Israeli soldiers now control most of Gaza’s border with Egypt, dealing blows to Hamas’ ability to collaborate with Tehran to launch new attacks on Jews and Israel, as well as on Gazans opposed to its reactionary rule.
Israeli troops found and are destroying some 20 tunnels that run between Egypt and Gaza, along with the long-range rockets Hamas had stored there. The Jerusalem Post notes Hamas’ control of the border was its “oxygen pipe,” the main source of its weapons and ammunition.
Only the unequivocal defeat of Hamas and the dismantling of its military and leadership structures can create conditions where Jewish, Arab and other working people can come together to defend their interests against the capitalist rulers in Israel, the Palestinian territories and more broadly in the region, and, in so doing, forge a revolutionary road forward.
The goal of Hamas and Tehran has never been about advancing the rights of Palestinian working people. Their goal is to extend the reactionary influence of the bourgeois clerical regime in Tehran throughout the Middle East, hand in hand with the destruction of Israel.
Hamas launched the war Oct. 7 by killing 1,200 people in Israel — 75% of them civilians — taking some 250 hostages and raping and mutilating women. It still holds some 120 hostages, although Israeli officials believe that less than 80 are still alive.
The Oct. 7 assault was not a war for Palestinian national liberation. It was the largest anti-Jewish pogrom since the Holocaust. The Hamas death squads also killed 24 Arab Israelis and more than 50 migrant workers from Thailand, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, for the “crime” of working with Jews.
During the more than 17 years they ruled Gaza, Hamas leaders lived in upscale neighborhoods there or in luxury abroad, while most Gazans were kept dependent on United Nations handouts. Hamas’ opponents, including supporters of the Palestinian Authority, were arrested, tortured or killed. Strikes by unions were crushed and women’s rights trampled on.
Even in its weakened state, where it can Hamas attacks those who speak out against it. Recently they dismantled the tent of a journalist and her family in Nusseirat after she criticized the group.
Attacks by ‘axis of resistance’
The Tehran-led “axis of resistance” — Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Yemeni Houthis, Tehran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria and the brutal Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria — continues to target Israel. More than 60,000 Israelis — Jewish and Arab citizens alike — have been forced from their homes near the Lebanese border because of Hezbollah. Shipping in the Red Sea is sorely constrained by Houthi attacks.
Founded in 1982 in Lebanon by local supporters of the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Hezbollah is estimated to have more than 150,000 rockets and missiles, 10 times what Hamas had on Oct. 7. And unlike Hamas’ rockets, many of Hezbollah’s are precision guided.
Tehran and Hezbollah have steered away from a major war with Israel for now, but continue to make their murderous presence felt. Hezbollah has doubled its attacks on northern Israel over the last month. Tehran continues to come closer to being able to produce nuclear weapons, a deadly threat to Jews in Israel and workers throughout the region.
Biden pushes permanent cease-fire
Meanwhile, the Joseph Biden administration is stepping up its pressure on Israel to wind down the war, which it views as an obstacle to its own imperialist interests. Washington’s only concern is defending the economic and political interests of the U.S. rulers, not the lives of Jews. This includes pursuing an accommodation with the regime in Iran.
On May 31 Biden announced that Israel “has offered a comprehensive new proposal” for a cease-fire and release of all hostages, which would lead to a permanent end to hostilities and the rebuilding of Gaza.
Despite Biden’s claim this was an Israeli proposal, a senior administration official told the press that it was Biden’s proposal, which “has been accepted by Israel” and transmitted to Hamas.
A few days later Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office dismissed “the notion that Israel would agree to a permanent cease-fire without attaining all of its goals, meaning the return of all of the hostages, destroying Hamas’ military and governing capabilities and ensuring that Gaza can never be a threat to Israel.”
Before Biden’s speech, Time magazine asked him if Netanyahu “is prolonging the war for his own political self-preservation,” a slander promoted by forces that want Israel to stop fighting even though Hamas is still intact. “There is every reason for people to draw that conclusion,” Biden answered, attempting to step up the pressure on Netanyahu and fuel divisions among capitalist political rivals in Israel.
Liberal media covers for Hamas
The White House campaign is aided by the liberal bourgeois media, from the Washington Post to the New York Times, which focus their daily coverage on the suffering in Gaza, but never explain that it’s the direct result of Hamas’ reactionary rule, its use of civilians as human shields and its promise to repeat Oct. 7 “again and again.”
Two recent articles in the Jerusalem Post expose the Times’ bias. For example, they say, “the word ‘rape’ appeared in only three headlines out of 1,398 since the war began. In contrast the word ‘genocide’ appeared 22 times in the context of Israel.” The words “starvation” and “famine” appeared 30 times. “The fact is that the rapes actually happened, while starvation and genocide are unfounded accusations.”
Since Oct. 7 the Times has published 72 op-eds that harshly criticize Israel, written by a variety of Jews, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians and Christians. Only 23 op-eds expressed criticism of Hamas, not one of them written by a Palestinian or a Muslim.
Israel’s capitalist government
The government in Israel is a capitalist government that advances the interests of the country’s ruling rich against working people. That includes taking measures targeting Palestinians that undermine a road to unite toilers, whatever their religion or nationality.
Israel’s State Attorney’s office criticized police in Galilee who blindfolded and zip tied the hands of Rasha Kareem, an Arab citizen, when they detained her for comments she made comparing Israel’s military to Islamic State. She was released from house arrest after five days, one of many who have had their democratic rights trampled on.
In the West Bank, a Palestinian territory with a patchwork of zones, some under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, others under Israeli rule, Tehran is pouring in money and weapons hoping to create a new base of support.
After Oct. 7 the Israeli government cut off the work permits of 200,000 Palestinians from the West Bank. About 18,000 have since been allowed to return to work inside Israel and 8,000 on West Bank settlements. But more than 170,000 are still without work and face increasingly hard times.
The Histadrut, Israel’s largest union federation, and Koach LaOvdim, another union federation, have called on the government to allow their return to jobs in Israel.