Israel/Palestine

See our publications on Israel/Palestine, and articles on fighting left antisemitism.

Letter: Russia: it wasn’t antisemitism

A sentence that was added by an editor for context to my article for Solidarity 688, on the antisemitic protests in Dagestan, unintentionally misrepresented my views on migration to Israel from the (former) Soviet Union. Contrary to the editor, I do not believe that the majority of Soviet Jews were “fleeing Russian antisemitism”. While Soviet Russia certainly had a horrific history of antisemitism, by the 1980s and 1990s this was considerably less pronounced than it had been for almost the entirety of the rest of the union’s existence. The reasons for migration to Israel were far more linked...

"On the Israel-Gaza war": Statement from the Solidarity with the Iranian Workers' Movement Committee

The below statement was published by Solidarity with the Iranian Workers' Movement Committee (SWIW) , an initiative promoting solidarity with workers' struggles in Iran. The statement can also be downloaded as a PDF, here . Israel’s assault on Gaza has entered its fourth week. Under the pretext of confronting Hamas terrorists, the Israeli army is besieging Gaza and has displaced 1.4 million people, massacred civilians, destroyed 27,781 residential units, bombarded numerous civilian sites, and forcibly displaced thousands. It has turned Gaza's huge prison into a killing field for civilians...

"Open letter to the UN from Israeli and Palestinian youth activists"

This statement was produced by the Mesarvot Network, a refuser solidarity initiative, the Israeli Young Communist League, and Youth Against Dictatorship. It is reposted from Mesarvot's Instagram, here. Workers' Liberty does not necessarily agree with the entirety of statements we post, but are republishing them to give readers a range of responses by political forces active in or linked to Israel/Palestine and the wider region. We, Israeli and Palestinian youth anti-apartheid activists, stand firmly against the indiscriminate killing of civilians, and against the war-crimes perpetrated by...

Israel-Gaza: the horror deepens

The Israeli assault on Gaza has intensified. As of 31 October, available reports of Palestinians killed were over 8,500. Round-the-clock air strikes have now been accompanied by incursions by Israeli troops and tanks. Gaza also suffered a communications blackout on 27-28 October. The UN has reported raids on aid stores, as the humanitarian crisis worsens. Supplies of basic necessities such as fuel and food are scarce. Aid allowed into Gaza from Egypt, and provided by other countries and international institutions including the US, UK, and EU, has barely made a dent in the problem. Pressed by...

Support Arab-Jewish movement for equal rights!

Despite the challenges, anti-war and anti-occupation groups in Israel have continued to organise. On 24 October, leaders from Standing Together, the grassroots Arab-Jewish social movement, spoke on an online panel organised by activists in the US, along with Yael Berda, an Israeli activist in the “A Land for All” initiative, and Palestinian activist Kefah Abukhdeir. Equal rights All speakers emphasised the need for common organisation between Jews and Palestinians against the agenda of the Israeli government as a necessary basis for forging a shared future based on equal rights. Sally Abed, a...

Ukraine, Palestine: similarities, differences

Two national peoples, one historically colonially subjugated by the state of the other. An ongoing war of attempted conquest and occupation. Devastating air strikes, bombardment of civilian targets, cutting off access to utilities and humanitarian aid. An authoritarian leader who continually denies the legitimacy of the subjugated people’s national identity and right to self-determination. Israel/Palestine, Russia/Ukraine, Putin/Netanyahu. There are many clear similarities between these two situations. As Ukrainian activist and writer Daria Saburova put it, “How can we look at images of Gaza...

Does the BBC hate Palestine?

Why does the BBC hate Palestine? Yuri Prasad asks rhetorically in Socialist Worker . Prasad asserts that the BBC’s interest in the Hamas tunnel networks and use of civilians as human shields is minimising the bombing of Gaza. In fact most people horrified by the Israeli onslaught in Gaza know about the horrors from the BBC and similar media. The BBC interviews lots of Israeli journalists, government and IDF spokespeople, retired diplomats, ex-prime ministers and similar; but it reports the figures provided by Hamas for casualties. It has reporters in Gaza, and they have reported on the ground...

A tale of two SWPs

The massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 caused genuine shock and horror around the world. There was considerable sympathy for Israel in the wake of the tragedy. But not so for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United States. Their response to the terrorist attack was to claim that the “real victims” were Palestinians. For supporters of the Socialist Party, the SWP had crossed a red line. A national campaign was launched to spread the word that the SWP was now openly taking an antisemitic position. The SWP’s reaction was an interesting one. In their weekly...

Israel-Palestine: a timeline

1791: French revolution grants equal rights to Jews, ending thousands of years of discrimination and sometimes murderous persecution against Jews in Christian Europe. In the first half of the 19th century it looks as if this bourgeois equality will spread. Jews finally gain full legal equality in England in 1890. 1881: Wave of pogroms in the Tsarist Empire, followed by a series of laws discriminating against Jews. Antisemitism starts rising again in Europe. 1897: First congress of the Zionist movement. Settlements in sparsely-populated and less economically developed lands — the Americas...

Go to the Israel-Gaza protests!

Solidarity calls on readers to go to the protests for a ceasefire in Israel-Gaza this coming weekend, 4-5 November, and probably many weekends for months now. We recognise Israel’s right to defend itself, but oppose the massacre in Gaza. And we are socialists: people who get active, out on the streets, rather than “getting on with our lives” and protesting only privately or by social media. Secondly, we go to the protests not to blend in and just swell the totals, but to create a profile for a clear and sharp position opposing both Hamas and the Israeli military onslaught. Conversations tell...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.