Nearly a year has passed since the Israeli government’s war against the terrorist group Hamas and the defenseless people of Gaza. So far, more than 40,000 defenseless people, including children, the elderly, and the young, have been killed, and over 120,000 have been injured. In all of the Gaza Strip, few buildings remain standing. Seventy percent of Gaza’s water resources have been completely destroyed. The Israeli army has deliberately uprooted 55,000 trees in Gaza to erase all traces of life from the area. Attacks on refugee camps, targeting hospitals, journalists, and UN employees, assaults on safe zones, the continuous killing of children, the destruction and theft of displaced people’s property, and the forced starvation of Gaza’s displaced population—nearly two and a half million people are struggling with hunger. Death from starvation and the spread of various diseases, amid a lack of medicine and non-functioning hospitals, are increasingly affecting children and the elderly. All of this presents the world with the image of an open, fascist genocide. The unconditional support of the U.S. government and Western countries for the crimes of the Israeli government and military, and the massacre of tens of thousands of defenseless civilians, exposes these nations’ false commitment to human rights and international law.
While the massacre in Gaza continues, the Israeli army has intensified its attacks deep into Lebanese territory. After the destruction of Gaza, Israel has now targeted Lebanon and the West Bank as new fronts in its war. Efforts to find a solution for a ceasefire have been unsuccessful, largely due to Israel’s resistance and especially the obstruction by Netanyahu himself.
From the perspective of the far-right extremists and criminals in the Israeli cabinet, expanding the war across the region is seen as a way out of their current deadlock. Any acceptance of a ceasefire by the Israeli Prime Minister and his cabinet would be seen as a defeat in the Gaza war. The continuation of this war has affected the entire Middle East, with the possibility of igniting a devastating regional conflict that could involve the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, on one hand, is concerned about his personal situation after the end of the Gaza war, and on the other hand, is under pressure from the far-right coalition that forms his government. He cannot and does not want to end the Gaza war. At the same time, despite the brutal killing of more than 40,000 people, including children, women, and the elderly, the war has not succeeded in destroying Hamas. Meanwhile, a powerful wave of opposition has emerged within Israel, both against the continuation of the war and the government’s policies domestically and abroad.
In such circumstances, Netanyahu is resorting to all means to extend the war to the West Bank, the area governed by the Palestinian Authority, and to launch a war with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. In this adventurous policy, Netanyahu hopes to somehow draw the U.S. government into a conflict with the Islamic Republic, even if it is limited.
In this situation, supporting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and showing solidarity with their suffering is an inescapable duty. Just as fighting against religious fascism in any form is also our inescapable duty. Those who align with Israel under the pretext of opposing the Islamic Republic or remain silent in the face of the Israeli government’s full-scale genocide of the Palestinian people and the occupation of their land turn their backs on human rights, morality, humanity, and all values of freedom, equality, and liberation. Similarly, those who, under the pretext of opposing Israel’s crimes and its Western backers, remain silent on the crimes and adventures of the Islamic regime also betray these very same values.
Defending international solidarity among workers, the oppressed, and the masses in the region and around the world is our constant responsibility. The flames of regional wars will most harm the working class. We must stand against the expansion of war and war-mongering with all our might.
