Let Gaza Live!

Permanent Cease Fire Now! Stop the Genocide!

Just as many folks who value human rights have condemned the killing of civilians by Hamas, millions here in the US are condemning the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians, along with hostages, carried out by the Israeli regime. The bombardment of Palestinians is in no way proportionate as a retaliatory measure but is being carried out as an ethnic cleansing measure against Palestinians in general. Unimaginable horror has been inflicted with bombs raining down on Gaza killing scores of innocent civilians, and at times hundreds, daily. The Palestinian death toll is now over 34,000 total and counting. 85% of Gaza residents have now been displaced! For years, the leadership in Israel was content with Hamas rule in Gaza as a counterweight to the Palestinian Authority, and as a means of preventing any possibility for the formation of an independent Palestinian state, all while conducting raids and destroying Palestinian homes in the West Bank.

As the invasion of Rafah is set to begin, protests have erupted in Israeli cities, including Jerusalem. Protesters are demanding immediate elections and the removal of Prime Minister Netanyahu. The world is increasingly becoming aware that the façade of war with Hamas masks the overall Israeli plan to carry out the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and to eventually drive the Palestinian population out of Gaza and the West Bank. Millions here in the US now see Benjamin Netanyahu as the genocidal monster that he is. However, Israel's ethnic cleansing policy long ago exceeded, in lethal brutality, the now defunct South African apartheid system. Fundamentally, this issue is systemic, and as the plan unfolds the risk of a regional conflagration has increased. Hezbollah and Israel are exchanging rocket fire across the Lebanese border. Elsewhere in the region, Yemenis in the north of the country have attacked dozens of commercial ships in the Red Sea with drones, missiles, and speed boats demanding an end to the war on Gaza. US personnel have been repeatedly attacked in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan as well. Israel attacked the Iranian embassy building in Syria, killing Iranian personnel, directly inviting a regional expansion of the war. Netanyahu has clearly demonstrated that he cares nothing about the lives of the hostages or international law and prefers a broader regional war.

In September 2005, Israel completed a separation plan from Gaza in order to preserve the "Jewish state". It controlled entry and exit points (land, sea, and air) as well as water, electricity, and telecommunications. 8000 settlers were relocated. Israeli control of life sustaining resources inflicted hardship on all Palestinians living in Gaza. In 2006 Hamas won a majority in the legislative elections to the Palestinian National Authority. Subsequently, the election of Hamas was not recognized by Israel or the US. Efforts were made by Israel and the US to undermine and destabilize the Palestinian regime. Millions of dollars in weaponry were provided by the US to facilitate civil conflict as a means of removing Hamas. The 2007, civil armed conflict between Hamas and Fatah resulted in Hamas taking full control of the Gaza strip and Fatah (Palestinian Authority) taking full control of the West Bank. The blockade was then tightened, and political space was restricted for ordinary working people throughout Gaza and the West Bank. These developments served as an obstacle to the development of a working-class movement capable of achieving liberation for Palestinians. In the current conflict, Hamas militias have proven to be unable to end the brutal occupation of Palestinian territories or substitute for the organized action of the Palestinian masses. The killing of civilians by Hamas did not represent resistance but rather, strengthened the forces of occupation. As the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians has evolved over decades, Jews have been at times painted as equivalent to Zionists in an effort to dehumanize and justify the killing of Jewish civilians. No number of excuses or amount of rationalization can cover up for this. This trend needs to be repudiated. History has also demonstrated that no leadership defending the interests of Palestinian working people is acceptable to Israel or Washington and a tough road lies ahead. The Western powers have clearly demonstrated that they do not recognize or accept the self-determination of the Palestinian people.

What a historical irony emerged that victims of the Holocaust would be founders of a regime which for decades has engaged in violent ethnic cleansing of an indigenous population! In Israel, Netanyahu's attempts to normalize corruption, dismantle the rule of law, and undermine the unions, are straight out of the fascist playbook. The superficial mask of a "civilized", "democratic", and "progressive" Israel has been torn off by the crude and brutal Netanyahu, committing capricious acts of genocide against Palestinians. The hysterical bloodlust campaign, coming from the US corporate propaganda machine, failed miserably to impose a double standard of human rights on thousands of Jewish refuseniks who are mobilizing because they see human rights as a universal standard to be respected internationally. Many are part of the campus protests that have erupted across the country calling for an end to the genocide and a permanent ceasefire. Students are demanding that schools break all ties to the Zionist war machine and the apartheid system.

