Palestine: the genocide resumes
#The solidarity movement
is being repressed
#Time for a reset
At the beginning of March Israel reinstated a blockade on Gaza. Food, water and medicines were banned, as was electricity, including supplies for the desalination plant. Yet again random attacks and assassinations were aimed at the inhabitants.
In Doha, US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and National Security Council Eric Trager presented a "bridge" proposal “to extend the ceasefire beyond Ramadan and Passover, and allow time to negotiate a framework for a permanent ceasefire … Through our Qatari and Egyptian partners, Hamas was told in no uncertain terms that this 'bridge' would have to be implemented soon”. We have seen this before. An agreement is reached. Israel tears it up. The US supports Israel and tells the resistance to make further concessions.
On Sunday 16th March the US launched a massive air attack on Yemen. Earlier the Trump administration reclassified the Houthis as a "foreign terrorist organisation”. Trump, who crudely announced the slaughter on his truth social outlet, also said: "To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!"
These events followed the Houthi warning of a resumption of a sea blockade. This blockade was in response to the Israeli siege of Gaza. No siege; No naval blockade. The US attacks indicate that the genocide was on again, a view immediately confirmed by the renewed mass bombardment and slaughter in Gaza.
The boundaries of the renewed struggle will not remain within West Asia. Trump is rewriting laws to allow the expulsion of anti-genocide activists, even when they have a legal right to remain. New rules are penalising and criminalising student protestors and university administrations are swinging behind the repression with the aid of state forces. In Europe protest is being declared illegal, laws are being amended and press reports doctored. Ireland plans to adopt the ICHR definition of antisemitism, that will lead to the outlawing of criticism of Israel.
The genocide is on the march again. There is still a resistance, but it has been to some extent degraded. Yemen is under attack. A pro-western jihadist group rules Syria, carrying out massacres as Isreal expands its occupation. Lebanon's ceasefire is regularly breached, while pro-US forces operate in the government. The Axis of Resistance proved largely illusory as Iran tried to avoid a more direct confrontation. However, US warnings to Iran may lead to a regional war, with success for Israel, the US, and the West uncertain.
At the moment the obstacles to imperialist victory are mainly internal. There are divisions between the US and Israel and within Israeli factions. How this is resolved depends on the effectiveness of the resistance. The chokehold rests with Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab states in repressing resistance. Victory will involve a direct confrontation with the quislings and a recognition of the class oppression on which these Arab regimes rest.
In the US and Europe, the solidarity movement needs a similar reset. Our allies are those willing to obstruct governments at home that are willing accomplices of the genocide. Those who offer a wink and a nod must be confronted and asked to take the concrete actions that are within their grasp.
That requires a more realistic and political movement. We must move away from expressions of concern and the belief that we should dilute politics to ensure broad and well-meaning support. We are in the belly of the beast. Ireland and the other western countries are integrated into the genocidal war machine. We have to build a movement that can jam the gears of war and bring together real forces for peace and humanity.