An indescribable atrocity is currently occurring in Gaza. Israel is following a scorched earth policy, aiming to raze Gaza to the ground and kill all its residents. Israel has dropped over 50,000 tons of explosives on Gaza, more than three times the amount that exploded in Hiroshima.[1] As a result of these carpet bombings, more than 17,500 people have been killed. Approximately 80% of the population of this area has been displaced and is now facing severe shortages of food, fuel, water, and medicine. The Israeli army has recently declared that the only safe location in the Gaza Strip is a place called Al-Mawasi, which is a mere 8.5 square kilometres in size, an area smaller than Heathrow Airport in London. The Israeli army has ordered approximately 2 million residents of Gaza to move there if they want to avoid the Israeli bombardment.

Following this massive massacre in Gaza, António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the den of thieves (United Nations, UN), in a rare move activated Article 99 of the UN Charter while announcing a warning about the situation and asked the Security Council of this organization to take a fundamental step in establishing a ceasefire. The United Arab Emirates, which is a non-permanent member of the Security Council and has been engaged in massacres in Yemen, assumed the role of a peacemaker and, in response to Guterres, presented a draft resolution for an immediate ceasefire. The Security Council voted on this resolution on 8 December 2023. All the members were in favour, except for the United Kingdom, which abstained, and America, which vetoed it. Regarding the veto, the American representative stated that such a truce would allow Hamas to continue existing and would give it the opportunity to renew its strength, and that the formation of two independent countries is the only solution that can achieve lasting peace.

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen previously called António Guterres’ request for an immediate ceasefire and the application of Article 99 of the UN “an embarrassment to his position and the United Nations”. Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, thanked the US for the action and stated that it demonstrated America’s leadership and values, saying that “a little of the light dispelled a lot of the darkness”.

America’s action in vetoing the resolution, this “a little of the light”, faced widespread opposition and criticism from other governments, that is, “the darkness”. Hypocritical and deceitful voices were raised from all sides as if they were seeking peace and the American veto would delay it. Guterres declared that the UN was paralysed. The foreign minister of Turkey, which is an ally of the US and is itself involved in massacres and war, said in relation to the American veto that Washington was left alone in supporting the continuation of the violence against Gaza. Saudi Arabia, which is the leader of the war coalition in Yemen, announced its opposition to the US veto. Russia, which is causing bloodshed in Ukraine, considered America’s decision callous, while China, which is in the process of committing genocide against the Uighurs, described America’s words and actions as contradictory. Iran, which is engaged in massacring civilians, announced that America is the main factor in the killing of Palestinian civilians. The Afghan Taliban stated that America is complicit in the oppression of Gaza. Following the veto, North Korea called America the cause of instability in the world. This list can be extended.

The American veto even caused human rights groups to raise their voices, using this opportunity to spread illusions, as if such resolutions could stop the killing of the imperialists. The issuers of the resolution are themselves war criminals. Just a few examples are as follows:

• Human Rights Watch: America is acting as an accomplice in war crimes by vetoing the resolution.
• Amnesty International: This decision shows a serious disregard for the suffering of civilians.
• Médecins Sans Frontières: The veto is a “vote against humanity”.
• Oxfam: The veto of the ceasefire resolution is another nail in the coffin of America’s credibility in human rights affairs.

One of the important points regarding the recent resolution was the appearance of America’s close allies, the “a little of the light”, namely France, Japan, South Korea, etc., in the role of pacifists (“the darkness”) who voted in favour of the resolution. Even Britain, America’s strategic ally, abstained from the resolution. This shows the weakening of America’s position. Most of the democratic countries put aside the mask of human rights and hypocritically suffocated when the leader of the bandits vetoed the ceasefire resolution. All this means that all governments, whether they appear to be pacifists, or whether they are warmongers, democrats, or dictators, make the working class cannon fodder in imperialist wars and are war criminals.

The war in the Middle East has increased instability in the region, and this issue is not only a blow to American influence, but also to China’s imperialist ambitions. It has already affected China’s Silk Road. Just as Russia attacked Ukraine without the advice of China and in accordance with its imperialist interests, Israel is busy razing Gaza to the ground for the same reason, to some extent outside the control of America. Israel’s policy undermines the interests of the US and its allies. However, the US and its European allies are in some way facing the situation and are forced to support Netanyahu’s policies, although they also pay a heavy price. America is trying to prevent the situation from getting out of hand and the war from spreading, and for this reason, as well as to send a decisive message to Iran and Hezbollah, it deployed two aircraft carriers to the region at the very beginning of the tension so that Israel could settle its score with Hamas without the conflict expanding.