The hysterical bloodlust campaign here did not shut down the massive response from youth and working people. Because of this, corporate barons, their media, their schools, and their politicians launched a counterattack via Cancel Culture. They are trying to cancel those opposing apartheid and genocide. They have resorted to doxing, firing uncooperative media hosts, and destroying the future careers of refuseniks. Their Cancel Culture campaign includes the lies that we all support Hamas and that we are all antisemites. Students have been arrested and suspended for supporting Palestine and mobilizing in campus occupations that have spread nationwide. In contrast, those who rationalize the Israeli apartheid system, justify indiscriminate bombings, and support the genocide are considered by corporate media as honorable representatives worthy of respect and due consideration. We can expect more attempts to restrict clothing, flags, signs, and speech going forward. The Cancel Culture campaign has only strengthened the resolve of refuseniks who are delving more deeply into politics and spreading more broadly the forbidden words: "genocide", "apartheid", "Let Gaza Live!", and "Free Palestine!"

The Biden administration and the politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, support Israel and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. The blowback from the ongoing genocide is of secondary concern. The "temporary pier" under construction by the Biden administration "to deliver aid" to Gaza will not prevent the continuation of the genocide in Gaza but only provide political cover for the ongoing occupation and brutality. For these "policy makers", the only "good" Palestinians are the ones who patiently wait for their homes to be destroyed and their lives taken through bombs or bullets. They claim that Hamas hides among civilians, and therefore, wiping out thousands of innocent civilians is acceptable. This kind of logic harks back to the days of the Vietnam war when soldiers were ordered to "destroy the village in order to save it". Even after the removal of the overwhelming majority of US troops from Vietnam, the Nixon regime escalated the genocidal bombing of civilians even though it was clear that they had lost their war against Vietnam. The US war stopped only when the US Congress cut off 100% of the funding to the war effort. The only end to the genocide and murder of Palestinians will come with the removal of Israeli troops and an end to the air war.

On April 1 Israeli forces, in three separate strikes, targeted 3 World Central Kitchen humanitarian aid vehicles, murdering 7 aid workers. This act was no "mistake" or "misidentification" or "unintentional" as claimed by Netanyahu. The Israeli regime views humanitarian aid workers as "hostile targets" and has murdered more than 200 over the last 6 months. Biden's claim that "Israel has not done enough to protect aid workers…" would be laughable if the situation were not so tragic. How can anyone expect the fox to protect the chickens? For the Israeli regime, food is a weapon of warfare used in an effort to inflict genocide upon the Palestinian people and drive them from Gaza and the West Bank. These monsters view aid workers no differently than they view Hamas or Palestinian civilians in their overall genocidal efforts. Keeping Palestinians alive is considered a hostile act undermining their objectives. This is why the hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed and over 400 health care workers have been murdered by Israeli forces. "Hamas" for the Israeli regime is just a code word for "Palestinian" in an effort to dehumanize and justify the slaughter of Arab and Muslim civilians. We are being lied to again and again and again.

The few politicians who oppose US policy, like Congresswoman Rashida Talib, need to be commended for their calls for a permanent cease fire and an end to the genocide, despite their political shortcomings. They are under great pressure, especially from the propaganda being spewed by the corporate media and politicians. Talib and others are being falsely smeared as antisemitic and as being supporters of Hamas and will be under constant attack. Most politicians in Washington claim that "Israel has a right to defend itself", implying that anything goes. These demagogues simply claim they want Israel to "defeat Hamas" and will continue to babble absurdities during the slaughter. What "defeating Hamas" means changes from day to day and serves as a catch all phrase to justify anything involving Israel's genocidal plan. As the slaughter continues support for Hamas throughout the Middle East region continues to rise. "Eliminating the threat from Hamas" was never a realistic goal any more than eliminating the threat from the Taliban in Afghanistan. The threat from Hamas and others only increases as the slaughter in Gaza continues. "Defeating Hamas" is just a façade, a pretext, for war and genocide against the Palestinian people and for justifying the continued expansion of "Greater Israel" and the erasure of Palestine, the final solution.

