No to US intervention in the Middle East! Stop the Israel-Gaza war!

Damage in Gaza Strip during the October 2023 War- Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages via Wikimedia

Statement by the Executive Committee of the Independent Socialist Group

On October 7th, Hamas (a right-wing, fundamentalist party aiming to establish an Islamic Palestinian state) launched an attack from the Gaza Strip, primarily targeting Israeli civilians. The attacks included massacres in towns and at a music festival and the capture of up to 200 hostages. According to the media network Al Jazeera, about 1,400 Israelis have been reported dead and 3,800 wounded.

In retaliation, the Israeli state declared war on Hamas. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) besieged the Gaza Strip–a densely packed area of more than two million Palestinians, often described as an open-air prison for Palestinians expelled from their homes during the 1948 Nakba. In preparation for a ground invasion, the IDF cut access to electricity, food, water, and medical supplies in the territory, ordering 1.1 million Palestinians to evacuate (something the United Nations says is impossible), and started an indiscriminate bombing campaign. At the time of writing, the Gaza Health Ministry reports more than 4,000 people killed (1,400-2,000 of whom were children) and 13,000 wounded in the Gaza Strip, with Al Jazeera reporting 69 killed and 1,300 injured in the occupied West Bank.

The number of Palestinians killed and wounded will increase as Israel continues its war on Gaza. In addition to Palestinian civilians, Israeli attacks have killed humanitarian aid workers, medics, and journalists. Israeli bombs hit a church sheltering refugees and destroyed or severely damaged about 52,000 housing units, destroying about a quarter of the Gaza Strip. Without fuel, hospitals in Gaza struggle to save the wounded and dying. The scale of the attacks poses an existential threat to the Palestinian community in the Gaza Strip and the potential annexation of half of Palestine’s remaining territory.

Before the Hamas attacks, Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem in April–injuring 50 people. Starting in March 2022, the IDF repeatedly raided the Jenin Refugee camp in Palestine’s West Bank. This culminated in a July 3rd raid that killed 12 Palestinians in 2023, a major example of Israeli state terror. The fighting has been described as the worst escalation of violence in the West Bank since the 2000-2005 Intifada.

The Jenin attack was designed partly to prop up support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing, religious Zionist government. The government faced resistance after aligning itself with far-right parties and attempting to attack democratic rights through unpopular “judicial reform.” Mass protests swept the country in January and reached their height with the general strike and demonstrations of 600,000+ people in March.

Around the same time, right-wing violence against Palestinians in the West Bank increased, including hundreds of Israeli settlers rampaging through Palestinian neighborhoods in February. The UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs reported 200 Palestinians killed in the first eight months of 2023 between Israeli government raids and attacks by Israeli settlers. On average, three acts of settler violence against Palestinians occurred per day in 2023, compared to two per day in 2022.

Biden Shores Up US Imperialism in the Region

The US government has reaffirmed its support for the Israeli government, sending munitions and planes to support Israel despite the IDF bombing civilians. Additionally, the US is sending aircraft carrier strike groups and a Marine rapid response force to make a “show of force” in the region. As the situation escalates, the IDF has authorized airstrikes in Syria and clashed with Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces on the border with Lebanon. Israeli aggression, backed by US and European imperialism and regional capitalist powers, has kicked off a war that could engulf the whole region.

US President Joe Biden visited Israel on Wednesday, the first time a US president has visited the country during a war. In a speech, Biden reaffirmed support for Israel but cautioned Israelis, stating: “Justice must be done. But I caution this — while you feel that rage, don’t be consumed by it. After 9/11, we were enraged in the United States. While we sought justice and got justice, we also made mistakes.” His words hint at US imperialism’s precarious position and fear that, after losing in Afghanistan and destabilizing Iraq and Syria, the war on Gaza could destabilize a key US ally in the region. Biden announced a $100 million civilian aid package for Palestinians and negotiated for Egyptian convoys to deliver relief supplies to the Gaza Strip. However, providing humanitarian aid without negotiating a ceasefire will do little to protect Palestinian lives and communities.

Actions speak louder than words. Biden has proposed an unprecedented $14.3 billion in military aid to Israel–more than 100 times the aid being proposed for Palestinian civilians. The $10 billion will be part of a proposed $105 billion package aimed at shoring up the interests of US imperialism, with more military aid for Ukraine and Taiwan and money for fortifying the US-Mexico border, including completing the wall promoted by Donald Trump.

United Workers Struggle Can End the War

The Independent Socialist Group (ISG) opposes the attacks on civilians. We demand an end to the United States’ support for the IDF and Israeli Government’s state terror against Palestinians. We also oppose the terrorist tactics and right-wing politics of Hamas and the collaborationist approach of the Fatah-led Palestinian National Authority. Neither offers a viable way forward for the Palestinian people to achieve liberation. Neither Netanyahu’s Government nor the Israeli liberal opposition leaders can provide safety and democracy for Jewish Israelis, especially as both groups work to oppress Palestinians and Arab Israelis.

Before the fighting, Hamas and the Israeli government could not count on majority support from workers in their countries. Both regimes faced protests. With the outbreak of war, their support will likely surge for a time without an independent, working-class alternative to the religious right on the ground.

The working class on both sides of the border is the only force capable of ending the decades of violence. There have been powerful mass protests in both Israel and Palestine in the recent period. As the death toll climbs, anger and opposition to the war will likely intensify, and mass protests could reemerge. Independent working-class organizations that are able to democratically organize mass struggle to stop the war and win a peaceful resolution are needed. Only a united working-class movement can pave the way for democratic rights and self-determination for all in a socialist Middle East, which will bring a lasting peace to the region.

The task of workers and youth in the United States is to oppose US capitalism and imperialism, which are key backers of Israeli state terror. The Independent Socialist Group demands:

Stop the Israel-Gaza war! For the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli military from the occupied territories and an end to the bombing campaigns.
End the US “show of force” in Israel and Palestine. Recall the US Navy carrier strike groups and Marine rapid response force from the region.
Israeli-Americans should refuse to fight in the IDF or participate in the invasion of Gaza.
End US weapons shipments and all military aid for Israel and other right-wing, anti-worker governments in the region, including in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. Reject Biden’s request for $105 billion in emergency funding for war abroad and the border wall at home.
Organize mass protests in the US and around the world against the war and to defend democratic rights and win self-determination for the Palestinian people.
Unite unions, workers, and youth to break with the pro-imperialism Democratic and Republican parties and build a workers’ party. A US workers’ party could organize solidarity and support for the right to self-determination for workers worldwide, oppose US imperialism and massive military budgets, and fight to improve workers’ rights and living standards at home and internationally.

The Independent Socialist Group stands in solidarity with the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), which participated in the 2023 anti-Netanyahu protests in Israel and has consistently stood for the rights of both the Palestinian and Israeli working classes. The CWI has published further analysis of the situation in Israel and Palestine today, as well as the history of the struggle for Palestinian rights. In Israel and Palestine, the CWI demands:

End the blockade of Gaza.
Release all hostages and political prisoners.
For democratically-organized defense committees in local communities.
For a mass struggle of the Palestinians, under their own democratic control, to fight for liberation.
For the building of independent workers’ parties in Palestine and Israel and links between them.
For an independent, socialist Palestinian state, alongside a socialist Israel, with two capitals in Jerusalem and guaranteed democratic rights for all minorities, as part of the struggle for a socialist Middle East.

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