During its 75 years of existence, according to the US Department of State,[2] Israel has cost the US approximately 130 billion dollars. Israel consumes 15% of the US defence budget![3] Between 1945 and 2018 alone, the German government paid Israel approximately $86.8 billion in reparations to Holocaust victims and their heirs.[4] Of course, this is in addition to other aid, and German aid to Israel has increased in recent years.

The disgusting display of bandits in the emergency meeting of the Arab and Islamic countries, which was held in Riyadh in connection with the Middle East war, ended without a practical result and with only the issuance of a public statement. As part of this, the attendees of the meeting, who are themselves war criminals, demanded that the International Criminal Court investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in the Palestinian territories”.[5]

Due to the continuation of atrocities in the Gaza Strip, more than 60 European and Latin American left-wing politicians signed a petition asking the International Criminal Court to investigate the genocide of Israel’s leaders.[6] Do they not know that the International Criminal Court is one of the tools used by the democrats to achieve their imperialist interests? Aren’t such illusions aimed at justifying the tools of the democratic imperialists? When war criminals receive the Nobel Peace Prize one after another, why not introduce new ones to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee?

China is trying to use the Middle East crisis to increase its global image so that it can better advance its imperialist interests. It was in this context that the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Indonesia, as well as the Palestinian Authority, travelled to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials regarding the developments in Gaza. In this meeting, the Chinese foreign minister said, “The international community must act urgently, taking effective measures to prevent this tragedy from spreading. China firmly stands with justice and fairness in this conflict”.[7]

With the continuation of brutality in Gaza, in the political atmosphere of Iran’s sovereignty and the official and unofficial supporters of those Arab countries, Iran has been accused of leaving the people of Gaza alone in the face of Israel’s crimes and somehow aligning themselves with Israel’s interests. In the same way, the Arab-speaking political milieu has also realized that Iran has abandoned the population of Gaza to face Israel alone. They expected that Iran, at least through its proxies, especially Lebanon’s Hezbollah, would create a kind of deterrence against Israel and, accordingly, reduce the pressure on Gaza.

Although Iran’s proxy forces in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria have carried out dozens of attacks against Israel or America, these were more symbolic than part of an active conflict. Hezbollah knows that entering into a full-scale war with Israel will turn southern Lebanon into another Gaza. The Islamic bourgeoisie is also aware that in the current situation, any serious and not merely symbolic reaction to Israel that threatens its existence will be met not only with Israel’s reaction, but also with a crushing response from the entire Western bloc, and will involve the whole region in a war, the consequences of which could be very dangerous for the Islamic bourgeoisie. It is important to mention that the attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on Israel were thwarted by America, Saudi Arabia, France, etc., before Israel intervened.

Capitalism has brought humanity into the age of permanent imperialist war. This massacre has not stopped since the imperialist slaughter that began in 1914. History has shown that the only force capable of ending the bourgeois killing machine that is war is the working class. It was the danger of the German Revolution that forced the bourgeoisie to sign the armistice. The same thing is always true. War criminals only refrain from conflict when there is the danger of the proletariat preparing themselves for the class war. Although the global working class is not in such a position today, the evolution of the class struggle can create such a future for the proletariat.

The war in the Middle East is not a conflict limited to one corner of the globe, but has affected the entire world. Since last year, the global working class has been trembling. Unfortunately, compared to other wars, the one in the Middle East has a more negative effect on the working class, not only in that area, but across the whole world, and poisons the proletariat with nationalist propaganda and bourgeois pacifism.

It is an illusion to ask the warmongers to stop the war. The peace of the warmongers can only be a smokescreen in war-seeking capitalism. From within the peace of capitalism, only the flames of war can spread. Only the class struggle of the workers can offer an alternative to the brutality of capitalism, because the proletariat does not have a country to defend and its fight must cross national borders and develop on an international scale. Only the working class, by overthrowing capitalism on a global scale, can destroy the material basis of imperialist tensions and bring permanent peace to humanity.

Workers have no country!

Down with the imperialist war!

Long live the war between the classes!

M. Jahangiry

11 December 2023

[1] CNN

[2] US Department of State

[3] US aid to Israel

[4] US Department of State

[5] The emergency meeting of Arab and Islamic countries

[6] Petition

[7] China uses Middle East Crisis to raise its global profile

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