After two weeks of announcing an “integrated and coordinated attack from land, sea and air,” last Friday, October 27, troops, armored vehicles, and bulldozers of the State of Israel entered the Gaza Strip.
By Daniel Sugasti
Days before, the Zionist High Command had disseminated images of “punctual incursions”, apparently by special forces. The current operation is different. It has been presented as a “new long and difficult phase” which, according to Netanyahu, implies “Israel’s second war of independence.” This is a fallacy based on the old colonialist rhetoric of “civilization versus barbarism,” which the most influential Western media unconditionally reproduces.
The Zionist war propaganda is a disinformation machine. The reality is that the world is facing an ongoing genocide, which is taking place in broad daylight being broadcast live on television, and can be followed with no more effort than logging on to social media.
The fact is that the State of Israel, a military and nuclear power financed by the United States and politically backed by the strongest economies and diplomacies in the world, has occupied the historic territory of Palestine for 75 years and, in order to maintain itself, has promoted ethnic cleansing and has imposed an apartheid regime on the occupied people, that is, a social and legal order based on racial and religious segregation. This war, which is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people, is another chapter in the expansion of this Zionist-imperialist project in the region.
On the part of the Zionists, it marks the continuation of a war of conquest and the annihilation of an oppressed nation. On the part of the Palestinians, regardless of their political-military leadership, it is a war of national liberation and physical survival as a people.
At this time, Israel is relentlessly bombing 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip; people who have nowhere to go because this place is the largest open-air prison on the planet. At the time of writing, the Palestinian authorities have counted 9,000 dead, including more than 3,800 children, and 21,500 wounded.
The people of Gaza are not giving up, despite being subjected to a total siege of medieval proportions, they are without drinking water, food, medicine, electricity or fuel. If the Palestinians are not exterminated by bombs or infantry, the plan of the State of Israel is to kill them by hunger and thirst. We are facing a genocide, a full-fledged ethnic cleansing.
The Israeli bombardments hit schools, markets, and hospitals. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Zionists attacked the Jabalia refugee camp, leaving a huge crater and killing nearly 200 civilians. Israel admitted to the bombing and justified it by saying that the dead civilians had played the role of “human shields” for Hamas because they did not obey Tel Aviv’s order to move south. That same day, Netanyahu preached to the settlers, quoting the Bible: “There is a time for peace and a time for war…and this is a time for war,” he said. This is a typical speech that might be heard in any theocratic regime.
Two weeks ago, the Al-Ahli hospital was attacked by Israel, and nearly 500 people were killed. Now the occupying state is demanding the “evacuation” of Al Quds hospital, where there are 400 patients in intensive care and 14,000 refugees. The WHO has warned of a “public health catastrophe” in the face of the collapse of health services – 16 of Gaza’s 35 hospitals are out of commission and many health workers have been killed in the bombardments – and there is a shortage of drinking water. Desperate Gazans are drinking salt water. There have also been cases of looting at distribution points for the very little humanitarian aid that is available. Israel accused the WHO of “giving terrorists a license to use the health infrastructure for their actions.”
In addition to this Dantesque scenario, 1.4 million people have been forcibly displaced to the south of Gaza. Palestinians are being forced on this veritable “death march” without any assistance and under constant bombardment.
No, we are definitely not witnessing an Israeli “war of independence.” What we are witnessing, in the middle of the 21st century, is a second Nakba. Once again, we must say: a full-fledged genocide, a full-fledged ethnic cleansing, is underway.
The Zionist troops are now moving under the cover of a bombardment of unprecedented intensity. In their path, bulldozers are leveling the ground, destroying homes and every trace of the local population. The advance is slower than expected, but the Israeli army claims to have surrounded the capital, Gaza City.
The choice for a slow, secretive advance instead of a definitive and trumpeted “great invasion” has to do first and foremost with the present and potential capacity for resistance on the part of the Palestinian people.
It is clear that Israel underestimated the offensive capacity of Hamas and the Palestinians. Faced with the threat of an urban war, house to house, in cities reduced to rubble, similar to Stalingrad or Aleppo, the Zionist high command is more cautious. Under these conditions, the use of urban guerrilla tactics can lead to a high number of casualties, which in turn will aggravate the political crisis in Israel. In fact, Palestinian ambushes from tunnels or rubble have reportedly already killed 19 Zionist soldiers.
One should not lose sight of the fact that last October 7th, like other moments in history, proved that the Israeli army and intelligence are not invincible. The last crushing defeat was in Lebanon in 2006 against the Hezbollah militias.
On the other hand, the Israeli genocide in Gaza is increasingly being questioned despite the unwavering support of U.S. and European imperialism.
Large mobilizations condemning the attacks on Gaza are taking place across the world’s main capital cities. The cry of “ceasefire” and “free Palestine” is resounding everywhere. This is putting pressure, to varying degrees, on the imperialist governments, which from time to time, almost in hushed tones, refer to the importance of “humanitarian aid” for Gaza -something that has so far been trickling in from Egypt- without ever questioning the alleged “right of self-defense” of the Israelis.
In the context of the rejection of the genocide in Gaza, which is growing as the humanitarian crisis becomes more dramatic, the region is in turmoil. Hezbollah has launched attacks on Israel, which has responded with bombardments and even the use of white phosphorus, a banned substance that Amnesty International says was also used in Gaza.
Yemen’s Houthis, a faction allied with Iran, have done the same, launching missiles and drones. Erdogan has accused Israel of committing “war crimes.” Bahrain recalled its ambassador to the country and suspended economic ties. Bolivia broke off diplomatic relations with Israel because of the “disproportionate military offensive” in Gaza, and Chile and Colombia recalled their respective ambassadors for consultations.
The USA, the main pillar of the Zionist enclave in the Middle East, has been the stage for a series of demonstrations in favor of the Palestinian people. It is worth mentioning the protests of non-Zionist Jewish organizations, which, among other initiatives, occupied the Capitol with the cry “not in our name.” This is another example that proves that anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-Semitism.
In turn, a diverse group of demonstrators stormed a hearing in the US Senate shouting “Stop this massacre,” “Palestinians are not animals: stop funding Israel’s massacre.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin were in the room. Such actions are very important, but it will take a much larger and more massive movement to shake Washington’s policy of unconditional support for Tel Aviv.
The policy of annihilation against the Palestinian people is intensifying. It is imperative that the world wake up and respond to the genocide of an entire oppressed people. It is unacceptable to naturalize this systematic massacre. The state of Israel, violating even international bourgeois legislation, is promoting an ethnic cleansing against a people that the Zionist defense minister has called “human animals”.
It is impossible not to compare this policy with the “final solution” implemented by the Nazis to exterminate European Jews, who were then called “rats” in the official discourse.
The invasion of Gaza is under way. It is a leap in the escalation of aggression against the Palestinian people. No leftist militant, social activist, or human rights defender should have any doubt: we are in the same trench with the Palestinian people and for the military and political defeat of Israel.
We will celebrate every Zionist soldier killed, every armored vehicle disabled. A military defeat of Israel would weaken this state enclave and would be another step towards its destruction. The end of Zionist apartheid through a united struggle on a global scale would be a victory for the Palestinian people and the Arab peoples and the world.
It is time to redouble our efforts in the campaign to end the genocide of the Palestinian people, to defeat the Zionist war machine, to break diplomatic and trade relations with Israel, a colonial, racist, and genocidal state that must be destroyed. In its place, a single, secular, democratic and non-racist Palestinian state must be established from the river to the sea.
