authoritarian and reactionary tendencies in the government and society will be strengthened. However, the extreme polarisation that runs through Israel, rooted in its decline as a regional power and the decrepitude of its capitalism, which has caused a visible increase in inequality and poverty, will not disappear.
On the other hand, the fascist and fundamentalist character of Netanyahu's partners, and of the extreme right-wing opposition that is not in the government[5], who openly call for the extermination of the Palestinians, for open battle in Lebanon against Hezbollah and for war even against Iran, will continue to be a source of instability not only in Israel, but in the region as a whole. Hence the main opposition leader, Yair Lapid, has condition his participation into a national unity government to Netanyahu breaking with his more extremist partners. This is not because he is proposing a policy of dialogue on Palestine, but to ensure an equally brutal military intervention that can be contained to certain objectives.
A dynamic with many risks for Netanyahu and Western imperialism
In this context of chauvinist fanaticism, Netanyahu and the Israeli oligarchy are preparing to launch a devastating military offensive on Gaza, which they will combine with a harsh campaign in the West Bank, boosting settlement and settler violence. As these lines are being written, special legislation has been passed to provide the civilian population, i.e. mainly settler paramilitary militias, with more weapons, and videos of the first pogroms against Arabs and Palestinians can already be found on social media.
This dynamic towards dictatorial positions will further strengthen the Zionist fundamentalists targeting first of all the Arab population living inside Israel, and then the secular sectors, women or the labour movement itself. After months of mass mobilisations against Netanyahu and the extreme right, putting them on the ropes, they will now have an opportunity to take revenge. For this very reason, any policy of national unity with Netanyahu on the part of the left or the trade union movement is sheer suicide.
In any case, as many analysts are already pointing out[6], the offensive in Gaza will also present problems. First, the Palestinian armed resistance, which will bring in new troops who have nothing to lose and who will confront the invasion by inflicting significant casualties on the Israeli army, especially in a village-to-village and house-to-house struggle. But even after "victory", what is the plan? Maintain a military occupation of Gaza at a very high cost? Kill tens of thousands of Palestinians and drive the rest into the sea? To try to reinstate the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in Gaza, to act as a collaborationist force as it is already doing in the West Bank? None of this will work in the medium term.
Zionist brutality will awaken, and already is awakening, a solidarity movement throughout the Arab world from below, generating pressure on all those reactionary and corrupt governments that long ago abandoned the Palestinian cause. That is the reason behind the statements condemning Israel from Qatar and Saudi Arabia and the upcoming meeting of the Arab League. This situation could lead to a dangerous escalation, first with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and then with major military clashes in the region. The accusations against Iran are along these lines, although every effort will be made by the imperialist, regional and world powers, Arab and non-Arab, oblivious to the struggle and suffering of the Palestinian people, to reduce the conflict to the destruction of Gaza.
In this scenario, it is not only Netanyahu who wants to profit from this situation. Focusing all propaganda efforts on Israel is also a political necessity for US imperialism and its EU allies, hiding the increasingly obvious disaster they face in Ukraine. Hence their diplomatic offensive at the UN demanding unconditional support for Israel, which has failed to achieve unanimity in the Security Council, and their subsequent accusations against Russia and especially China for not blindly supporting Israel and not condemning Hamas.
In this context, US has decided to move one of its main aircraft carriers to the Mediterranean, in an operation to warn against any show of support for the Palestinian cause by the countries in the area and to give full backing to the Israeli government. The EU wants to be no less, and has already made it clear that it will bring the Palestinian population to its knees. Olivér Várhelyi, European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, announced: "As the largest donor to the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its entire development portfolio under review, for a total value of 691 (million) euros", the scoundrel wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Only a revolutionary and socialist alternative can put an end to war and barbarism
The war in Palestine is of a totally unequal nature. Therefore, to approach the issue from a strictly military point of view is a big mistake. Despite their enormous bravery, courage and resilience, the Palestinian people cannot wage a victorious war against the Israeli military machine without relying on the mass movement, class solidarity and an international revolutionary perspective.
