The ongoing genocide in Palestine has completed its 9th month and bombs continue to rain on Palestinians. The death toll exceeded 37,000. There are more than 20,000 missing people, mostly under the debris. Gaza turned into a pile of rubble that will take years to clean up. Two thirds of all infrastructure is destroyed. The economy is halted and a significant share of farms is ruined. The few production facilities are destroyed. Schools, hospitals, cemeteries, and everything else that constitute Gaza were bombed. We know from the testimony of the chief physician of the Al-Shifa hospital, who was recently released after getting arrested last November, the unbelievable extent of Israeli torture of the Palestinians it takes hostage. Israel turned Palestine into hell!
Israel did not, and could not, do all of this by itself. In particular, the US supplied Israel with over 12,5 billion dollars worth of aid since the onset of the genocide. It created and improved the Iron Dome that gave Israel its impunity. It constructed a pier in Gaza under the guise of humanitarian aid, but aided, instead, Israel in its operations and its soldiers even took part in massacres. It obstructed all attempts to provide relief to the Palestinian people in the United Nations. Likewise, Britain declared its unequivocal support of Israel’s massacres in Gaza in numerous instances. British airplanes have flown countless sorties to provide air support to Israeli operations since December. Britain provided intelligence for the US and Israel during the Nuseirat refugee camp massacre in May. Palestinians and their friends living in France and Germany were repressed, their demonstrations, meetings, Palestinian flags and even keffiyehs were banned! Germany was among the top weapon suppliers of Israel. During the genocide they increased their supplies to Israel ten-fold, let alone cutting it down on. It took Israel’s side in the ICC trial initiated by South Africa. Except Ireland, Spain and Norway, all European countries supported Israel unconditionally, except where imperialism disagreed on a tactical level, such as the Rafah operation and extending the war to Hezbollah. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, parroted her unconditional support to Israel on every occasion.
And is this all? The post-coup president of Egypt, Sisi, scared to death of Palestinians and Hamas, was already among the principal implementers of the siege on Gaza. He flooded the tunnels sending supplies to Gaza in 2014, further isolating them. After the beginning of the genocide, he drew a line in the sand on forced emmigration of Palestinians to Egypt, without harming his relations to Israel. Occasionally condemning the massacres, he nevertheless refrained from taking any action to stop it. Saudi Arabia paused its normalization with Israel, but made sure to signal a return to this policy post-war. The United Arab Emirates treated Israel with a favor to help circumvent the blockade of the Red Sea by Yemeni forces of Ansar Allah, building a land bridge from Dubai to Jaffa. This way, the losses of Israel were partially mitigated.
Are we done yet? No. The so-called allies of Hamas, and the guardian of Palestinian people, Qatar and the despotic regime in Turkey are among the supporters of Israel. One should not mistake Qatar as a steadfast ally of Hamas, simply because the political headquarters of Hamas is in Qatar. The relocation of Hamas from Syria to Qatar happened with the approval of the US. Qatar is home to the largest US military base in the region. It did not cease its trade with Israel even during the genocide. The despotic regime clinging on to its rule in Turkey, not only did not close the Kurecik radar base protecting Israel during the genocide, but did not even feign concern over the service of information from this base to Israel. Instead it was busy approving the membership of Sweden to NATO, awarding the NATO members for their complicity in genocide. The toiling people of Turkey protested in the streets for months to halt the trade with Israel, and the despotic regime ignored their call during the first 7 months of the genocide. Once the government saw the pushback in the local elections, it reluctantly announced the end of trade. But it was recently discovered that companies easily circumvented this ban. And, to this day, in the 9th month of the genocide, Israel gets most of its oil from Azerbaijan through Turkey.
The victory of Palestinian people shall be our victory
All those listed above are open, unconditional supporters of Israel, albeit on different levels. All of them are the enemy of the Palestinian people as well as the toiling people in Turkey. As we repeatedly point out, workers and toilers in Turkey share the fate of the Palestinian people, they are inseparable allies. The bosses that get rich off of the trade with Israel are the very same ones that leech off of us. The soulmate of Zionism is the fascist movement in Turkey, the perpetrator of the massacres in Sivas, Corum and Maras.
Our fight is for the victory of our ally. Our party, Revolutionary Workers Party (DIP), and its initiative Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism, plans and organizes systematic struggle against the despotism in Turkey, imperialism and Zionism, and we will continue to do so. Because our duties become ever more burning, ever more urgent with the passing days. Unable to secure victory over Hamas and making a fool of itself, Israel seeks to dial up its massacres in Gaza. An extensive land operation in Rafah may double the death toll. A similar failure is faced against Hezbollah in the north, and it seems Israel intends to take the war to Lebanon and perhaps occupy it again. This will only lead to more massacres. Even during its genocide, Israel is able to continue its propaganda efforts in Turkey, even becoming sponsors of festivals. Our toiling people face the pro-Israel propaganda of the opposition leader Ozgur Ozel, claiming Hamas to be a terror organization, as much as they face the hypocrisy of Erdogan’s despotism on Palestine. We are not obliged to endure this humiliation. Let us work tirelessly and make Turkey, West Asia and all of the world a hell for imperialism and Zionism!