The capitalist rulers in Washington have imposed a “peace” deal in the Middle East that has tamped down the fighting in Gaza, while allowing Hamas room to rebuild. The U.S. imperialists hope to reshape the region to their profitable advantage. But the war over who will control Gaza continues.
Hamas has unleashed a reign of terror on Palestinians to enforce its widely hated dictatorial rule. It has smashed any developments toward struggles by working people. It’s rebuilding for more pogroms against Jews.
Hamas never had any intention of disarming, nor giving up its goal of destroying Israel and wiping out the Jews. Every step it takes today is aimed at advancing those aims.
Hamas is facilitated by Washington’s attempt to impose a “peace” plan that keeps the group intact. The White House proposed the Turkish government, with a long record of support for Hamas, provide armed forces to police the “peace” in Gaza. Extending Turkish armed forces into Gaza would threaten Israel’s existence, and Israel has rejected the “offer.”
Only the decisive defeat of Hamas by Israeli forces, and the incorporation of Gaza into Israel in one way or another, can prevent Hamas from carrying out another Holocaust.
But Jew-hatred is not just a Middle East question. It’s a permanent feature of the imperialist epoch worldwide. Jews are scapegoated to divert layers of the middle class facing ruin and some demoralized workers from the source of the problems they face — the working of the capitalist system itself. As the crisis deepens, fascist forces will step forward for the capitalist class. They will be unleashed against the working class and the unions. Defeating Jew-hatred is a crucial question for workers worldwide.
Defending the existence of Israel — home to half the world’s Jews — is central to the fight against Jew-hatred and the struggle to prevent imperialism marching humanity toward fascism and a third world war.
In the U.S. Jew-hatred has become increasingly prevalent among layers of the middle-class left and Stalinist-trained groups, and it’s becoming normalized within bourgeois politics. Jews cannot rely on imperialist parties like the Democrats or Republicans to defend them. Combating Jew-hatred, wherever it arises, falls to the working class and our unions.
Many workers have seen Hamas’ barbaric treatment of Palestinians in recent weeks. This provides an opportunity to clarify the group’s Nazi-like character and the stakes involved in the fight to defeat it. Hamas’ roots are among forces that collaborated with Hitler’s Nazis during World War II to extend their Holocaust to the Middle East. The Nazis’ death squads are a model for Hamas’ assaults on Jews and Palestinians today.
Israel Defense Forces are the one force capable of dismantling Hamas. None of the Arab governments will sign up to send troops to battle Hamas in Gaza. Integrating Gaza into Israel today is the only way to carry that fight through to the end and secure Israel’s borders.
With Hamas off their backs, working people of all nationalities — Palestinians, Jews and countless others across the region — are better placed to advance struggles for their class interests and forge alliances. Along that road workers can build political parties of our own to advance the fight against decades of capitalist exploitation and imperialist oppression in the Middle East, and for the national aspirations of all those in the region, including the Jews.
As long as capitalism exists Jew-hatred will arise from its pores. But capitalist rule is not permanent. The Bolshevik-led revolution in Russia in 1917 and the Cuban Revolution in 1959 show that with leadership, workers are capable of taking power into our own hands and transforming society. The Bolsheviks put the fight against Jew-hatred at the heart of their program, in a country where czarist pogroms were legend.
To join this battle today, join the Socialist Workers Party.