With the Democratic Party convention, the U.S. presidential election campaign is moving into higher gear. The Democrats and Republicans are slinging mud at each other. But one thing they agree on is that U.S. military aid to Israel will continue. And, even though they won’t say it clearly, that means U.S. funding for the genocide of the Palestinian people will continue.
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, 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.
The U.S. has sent more warships and fighter jets to the region to defend Israel in the event of an Iranian attack. By killing the lead Hamas negotiator, Israel is sending a clear message that they have no intention of negotiating. Their goal is the continued destruction of Palestine, and the expulsion of its people.
The level of hypocrisy coming from the U.S. could not be more blatant. The U.S. government says they don’t want a wider war, and that they had no prior knowledge or involvement in these assassinations, but they are committed to defending Israel. Israel acted knowing that it could carry out these strikes without risking any loss of U.S. military support.
Every move that 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 over 40,000 Palestinians killed. Of those Palestinians who are still alive, 85% of the population of Gaza are under evacuation orders, and most are starving. Fresh water sources have been poisoned, and deadly diseases like polio have returned due to the collapsed sanitation infrastructure. The West Bank is under constant military assault as well.
U.S. politicians from both parties support Israel’s massacre of Palestinians. While much of the world agrees with the International Criminal Court’s accusation of war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the majority of visit 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. And when the Democrat and Republican leaders agree like this, it means that the U.S. capitalist class that they represent agrees as well.
Sometimes, the U.S. politicians 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 behind these words is a continuous flow of money and weapons, fueling Israel’s war machine. As we write this, thousands are expected at the Democratic National Convention on August 19 to protest the blatant hypocrisy of 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 the U.S. ruling class and government have no interest in weakening Israel because it’s too valuable in protecting U.S. military and economic interests in the region. The U.S. has backed and installed dictators throughout the Middle East who serve its interests, imposing poverty, exploitation, and horrific conditions on workers. U.S. imperialism has dominated the region for decades. It may not want a major war, but it’s willing to risk that to maintain that dominance.
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, as well as U.S. imperialism’s drive to dominate the world economically and militarily, both pose an enormous risk to human life. No corner of the earth is safe from the dangers this system creates. The U.S. ruling class supports Israel’s genocide. We must continue to grow and unite our forces to fight for an immediate and permanent ceasefire. And we can and must organize beyond that, for a world without war, imperialism, genocide, and all the horrors that are part of capitalism.
How Did We Get Here?
Palestine is a small region, smaller than the state of Maryland. It is the site from which three major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) all emerged. However, it would be a mistake to look for the roots of the conflict in the religious history of the region. Believers from all three religions had a long history together in Palestine, well before what we know as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began. That is not the problem. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict began in the 20th century, and the driving forces of the conflict are modern ones, no different than the forces that have shaped the conflicts we see elsewhere in the world – the manipulation of people by imperialism, capitalist exploitation imposed by international corporations, and violence and racist dehumanization of people by politicians and governments to achieve these ends. Ultimately, the violence waged by Israel against the Palestinian people, and the horrifying bloodshed we see in the news, is rooted in capitalist exploitation and the imperialist system whose biggest power and chief architect today is the United States government. For those of us located in the United States, the heart of the empire, we are better placed than anyone else to struggle against imperialism and aid the Palestinian people. But this requires an understanding of the depth of the problem, and an understanding that real change requires a conscious struggle against capitalism and imperialism. Without this there can be no solutiom solution to the plight of the Palestinian people or an end to the violence that continues to consume the Middle East.
Jewish survivors of the European Holocaust desperately embraced the Zionist belief that the land of Palestine was rightfully theirs, based on ancient history. With the support of British and U.S. imperialism, they tragically invaded Palestine and drove tens of thousands from their homes. Since 1947, there has been a constant and growing Israeli occupation of Palestine that has often erupted in violence. The current Israeli assault on Gaza is part of that.
For much more information on this history, visit www.speakoutsocialists.org or scan the following QR code:
Scan the QR code below for the Speak Out Socialists pamphlet, “Palestine: A Struggle Against Zionism and Imperialism.”