Thousands of innocent lives in Gaza have been obliterated because Palestinians are penned up in an open-air prison with no place to go. Thousands of Palestinian civilians who fled northern Gaza will be unable to return as the area is being ethnically cleansed. Before the 7-day ceasefire, many who fled to central and southern Gaza were told that this area was safe. But then thousands, who were fleeing, were murdered anyway through deliberate aerial bombardment. No area is safe. Hundreds of Palestinian civilians gathering humanitarian aid have been gunned down by Israeli troops. Over 450 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 7, including dozens of children. 192 before that were killed since the beginning of 2023. The US State Department complains but Washington will do nothing to stop it. They value the "special relationship" with Israel. That "special relationship" means that tax dollars are funding genocide with no conditions attached. Coddling apartheid in South Africa ("constructive engagement") never benefited working people. Coddling Israel will change nothing. Waiting for politicians means complicity. We must take matters into our own hands.

The Boston May Day Coalition demands:

*Permanent Ceasefire Now! End the Air War Now! End the Siege Now! Let Gaza Live! Hands Off Rafah!
*End All US Arms Shipments to Israel Now! End All US Aid to Israel Now! Restore Funding to UNRWA Now!
*US War Ships Out of the Mediterranean Now! Bring All US Troops in the Region Home Now!
*The Israeli apartheid regime must be sanctioned and the BDS campaign must continue.
Washington is deeply complicit in the war crimes carried out by the Israeli regime and needs to be held accountable. It is time for "Genocide Joe" to call for an end to the air war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
*Withdraw All Israeli Troops Now! End the Occupation Now! Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners Now!
*We encourage everyone to participate in the public protests against the Israeli occupation and genocide in Gaza.

The international movement denouncing Israeli apartheid and the genocide against Gaza is here to stay, is expanding, and will influence future generations. The youth will not be subdued, and the protests will continue. Israeli controlled Bantustans for Palestinians clash with the image of modern-day culture. For decades many here have educated themselves about the Zionist project calling for an end to US aid for Israel. The myths of American exceptionalism and Israeli exceptionalism are slowly being swept away. Both will end up in the trash can of history, as outdated dogma. Hundreds of thousands have mobilized here in the US and in countries all over the world. Millions more now have a better understanding of the violent nature of Israeli apartheid. 600,000 marched in London on November 11th and large protests are continuing. Politics in the UK have been shaken up because of this, resulting in the sacking of the Home Secretary.

Before WW II Jews were often identified with fights for workers' rights, championing the oppressed, and socialist politics. Today, Israel represents the opposite. However, many thousands of Jews are reclaiming their heritage by joining the resistance against neoliberalism, neocolonialism, and neofascism. They have thrown off the decrepit and dishonest notion that any criticism of Israel represents antisemitism. Zionism has aligned itself with many reactionary and destructive historical movements since WW II. Israel invaded Egypt and Gaza in 1956 with a goal of Western control of the Suez Canal. Israel supported the genocide in Vietnam, Western European colonialism & neocolonialism, and the genocidal US interventions in Latin America. It was a staunch supporter of apartheid in South Africa, the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the blockades against Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries. The entire list is far too long to note here. And of course, Zionism imposed an apartheid system across the Palestinian territories under its control. From a persecuted minority in Europe, Zionists came to be rulers of a brutal colonial settler state servicing the imperial project of the US State Department. Palestinians cry for freedom, joining millions worldwide seeking freedom from Western imperial domination.

Modern political culture defends religious freedom, secular government, and human rights. After WW II, the necessary tasks of achieving independence, democracy, and secular government in Palestine were aborted by the supremacy of the Zionist project which was imposed on Palestinians as they were consolidating their national consciousness. According to US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer: "Jewish people have a right to their own state" and that the left "seems to acknowledge and even to celebrate this right to statehood for every group but the Jews. If a national homeland for all peoples of the world has been the driving goal of the anti-colonial movement of the last century, then why are only Jews seemingly penalized for this aspiration? Jews have a human right to their own state just as any other people do, Palestinians included." Religion-based states, no matter what religion, have always been accompanied by violence, brutality, and reactionary politics. Fascism flourishes in this type of environment. Working people lose their rights under these states which claim that their preogatives come from devine inspiration!

