Israeli Gas Deal Pumps Racism, Nationalism

TEL AVIV-JAFFA, November 28 — Thousands of people protested against the “great gas robbery,” a government plan to grant control of the second largest natural gas field in the Mediterranean to a handful of capitalists and exempt them from taxes or regulations.
But there is one obstacle to developing the Leviathan gas field off the coast of Israel—namely Israel’s isolation in the Middle East. Its deplorable treatment of Palestinians has created many enemies, and few countries are willing to invest in critical infrastructure for potential profits. The exceptions? Noble Energy, a Texas energy company that conducted the initial exploration in 2010, is already investing in the gas reserves. In October, Russia made a deal with Israel to allow Gazprom, the mostly state-owned Russian gas company, to get in the mix. This adds another variable to the volatile competition between U.S. and Russian imperialists for control over Middle Eastern oil. But one thing is clear. Leviathan makes the region even more valuable to the imperialist powers—and more likely to trigger the next global war.
Jewish workers are demonstrating every week for regulation of the gas. Some groups want Israel to nationalize the gas field, while others are demanding limited taxes or price controls. Either way, the capitalist ruling class wins. Regardless of any controls or regulations, profits from Leviathan will be massive.
More important, the demands are racist and further divide the working class by feeding Zionism. Workers at the protests overwhelmingly wave Israeli flags and chant fascist slogans: “Left and right unite! Come together for Israel!” In reality, the politicians promoting the protests have no interest in meeting the needs of workers in Israel-Palestine. The Israeli bosses are using this struggle to promote Zionism and foster the continued exploitation of all workers, and specifically the super-exploitation of Arab, Black, and undocumented immigrant workers. Only when all workers of the world unite under the red flag of Progressive Labor Party will we be able to meet workers’ needs.
PLP’s response was to chant, “Arab, Jewish, Black and white, workers of the world unite!” We distributed CHALLENGEs and fliers that exposed the dangers of Zionism and the need to fight for communism. We explained that is impossible to be “progressive” and fight for the rights of only one group of workers at the expense of another. In fact, the oppression of Arab workers allows the bosses to exploit Jewish workers and keep the brutal profit system in place. If natural gas is truly to be controlled by the working class, we must overthrow capitalism and replace it with the worldwide dictatorship of the proletariat. Communism is the only system where all workers will organize resources for the common good.