No to War on Gaza! Yes to Class War!

TEL-AVIV, November 17 — Hundreds of Jewish and Arab demonstrators marched in central Tel-Aviv protesting the murderous war waged by Israeli rulers against the Gaza Strip. They demanded an end to the bloodshed and to the suffering caused by the ruling classes (both Israeli and Hamas bosses) to the workers of all nationalities and religions in and surrounding Gaza.

A small gang of Zionist fascists gathered near this rally, dancing with Israeli flags and shouting support for the war. But the fascist thugs didn’t dare approach the leftist demonstrators.

Israeli Rulers’ Phony Excuses

While Israeli rulers claim they’re acting “in defense of Israeli citizens in the south” facing rocket fire from Gaza, that’s as phony excuse as the one used to launch the war four years ago — in which 1,300 Palestinians were killed — “to liberate an Israeli POW from Hamas captivity.” The fact is they made no real effort to free him (he was released in an exchange deal with Hamas).

Yet for four years the Israeli government ignored the distress of the Jewish workers of southern Israel, mostly working poor. Suddenly, right after the U.S. elections and two months before the Israeli elections, it is “protecting” these citizens.

Netanyahu and his tycoon backers don’t really care about workers suffering from low pay, rising living costs, and broad cuts in education, healthcare and welfare. The real reason the Netanyahu government launched this latest carnage — which early on has killed 132 Palestinians, including 18 children — is the changed situation in the Middle East.

With the emergence of the Arab Spring, instead of pro-U.S. dictators such as Egypt’s Mubarak who silently agreed to any action by Israel, the Zionists now face an unstable Arab world fought over by imperialist blocs. In Arab countries such as Egypt and Tunisia, the Muslim Brotherhood is now in power, presumably winning elections “democratically” but still serving the imperialists, not their people.

In these conditions, especially given the power struggle between Netanyahu and his wealthy U.S. patrons (such as billionaire Sheldon Adelson and Mitt Romney) versus Obama and his finance capitalist bosses, the Israeli regime must prove its power as a U.S. “cop” in the Middle East. Mass bombings in Gaza and mustering 75,000 troops on the Gaza border serve as a warning to all regimes in the region, and particularly to Iran, that despite the Arab Spring, Israel and the U.S. patrons are a forced to be reckoned with.

Diverting Mass Protests

Additionally, the war comes after the mass social protest in Israel in the summer of 2011 (similar to Occupy Wall Street) in which hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets protesting the destruction of their lives by capitalism. Netanyahu and his wealthy friends know very well that a “successful” war (that is, with few Israeli casualties and many Palestinian dead) can momentarily push aside masses’ protests over the cost of living, the burden of taxes, the starvation wages and the fact of class exploitation, and win their support for the regime, the tycoons and the massive military establishment.

Israeli fascists of all kinds drool over this war. For example, at Haifa University, in response to a quiet vigil organized by students from Palestine memorializing those killed in Gaza, the “Im Tirzu” activists danced in great celebration flying Israeli flags. The previous war — named “Operation Cast Lead” — increased popular support for the regime, and so does the present one, “Operation Pillar Cloud.”

Of course, all this helps Netyanyahu in the coming January 2013 elections (although his opponent Yehimovich, a socialist, has begun to speak in militarist and even fascist tones). This plays right into the hands of open fascist parliament member Michael Ben-Ari, who speaks aloud those things Netanyahu dreams about: “Let’s turn Gaza into a graveyard.”

Hamas — Another Capitalist Exploiter

Meanwhile, Hamas, a reactionary religious organization, operates a corrupt capitalist regime in the Gaza Strip, where the rich enjoy posh shopping malls and expensive restaurants while the working class starves and suffers from at least 50 percent unemployment. Despite the mutual hateful speeches by both Hamas and Israel, in reality both ruling classes wish the current Gaza situation to continue — that is, Hamas as a sub-contractor of Israel in the Gaza Strip, keeping the workers down and repressing more radical factions.

Ahmed Jaabari, the Palestinian militarist who was assassinated at the beginning of the current round of violence, was, in fact, an indirect servant of the Israeli (and U.S.) ruling class. He even reached a comfortable compromise with Israel for POW exchanges last year. But he was sacrificed for the needs of the imperialists. 

Israel has no interest in bringing down Hamas and again taking over the Gaza Strip. It will cost a huge amount of money and put Israel in a prolonged ground war against Gaza’s masses. When “Operation Pillar Cloud” ends, Hamas very likely will continue to rule Gaza and rockets will continue to fall on workers in southern Israel. This enables Hamas to stay relevant in the eyes of Gaza’s population which cries out for retribution for the Israeli bombing raids on the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu, of course, does not care that workers in southern Israel get hit by rockets from time to time, as long as the long-term indirect rule over Gaza continues.

The rulers’ current war runs against the interests of the Jewish workers in Israel. The mass killings in Gaza will not make their lives safer. On the contrary, Finance Minister Yuval Shteinitz has already announced mass budget cuts (except for the military, of course) to fund this costly war, cuts which will make the lives of the Jewish workers even more hellish.

The hatred preached by the ruling classes of all nations and creeds serves only the Hamas barons and the 19 ruling families of Israel, who laugh all the way to the bank while we tighten our belts and get drafted en-masse for a pointless war serving only the rulers’ profits.

PLP Backs Class War

We in Progressive Labor Party oppose both Netanyahu and his backers — the Israeli capitalists — and the capitalist Hamas bosses in Gaza. We’re not pacifists, however. We support only one kind of war: class war waged by the working class against the capitalist exploiters. The real terrorists here are both Hamas and the Netanyahu government and its patrons, the big tycoons, who turn us into slaves for their profits.

The only real answer to poverty and war is to take to the streets and battle our own enemy — the capitalists. We must fight to smash
racism and capitalist borders between workers erected by the bosses to separate us! Only communist revolution for a society run by and for the working class can free us from the capitalist exploitation that oppresses the workers being slaughtered in this war. Workers of the world, unite!