Winning the support of the working class and social movements in Israel, which also face the threat of ultra-orthodox fascism, is decisive for the victory of the Palestinian cause. This has been seen in recent months and in the past when strong protest movements have erupted in Israel strengthened currents in favour of the aspirations of the Palestinian people. We saw it in 2021 during the massive bombardment of Gaza, and it was the general strike in Palestine and Israel that stopped the escalation in its tracks[7]. And that was the case also during the first and second Intifada. It is revolutionary struggle by class methods, not religious fundamentalism, that can unite the oppressed masses in Palestine with those in Israel and undermine support for Zionist and reactionary ideas among the Jewish people.
Hamas's action is a propaganda coup in a situation of complete desperation in Gaza. It is a blow that strengthens their influence vis-à-vis Al-Fatah, which has been acting for years as the enforcement arm of Israel's colonialist policy in the West Bank, where they are also losing positions and the little political authority they had left. This is the sad legacy of the PLO and the famous Oslo Accords that many sectors of the left, including the revolutionary left, hailed as the way forward to resolve the Palestinian question.
However, beyond this temporary propaganda coup, as has happened on other occasions, Hamas's religious fundamentalism is no alternative. Hamas is an instrument of Tehran, of a regime that is a theocratic dictatorship and that has bathed the popular uprisings that have shaken Iran in recent years in blood. They do not have a revolutionary, class or internationalist policy, but a religious and pro-bourgeois one.
As they have showed in Gaza, the Hamas leadership has relied on a large section of the Palestinian property and commercial bourgeoisie, which does good business with the Israeli capitalists, allowing the enrichment of an elite, and proving their incapability to confront and solve the serious daily problems of the Palestinian masses. Its obscurantist fundamentalism also repels the left and militant sectors, both in Israel and internationally. An isolated military action, which poses the entire people of Israel as the enemy, without any class differentiation, however large it may be, will turn against. It will not weaken Zionism, but strengthen it, giving oxygen to its most extreme right-wing elements.
Palestinian national liberation is not only about confronting the murderous Netanyahu government, but also the Palestinian and Arab bourgeoisie. The Palestinian ruling class is an accomplice of the occupation and was a supporter of the Camp David and Oslo agreements. They are an appendix of the corrupt and sold-out Arab bourgeoisie. They have acted under the directives of Washington and Brussels on numerous occasions and as jailers of their own people.
The oppressed people and masses of Palestine have been betrayed on countless occasions. This must be honestly acknowledged and conclusions must be drawn from it. The alternative is not the Iran of the mullahs, not religious fundamentalism, but a revolutionary strategy and policy based on mass struggle, general strike and insurrection, advocating a socialist program capable of uniting the oppressed of Palestine and Israel and expropriating the Israeli and Palestinian capitalists, who do business together through occupation. Such a political program would connect the aspirations of the Palestinian masses with the growing battles of the Israeli masses.
It is the time for internationalist solidarity with the peoples oppressed by imperialism, for supporting the struggle of the Palestinian masses against decades of occupation and extermination and for a policy that makes the defeat of the Zionist machine possible. And this will be possible only with the program and methods of the socialist revolution.
Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people!
Long live the Arab Socialist Revolution!
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[1] UN agency for assistance to Palestinian refugees.
[2] Israel announces completion of security barrier around Gaza
[3] Israel: Explosión social contra el Gobierno de extrema derecha de Netanyahu
[4] El ex general de la FDI compara el control militar de Cisjordania con la Alemania nazi
[5] Lieberman: estoy listo para unirme al gobierno si hay un compromiso de destruir a Hamas
[6] Cuatro malas opciones enfrenta Israel en la franja de Gaza
[7] Israel bombardea Gaza y las masas se levantan contra la ocupación. ¡Abajo el Estado capitalista sionista!
