Israel’s brutality has again threatened to spark a wider regional war in the Middle East. Recently, Israel assassinated one of Hamas’s main political leaders, Ismail Haniyeh, who had been their lead negotiator in ceasefire talks. This happened in Iran hours after they also assassinated a top Hezbollah military commander in Lebanon.
Iran has promised a direct strike on Israel in retaliation. In response to Iran’s threat, the U.S. immediately ordered more warships and fighter jets to the region to defend Israel in the event of an Iranian attack. The situation is very tense, as Iran promises to strike Israel within days.
Israel’s recent assassinations are totally reckless and risk bringing the region closer to a complete catastrophe. By killing the lead Hamas negotiator, Israel is sending a clear message that they have no intention of negotiating. They just use the negotiations as a cover to carry out their slaughter of Palestinian lives. Their goal is the continued destruction of Palestine, and the expulsion of its people. Negotiations are nothing but a smokescreen, a distraction to buy more time for these relentless killings.
The level of hypocrisy coming from the U.S. could not be more blatant. The U.S. government claims they don’t want a wider war, or that they had no prior knowledge or involvement in these assassinations, but their actions speak louder than words. Israel acted knowing that it could carry out these strikes without risking any loss of U.S. military support, which is exactly what the U.S. has continued to provide with no interruption, especially with these new deployments of ships and troops to the region.
Every move the U.S. and Israel continue to make just brings the region that much closer to a worse conflict. The scale of Israel’s brutality in Gaza is staggering, with at least 40,000 Palestinians killed, and likely many more who are unaccounted for. Just this past week, Israel bombed a school that was being used as a shelter and killed 80 Palestinians. For those that are still alive, 85% of the population of Gaza are under evacuation orders, and most are starving, with no where to go. Fresh water sources have been poisoned, and deadly diseases like polio have returned due to the collapsed sanitation infrastructure. And the West Bank is under constant military assault as well.
U.S. politicians from both parties support Israel’s massacre of Palestinians. And while much of the world agrees with the International Criminal Court’s accusation of war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the majority of politicians in the U.S. Congress fully supported the recent visit by this war criminal. Whether it’s Biden or Trump or Harris, there is no difference when it comes to their unwavering support for Israel’s genocide against Palestinians.
Sometimes, the U.S. may prefer that Israel would exercise a bit more restraint. And occasionally, mainly from Democrats, they offer words of concern about the number of civilian casualties in Gaza. But that’s where it ends. Behind these hollow words is a continuous flow of money and weapons, fueling Israel’s war machine. Israel is not committing these atrocities on its own — the U.S. is an active partner in this genocide. Thousands are expected at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19 to protest the blatant hypocrisy of Biden and the Democrats.
Israel’s military dominance in the region exists only because of U.S. support. If that support were cut off, these atrocities would end overnight. But that won’t happen. The U.S. empire is too deeply entwined with Israel, which operates as its proxy military force in the region. The U.S. has no interest in weakening Israel because it’s too valuable to protect U.S. military and economic interests in the Middle East. The U.S. has backed and installed military dictators throughout the region who serve its interests, imposing poverty, exploitation, and horrific conditions on workers. U.S. imperialism has dominated the Middle East for decades, and it’s willing to risk another massive war to maintain that control.
This escalation towards a wider war, whether it happens or not, is another glaring example of the madness of this system. Israel’s relentless slaughter of Palestinians., U.S. imperialism’s drive to dominate the world economically and militarily – they both pose an enormous risk to human life. No corner of the earth is safe from the dangers this system creates. None of this is in the interests of working people anywhere. This system isn’t a threat only to Palestinian life, but also to the lives of people everywhere. We must continue to organize our forces to oppose it.
