Israel’s successful attacks on nuclear, ballistic missile and other military targets in Iran have weakened the reactionary regime, opening the door to step up the fight to complete the defeat of Hamas in Gaza. The Nazi-like Hamas was only able to carry out the Oct. 7, 2023, anti-Jewish pogrom in Israel — the biggest massacre of Jews since World War II — because of financing, arming, and training by Tehran.
Israel launched last month’s 12-days of defensive strikes against Tehran’s military because it judged that the regime was dangerously close, possibly just weeks away, to manufacturing a nuclear warhead. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly stated that Tehran’s goal is to eradicate Israel, which he calls a “cancerous tumor” in the Middle East, threatening a new Holocaust for Jews.
That threat has been pushed back — for now. But the reactionary regime in Tehran says it will rebuild the capacity to enrich uranium. That could take months or years. The biggest obstacle to their course is the working class in Iran, which opposes Tehran’s war moves.
Tehran and Hamas thought the Oct. 7 pogrom would pave the way for Israel’s destruction. Instead, Hamas is on the ropes and Hezbollah in Lebanon shattered. They underestimated the determination of the Israeli people and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces — Jews and Arabs alike — to make sure that “Never again” is not just a slogan.
Highlighting Tehran’s weakening, its allies in the so-called axis of resistance — which it financed and organized for decades — stood on the sidelines this time.
“Iran has not asked us for military support — it can defend itself,” Hezbollah spokesperson Mahmoud Qamati told the press during the war, justifying its inaction. Even the Houthis, which launched dozens of missiles at Israel from Yemen, mostly sat on their missiles during the war.
But Israeli forces intercepted a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis July 1 targeting Ben Gurion Airport.
Hamas badly battered
Israel has now turned toward the defeat of Hamas in Gaza.
Israeli troops now control some 70% of Gaza. Ynet news reports that Israel has destroyed nearly all of Hamas’ offensive and strategic tunnels used to move its death squads between combat zones. The tunnels that remain are mostly smaller ones for hiding and movements by small squads.
According to Ynet news, only one of the five Hamas brigades active at the start of the war is still able to function in an organized manner. Because Israel is concerned about the some 20 remaining living hostages — and wants to minimize harm to civilians, who Hamas continues to use as human shields — the Israeli army has been cautious on how it moves against the surviving Hamas squads.
Through setting up food distribution by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — bypassing United Nations-backed programs that were riddled with supporters of Hamas, which steals significant amounts of food for its own use — Israel has begun to break Hamas domination of aid supplies, despite Hamas violence directed against both the foundation and Gazans seeking the aid.
In southern Gaza, an armed militia headed by Yasser Abu Shabab has clashed with Hamas.
Desperate to hold on to its fraying dictatorial rule, Hamas has videotaped its thugs brutalizing accused thieves, shattering their legs and arms with clubs and pipes or shooting them in the feet. It has murdered or beaten individuals who joined protests that had broken out against Hamas.
Ahmed al-Masri, a prominent participant in protests in Beit Lahiya, was severely beaten with iron pipes by Hamas thugs at the end of June and hospitalized. He had joined actions in April and May by thousands of Palestinians in Gaza against Hamas rule and was photographed holding a banner that said, “Hamas does not represent us.”
Trump wants a new Pax Americana
Just as Israel is getting closer to ending Hamas’ reign of terror in Gaza, Washington is stepping up its pressure on Israel to back down. President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social account June 29, “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!”
On July 1, Trump told the press he was going to be “very firm” with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the need to end the war in Gaza when he visits the U.S. July 7.
Hamas insists it won’t agree to any deal that doesn’t guarantee a permanent end to the war — in other words that it be allowed to survive intact and prepare for its next pogrom. Netanyahu says that Israel will not accept any agreement that allows Hamas to rebuild its forces.
The U.S. imperialist rulers care not one iota for the lives of Jews in Israel or Palestinians in Gaza.
“What just happened between Israel and Iran is an opportunity for all to say: Time out. Let’s create a new road. Turkey is key to that road,” Tom Barrack, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, told Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency.
The “new road” U.S. imperialism wants — including forging closer relations with the Turkish government, the new Syrian regime and other regional governments — is to further its domination and plunder of the region and to make progress in blocking Beijing, its main competitor, from making any advances there. Its goal is a new Pax Americana for the Middle East.