Israel’s Genocide Moves Up a Gear

RIGHT TO RESIST: when settlers attack a village or settlement, and there is local resistance, the IDF declare it a terrorist threat and move in with massive repression

by Bill Bonnar, SSP International Officer

WHILE THE WORLD is distracted by Israel’s continued aggression against Iran and Lebanon they have been stepping up their war against the Palestinian people. Since the so-called ceasefire of last year, Israel forces have killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza and continue to severely restrict supplies of food and medicine.

The ethnic cleansing and annexation of Gaza did not end with the ceasefire; it simply moved on to the next phase. Israel is now building a wall which effectively cuts Gaza in two. On one side the Palestinians are crowded into an increasingly small area; permanent refugees in their own country.

On the other side the land is being cleared for absorption into Israel. Settlers have been spotted scoping out sites for new settlements. The aim is to keep slicing up Gaza, squeezing the Palestinians into smaller and smaller areas until there is nowhere for them to go.

Even further from scrutiny is what’s happening in the West Bank. Settler attacks on the Palestinian population – openly supported by the IDF – have increased significantly. The attacks are carefully co
ordinated.

Resistance is not terrorism

The Settlers attack a village or settlement and when there is local resistance, the IDF declare it a terrorist threat and move in with massive repression. People are killed, houses destroyed and land cleared.

At the same time the number of new Israeli settlements has increased steadily. Palestinian land is even being advertised for sale in foreign based auctions. As the initial genocide in Gaza moves onto a new ethnic cleansing phase the Israeli Government has stepped up its annexation of the West Bank. A massive corridor has been created effectively splitting the territory in two; a deliberate attack on the idea of a Palestinian state and the next phase in Tel Aviv’s war against Palestine.

In Gaza, much has been made of the latest developments from the American contrived Board of Peace and in particular, the tentative agreement from Hamas that they will disarm.

Whatever military force Hamas had before the Israeli attack on Gaza it has long been spent. That is why they offered almost no resistance to the Israeli onslaught. To say now that they are going to disarm is mere posturing.

Even the posturing will not be enough because part of the agreement is that Israel will withdraw its military forces. Tel Aviv has already said that this will not happen.

So much for the Board of Peace.

The British media have returned to its well established position of not covering Israel’s crimes in Palestine. Not covering anything which is critical of Israel. A good example is the language used by leading political figures in Tel Aviv; many of whom hold senior positions in the government.

Openly describing Palestinians as scum, vermin, a cancer to be cut out, a plague to be purged from the land. Word for word it’s the language once used by the Nazi’s to describe Jews in Germany.

Extinguishing Palestinian culture

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Modern Zionism regards the Palestinians much in the same way as the Nazis regarded the Jews. An existential threat to Israel and their concept of an expanded Israeli state.

Israel’s future can only be secured by the physical removal of the Palestinian population and the extinguishing of their entire culture and history. In other words, genocide. Scum and vermin.

Imagine if Palestinian leaders described Jews in this manner. It would be covered by every western news outlet, with the BBC leading the way. It would also be totally condemned by the new Burnham Labour Government; the most pro-Israeli government in modern British history. Not surprising, when you consider that most of the new Cabinet are members of Labour Friends of Israel including Burnham himself.

The crisis for the Palestinian people has not gone away which means that the solidarity movement has to continue and grow. At some point the Israeli Government supported by their friends in Washington and the Labour Government in Britain will find a pretence to launch an all out assault on the West Bank.

We all have to be ready.