Christian rule led to abominations like the Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials. Christian statehood was specifically outlawed in the US Constitution for these reasons. Pandering to religion-based states plays right into the hands of today's "Christian nationalists" and the fascist movement here in the US. Christian, Islamic, Jewish, or Hindu states are abominations, a holdover from Medieval times, that working people should reject. The BJP in India is attempting to impose state "Hinduism" (Hindutva). We oppose their "right" to do this because it has led to displacements and barbaric attacks against religious minorities, women, and working people in general. The formation of "Islamic states" has led to persecution of minorities, religious persecution, super-exploitation of workers, and generalized oppression of women. This state "right" has been widely repudiated. Zionism has meant super-exploitation, devastation, displacements, and death for Palestinians. The "Jewish state" has no "right" to do this. Many have widely condemned the so-called "rights" of these oppressors to demonize, oppress, super-exploit, displace and murder innocent people. Religion-based states in the twenty first century can only preserve their "legitimacy" through force and violence along with Western imperial assistance.

In December, the Republic of South Africa filed a case against the State of Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, Netherlands for the "Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip". In the midst of mobilizations worldwide, the initiation of this case, and the court ruling against Israel, cracks in the propaganda campaign here in the US have developed where open debate is beginning to replace the vilification and lying smears against supporters of Palestinians. The voices of ordinary Palestinians demanding justice and the right to life are entering the corporate media through journalists covering the death and devastation in Gaza. These journalists are also being targeted by Israeli forces. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), as of April 12, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has been the deadliest period for journalists since the CPJ began gathering data in 1992. At least 95 journalists and media workers have been killed there. One fact largely obscured by the corporate media is that today 97% of Gaza's water supply is undrinkable. As more protests and facts emerge, politicians are beginning to timidly challenge the "special relationship" with Israel. At times, AIPAC propaganda is viewed in Washington the way a monarch views the ravings of his violent, psychopathic son.

In today's world, antisemitism persists. This poses the question: How can the Jews survive? Serving as a violent proxy for the US in the Middle East and beyond will not bring stability or peace for Israelis. Israel is correctly regarded as a zealot of Western imperial strategy worldwide. Once again, Jews are being placed in the position of being scapegoats for wars and the evils of Western imperial intervention. Does the "Jewish state" serve the interests of working people in Israel? It only breeds separation, concrete walls, discrimination, and conflict. When the wealthy rulers here in the US turn to fascism to resolve their recurring crises, Jews again will be portrayed as convenient scapegoats for plutocracy and US policy. As a persecuted minority in various regions, Jews face the same fate as millions of others who face violence, persecution, and desperate living conditions worldwide. It is imperative that working people worldwide demand refuge for those who face violence and persecution, no matter their religion or social class. Supporting hateful trends like Antisemitism, Zionism, Arabophobia, and Islamophobia is a deadly trap for working people and the oppressed. All the xenophobic hate campaigns must be rejected in favor of international working-class solidarity. Our survival depends on this.

We must also ask: How can the Arabs and Muslims survive? Are they destined to follow the calamitous path of subservience to monarchies, religion-based states, and dictatorial regimes? Are ethno-states the answer? History has answered otherwise. The Arab Spring demonstrated that rebellion has been brewing and people's minds have been changing. Working people and oppressed minorities feel the same exploitation and poverty there, as elsewhere. Muslims and Arabs have not fared well in recent years, unless they belong to the wealthy class which wallows in corruption and decadence. A class which controls reactionary Arab regimes beholden to Western imperial interests. Regimes which for decades have betrayed Palestinian national aspirations. Muslims and Arabs living here in the US can only expect the worst from a fascist movement. Working class Arabs, Muslims, and Jews must sooner or later conclude that aligning with the reactionary, anti-worker interests of the world will not further their interests as workers and oppressed peoples.

Sooner or later, we must come to see the importance of forming an alliance against the exploiters and oppressors. As working people here, we face attacks on our unions, xenophobia and racism, an unfolding climate catastrophe, denial of abortion rights, an emerging fascist movement, and the growing prospect of nuclear war. To survive, we need to unite in support of secular, working-class political programs coupled with international working-class solidarity. There is no other way out for us as working people.