Gaza – A State Terrorism

While Gaza burns under state terrorism, resistance persists—not only in the ruins, but in the Jewish and Palestinian voices that refuse to be silenced. The future will not be written by Netanyahu, but by those who dare to dream of a land where justice has no flag.

Written by Michael Löwy, previously published on A Terra é Redonda.

Who governs Israel?

Benjamin Netanyahu and his clique are the heirs of a movement that has never hidden its criminal nature.

In December 1948, during the visit of Menachem Begin, one of the main leaders of the Herut party, to the United States, about thirty American Jews, or rather, "left-wing Zionists," among them Hannah Arendt and Albert Einstein, sent a statement to the New York Times categorically denouncing this figure and his movement.

“To the editors of The New York Times ”: “Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our time is the emergence, within the newly created State of Israel, of the “Freedom Party” (Tnuat Haherut), a political party that closely resembles, in its organization, methods, political philosophy, and social pretensions, the Nazi and Fascist political parties. It was created by members and sympathizers of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a chauvinistic, right-wing, and terrorist organization in Palestine.” (…)

“A shocking example was what they did to the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, situated off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, did not take part in the war and even fought against Arab groups that planned to establish a base there. On April 9, according to the New York Times , terrorist groups attacked this peaceful village, which was by no means a military objective in this conflict, killing most of its inhabitants (240 people, men, women and children) and keeping some of them alive so that they could parade them, as prisoners, through the streets of Jerusalem.” (…)

“The Deir Yassin incident illustrates the character and actions of the Freedom Party. Within the Jewish community, they preach a mixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism and racial superiority. (…)”. 

However, the current Israeli government, dominated by Likud (the direct heir of Begin's Herut), has far surpassed the crimes committed by its predecessors denounced as "fascists" by Albert Einstein. It is a government formed by figures like Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, whose racist ultranationalism goes far beyond that of their fascist Likud allies. This government had become quite unpopular – especially due to its attempt to dismantle the Supreme Court – and was on the verge of collapse, threatened by massive demonstrations in cities across the country. It was saved by the attack of October 7, 2023.

What happened on October 7, 2023?

Hamas, the fundamentalist and reactionary movement that governed the Gaza Strip, had long been supported by Benjamin Netanyahu in its efforts to divide the Palestinian national movement. At a Likud meeting in March 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu declared: “Those who want to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state must support the strengthening of Hamas (…)”.

So what happened on October 7? We have read and heard the most contradictory propositions, in great confusion. Enzo Traverso proposes a sober and objective analysis: “The attack of October 7, which killed hundreds of Israeli civilians, can obviously be described as a terrorist act. It was not necessary to murder and injure civilians, and, moreover, such acts have always harmed the Palestinian cause. It is a crime that nothing can justify and that must be condemned. However, the necessary condemnation of these means of action does not call into question the legitimacy – recognized by international law – of resistance to occupation, a resistance that also implies the use of weapons.” 

One of the most tragic aspects of this barbaric attack was that many of the victims belonged to leftist, pacifist kibbutzim, and were sometimes even directly involved in acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. If Hamas had only attacked military bases and taken two hundred Israeli soldiers hostage, it might have been a political victory. But Hamas, after a long time, had chosen to ignore the distinction between military and civilians as a method of struggle.

Israel's response is state terrorism.

The Israeli government's reaction was a hundred times more terroristic than the Hamas attack. It resulted in the destruction of Gaza, its homes, schools, hospitals, and universities, and the massacre of over sixty thousand Gaza residents (thousands of bodies buried under the rubble have not yet been counted), most of whom were women, children, and the elderly.

Among the civilians thus murdered were doctors, nurses, writers, poets, musicians, journalists, filmmakers, humanitarian aid workers and United Nations employees. There are also more than one hundred thousand wounded, many of whom are mutilated children. Benjamin Netanyahu and his clique also used hunger as a weapon of war, preventing food and medicine from entering Gaza. This is, as political scientist Gilbert Achcar observes in his recent book, “the worst episode in the long ordeal of the Palestinian people”.

The now-declared objective of this criminal destruction is the expulsion of two million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, an unprecedented act of ethnic cleansing. Despite Donald Trump's support, this project is unfeasible, as no country is willing to receive an entire people expelled from their land.

This is a crime of state terrorism, a true crime against humanity. Many Israeli academics, such as Raz Segal, speak of genocide. Lee Mordechai, a professor at the Jerusalem University, after having rejected this term, changed his mind: it is genocide.

Opposition to the war is growing stronger, even in Israel.

The Israeli government's extermination policy has met with growing opposition from international public opinion, including the Jewish diaspora. Thousands of young Jews have participated in the protests, especially in the United States. It is ridiculous to accuse them of "anti-Semitism." After two years of complicity, European governments are beginning to distance themselves.

But even within the State of Israel, opposition to this war is widespread. The media mainly refers to the families of the hostages, who demand a ceasefire and negotiations with Hamas. These negotiations have led to the release of several hostages and a significant number of Palestinian prisoners, but not Marwan Barghouti, the "Palestinian Nelson Mandela"...

However, the rejection of this barbaric war is not limited to these families: it is much deeper and broader. It includes NGOs such as B'Tselem, which defends Palestinian prisoners, Standing Together, which unites Jews and Palestinians in opposition to the war, or Breaking the Silence, which publishes accounts of crimes committed in Gaza; journalists from Haaretz , such as Gideon Levy and Amira Hass; thousands of officers and reservists, especially in the Air Force, who have published statements refusing to participate in the war (the Army General Staff acknowledges that about 40% of reservists do not respond to the appeal); and 3,600 Israelis who signed an appeal calling for sanctions against Israel.

Protests are multiplying, especially at universities, where posters can be seen proclaiming: " Stop the Genocide ," " Palestinian Lives Matter ."

The main political force behind this opposition is the Israeli Communist Party (Hadash), whose various members of parliament, both Jewish, such as Ofer Kassif, who called on soldiers to refuse orders to participate in the genocide, and Arab, such as Ayman Odeh and Aida Touma-Souleiman, were suspended from the Knesset (Parliament) for denouncing the war. For the communists and the most critical Israelis, the entire colonialist enterprise in the West Bank and Gaza must be rejected.

What future?

Beyond the war and massacres, can we imagine a shared future for Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs?

For the great Palestinian writer Elias Sanbar, former Palestinian ambassador to UNESCO, the first step would be “the full and early recognition of Palestine” (within the Green Line borders of June 1967): “What prevents sovereign nations from fully recognizing a country, even if the sovereignty of that country is held captive by a powerful occupier?” 

The left in France and other countries is divided between supporters of one state, two states, a binational federation, etc. I would like to add another idea: a democratic, socialist, and multinational confederation of the peoples of the Middle East. Would that be a dream? Of course, but, as Lenin said, "one must dream"...