Across the world, we have seen a wave of disgusting, anti-Semitic violence in response to what is going on in Israel – most of it from the far-left and its Islamist allies. In Britain alone, we have seen horrific anti-Semitic behaviour from pro-Palestine activists. In London, a convoy of pro-Palestine thugs drove through Jewish neighbourhoods in North London threatening to rape Jews. At a large demonstration in support of Palestine in London, an anti-Semitic inflatable depicting the ruler of the UAE (who has recently made peace with Israel) as a hook-nosed Jew with horns was openly displayed, and did not trigger a word of condemnation from the far-left scum present, including the loathsome Jew-hater Jeremy Corbyn, who gave a speech standing yards away from it. In my own backyard, a rabbi was brutally beaten up. Left-wing commentators condemned it, but often to say that it was merely ‘unhelpful’, not evil and despicable. My former comrades were present at the disgusting, pro-Hamas march that took place in London. Yet on the website of the International Marxist Tendency, I do not see any articles condemning the horrific anti-Semitism that has been on display in recent days. I see no solidarity marches of the far-left in solidarity with Jews, who are now classified as ‘privileged’, and therefore, no longer worthy of aid from those who so proudly crusade against other forms of racism. This is in spite of the fact that leftists often say things like ‘We’ll be the first to stand with you against the real racists’ when Jews raise concerns about far-left antisemitism. Jews don’t count.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, a new article has recently been published by the organisation about Israel filled with yet more hateful anti-Semitism.
…lynching mobs of extreme right-wing Zionist settlers and fascist thugs – acting with the complicity or open support of the Israeli state forces – have attacked Palestinian neighbourhoods within Israel itself. This wave of racist terror can only be described as a pogrom.
There is no mention of similar attacks on Israel Jews by Arabs, including the torching of synagogues. I suppose the folks at Socialist Appeal wanted to give the false impression that it was just Jews attacking innocent Arabs – and they had to throw in the inflammatory term ‘pogrom’ too. Anyone who knows anything about the original ‘pogroms’ that occurred in the Russian Empire and were targeted at Jews, knows that what is happening in Israel, though dreadful, is not on the same scale.
The people in Gaza have nowhere else to go. Subject to a blockade, they are lacking everything: energy, clean water, basic hospital supplies, and even food.
There is no mention of the fact that Israel is in fact allowing humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and bring desperately needed supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza. This information is omitted so that the false image of the Israelis as inhuman monsters who delight in inflicting suffering on the people of Gaza can be further strengthened. They also will not mention the fact that Hamas bombs struck at one of the aid convoys.
As always, truth is the first casualty of war. The mainstream international media, which is controlled by the capitalists, has echoed the old worn-out refrain, calling for an ‘end violence on both sides’, and recognising Israel’s right to ‘defend itself’ – as if the ‘two sides’ could be even remotely compared.
I agree with the comrades here. Israel is defending its right to exist from Islamofascist gangsters who want to kill Jews – with the blessing of far-left cranks like the IMT.
The sheer asymmetry and disproportionate balance of the forces in this so-called war is easily exposed. The figures of Palestinians killed by Israeli bombs speak for themselves. The claim by the IDF of ‘hitting military targets’ is completely hypocritical.
What the IMT is saying is that if more Jews were killed, then it would be proof of a fairer fight. If only Israel was weaker, then it would deserve more sympathy. There is no explanation of how it is ‘hypocritical’ for the IDF to insist that it is selecting only for military targets despite the practical difficulties.
Jorge Martin, the IMT cult’s expert on Spain and Latin America, has been tweeting on the Gaza crisis. Some of them are included in the article. Here is the first one:
The 13-story residential bloc in question, according to my Google searches, is the Hanadi tower block, which contained a Hamas office and was therefore a perfectly valid target. Moreover, there were no casualties as the residents were evacuated before it was struck. Martin does not mention this, obviously wishing to give the false impression that Israel is deliberately killing innocent civilians trapped in residential blocks. This is despite the fact that Israel tries desperately to limit civilian casualties by warning residents to leave the area before they are bombed.
His second tweet is a clip of the Al-Shouruq block being bombed. Again, Martin does not mention that it contained Hamas offices – instead he would have us believe that this is an unprovoked attack on innocent civilians and journalists. This anti-Semitic liar and distorter of facts is simply doing what his paymasters in the International Cultist Tendency, and the rest of the far-left, expect him to do – blacken Israel’s name worldwide.
A number of Israelis have also been killed as a result of the hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas into Israel. The launching of these rockets is completely counterproductive for the Palestinian struggle. This only serves to strengthen Netanyahu, pushing Israeli workers into the arms of the Israeli state.
Ah, so Palestinians firing rockets at Israel to kill Jews is merely ‘counterproductive’, but Israel is still the real villain! In a contest between Islamofascist Jew-haters wanting to commit genocide, and a liberal democracy fighting to defend itself, the IMT sides with the Jew-haters.
But to pretend to be ‘neutral’ in a situation like this is tantamount to taking the side of the oppressor against the oppressed.
As Marxists and internationalists we are not neutral or above sides in such a conflict. We defend the right of the Palestinians to a homeland, and their right to resist against oppression and defend their livelihoods by any means necessary. The violence of the oppressed can never be equated to that of the oppressors.
What does this mean? it means that the IMT, whatever it says, is ‘objectively’ supporting Hamas!
The rest of the article is not even worth looking at. Suffice to say, the IMT cult has thrown in its lot with the Jew-hating Arab thugs roaming the streets of Israel-Palestine and firing rockets at Israeli children. It seems their lives don’t matter in the eyes of the IMT. A dead Palestinian is ‘oppressed’, and therefore, their life is worth more than that of a dead ‘oppressor’ Israeli. When the article calls for ‘intifada’, it is calling for a violent uprising that will necessarily result in dead Jews, and also a lot of dead Arabs.
In its article on the protests that have taken place in solidarity with Hamas, no mention is made of the wave of criminal anti-Semitism that we have seen on the streets of Europe and elsewhere. No denunciation of anti-Semitism. No solidarity with the Jewish people. It is clear that in the eyes of the IMT and the rest of the far-left, Jews don’t count.