Israel/Palestine

Barry Finger (“Questioning the call for a ceasefire”, Solidarity 689 ) wants us to support Israel in its immediate military conflict with Hamas. But if there is an abstract case for supporting a state in a war against a clerical-fascist militia, the means by which Israel carries out its side of that conflict puts it beyond support. Israel’s military strategy, which aims to reduce Gaza to a “city of rubble”, means it is not merely making war on Hamas, but on the population of Gaza as a whole. How many Palestinian lives are acceptable collateral in the pursuit of the destruction of Hamas? And...

This page collates statements from left, labour-movement, and human rights organisations from Israel/Palestine and the wider region in response to the war beginning in October 2023.

As Israel’s assault on Gaza continues, with the Palestinian death toll passing 10,000 (four thousand children), the Israeli state and the settler movement are intensifying repression of Palestinians elsewhere — both in the West Bank, and of the Palestinian minority inside Israel itself. The Israeli campaign group Yesh Din, which monitors settler violence, reports 172 incidents in at least 84 Palestinian towns and villages since the Hamas atrocity on 7 October. The Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry says 130 Palestinians have been killed, by settlers and by Israeli security forces. A New...

Despite this being a period when many local Labour Parties are not taking motions because of reorganisation for new constituency boundaries, at least two local Labour Parties have passed motions for a ceasefire in Israel-Gaza. Others have motions tabled. There are moves to set up a “Labour for a ceasefire” group, and UK Friends of Standing Together looks set to gain support in local Labour Parties and trade unions. Sixteen front-benchers have supported a ceasefire. 580 Labour councillors have signed one or another of two letters calling on Keir Starmer to back a ceasefire. Less usefully, a few...

Rishi Sunak, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden have urged the police to ban the 11 November Israel-Gaza protest in London. The Tories say it might harm the anniversary of the World War One Armistice on 11 November. But the march is planned to go to the US embassy in South London, nowhere near the Cenotaph, and the Remembrance ceremonies are 12 November, not 11 November. The Tories also talk of officially defining as “extremist” any effort deemed to “undermine the UK’s values”. Solidarity opposes state bans on protests. Where protests have reactionary...

In an editorial on 3 November, the Morning Star has warned of a “horrifying increase in anti-semitic incidents across Britain since the start of the present Gaza crisis” and stated that socialists “cannot ignore this” even “as we fight for peace in Gaza”. This is a significant development. The sharp rise in antisemitic incidents that began immediately following Hamas’s pogrom on 7 October (i.e. well before Israel’s attack on Gaza) had previously scarcely been mentioned in the Morning Star. In fact, between 7 October and 3 November, while the paper frequently, prominently and correctly...

The Israeli-Gaza War has prompted a significant rise in antisemitic incidents in Turkey. A second-hand bookshop in Istanbul went viral for displaying a sign saying “Jews Not Allowed”, and the Etz Hayim Synagogue in Izmir was spray-painted with the slogan “Murderer Israel”. Süleyman Sezen, an AKP (Erdoğan’s party) councillor in Samsun, said in a council meeting: “Historically, everyone gets angry with Hitler because he was racist. Hitler had a saying: ‘You will curse me for every Jew I did not kill.’ This is true. Once again I honour Hitler’s memory.” Şahzade Demir, an MP for Hüda-Par (a...

We are right to call for a ceasefire. The alternative is to support mass bombing of civilians amongst whom Hamas hides. However, we should do that as people who are seriously in favour of Israeli self defence. Hamas wants to destroy Israel, any Israel. It wants to do to all Israelis what it did to 1,400 of them. There are perhaps, tens of thousands of Hamas hiding in the civilian population. There is more than an Israeli decision to it. They should get out? Yes, in principle. But effective Gaza independence has led to the rule of Islamic clerical fascism, and the horrible events in Israel of a...

There is a popular campaign in the North East to shut down Rafael arms manufacturing factory in Newcastle. I think it’s right to say End The Arms Industry and transition to socially useful green jobs. And, right now, No Arms To Israel, Stop The Siege Of Gaza. However, I am concerned about the arguments focusing on Rafael as an Israeli-owned company “killing children in Palestine”. According to PSC (and others), Rafael is manufacturing missiles and armoured vehicles for use in Gaza, but how do I verify this? Some of the arguments seem knee-jerk reaction to the horror, and possibly misleading...

There is much that is unique and noble, principled and courageous in Solidarity ’s 25 October editorial. There’s so much to agree with, and yet… The editorial asks pointedly, “Of what politics is the war between Israel and Hamas a continuation?” But this won’t quite do. Israel is a state; Hamas is a theocratic fascist organisation that rules a semi-autonomous state/region. The correct symmetrical ways of posing this are either: of what politics is the war between the Likud-Kahanist government and Hamas a continuation? Or of what politics is the war between Israel and Palestine a continuation...