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For a truly free Palestine

The following article first appeared in The Anvil, Vol 12, No 6.

As this issue of The Anvil is being prepared, the people of Gaza are being mercilessly bombed as part of a genocidal assault. The Israeli military is preparing for a ground invasion and threatening to expel its remaining inhabitants into Egypt – a second Nakba, larger than the first in 1948. Meanwhile, armed far-right settlers in the West Bank are taking the opportunity to take even more land, and kill Palestinians in the process.

The immediate task is obviously to prevent the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gaza, but that would still leave the apartheid regime in place. Where, as anarchists, do we stand on the solution to this underlying problem?

Resist Genocide

Faced with mass protests, sit-ins, and other obstructive tactics by those demanding a total ceasefire, some of Israel’s Western allies have called for a “humanitarian pause”. They back Israel in its campaign, but are squeamish about the optics of two million people dying of starvation and disease in such a short time. The Biden administration has responded by twisting the arm of the Egyptian dictator, Sisi, hoping that he will accept the population of Gaza as refugees – the liberal response to the crisis is to push for ethnic cleansing as the alternative to genocide.

We can’t rely on international bodies like the UN or look to politicians. The only way to halt the invasion and stop Israel’s murderous bombing of Gaza is for the working class to act. At the moment, the bulk of the Israeli working class is united behind their military, seeking revenge for the murder and kidnapping of Israeli civilians during the attack on the 7th of October.

Israel, however, imports the majority of its armaments. This means that the international working class can act to cripple its military.

Workers in a position to stop guns, bombs, rockets, military vehicles and all other supplies going to the IDF must do so. A coalition of Palestinian unions has called for unions in all relevant industries around the world to refuse to build or transport weapons destined for Israel. This applies to other supplies necessary for this massacre to continue, like oil and other fuels. Australia exports military equipment to Israel – the workers responsible for those weapons getting in the hands of Israeli soldiers also have the power to prevent their use in genocide.

These actions would run into opposition from the entire capitalist class. In Australia, there would be massive hostility from the media and from the Labor Government. In all probability, the trade union officials would also be unwilling to translate their tepid support for Palestinian rights into industrial action on the ground, particularly where it is illegal. Wherever union officials take this position they should be opposed and their demands that we be complicit in this massacre ignored. A union is only worth the name if it is controlled by its members, and stands against injustice everywhere.

Anarchists Against Apartheid