Since October 7, Israel’s genocidal massacre of Palestinians has continued without pause, killing 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 12,000 children. Thousands remain unidentified, buried under the rubble. Over 360,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, entire neighborhoods reduced to ruins, as Palestinians in Gaza cling to life without access to food, water, or medicine.
There is no place safe for the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has bombed hospitals, places of worship, schools, shelters, bakeries, water towers, ambulances, and food trucks. The Israeli military has targeted hospital workers, journalists, and aid workers. Children walking down the street have been shot in the head by Israeli snipers. Because there is so much death, doctors in Palestine have had to come up with a new acronym: WCNSF — Wounded Child, No Surviving Family.
When the Israeli military began bombing northern Gaza, they told Palestinians to flee to the South. Then Israel bombed Palestinians on the roads to the South. Once thousands of Palestinians fled to the South, Israel intensified its bombing in Southern Gaza, exactly where Israel told Palestinians to go to be safe.
And now, 1.5 million Palestinians, more than half of the entire population of Gaza, are facing mass death, crammed into Rafah, the Southern most city in Gaza, on the border with Egypt. They have nowhere left to go. Israel has already started to bomb the densely populated areas of Rafah, and is threatening a massive ground invasion any day now.
Israel claims the bombings are aimed at rescuing about 100 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on October 7 that are still alive. But in reality, this is a lie. For every one Israeli hostage freed, Israel has killed over 300 Palestinians. The mass murder of Palestinians, the massive destruction of Gaza, pushing half the population to the very Southern edge of Gaza, all of this is about one thing: the genocidal slaughter and expulsion of Palestinians. That is what Israel is doing and what it is poised to do in Rafah.
Meanwhile, President Biden and his administration offer nothing but hollow words over the concern for the lives of Palestinians. At press conferences they occasionally speak about restraint, and avoiding unnecessary death. This is not aimed at holding back Israel’s genocide. It is just the attempt of hypocritical Democrats and politicians to try to get votes because their hands are covered in Palestinian blood.
What use are these words when the U.S. has provided Israel with the very weapons and intelligence used to carry out this genocide? Even as they speak about restraint, Biden and the Democrats are requesting an additional $14 billion in military support for Israel’s massacre of Palestinians. Their actions speak much louder than their lies.
The Republican politicians are playing politics, leaving responsibility in the hands of Biden. But they are equal supporters of Israel and this slaughter. The U.S. military is no stranger to mass murder and destruction. It has repeatedly demonstrated this to the whole world with its consistent support for Israel and recent wars against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan.
This genocide is more than a threat to the 2.4 million Palestinians in Gaza. The longer it is allowed to continue, it provides another glimpse of the sort of massive wars of destruction this global system of capitalist exploitation is capable of.
We cannot sit idly by as the lives of innocent Palestinians are mowed down with U.S.-supplied weapons. We must speak out about these atrocities being carried out in our name. We must do all we can to oppose this genocide, and demand an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestine. And we can’t stop there. We must also continue to fight for a world free from the brutality of occupation, domination, and imperialism.
