The destruction of Gaza and what followed did not start on October 7

By Oded Goldreich and Assaf Kfoury

An incendiary war has been raging for more than a year in the Middle East.  It has been indescribably devastating on Gaza and has now extended to the West Bank, to northern Israel and Lebanon, with ominous signs of expanding further into a regional war. This is a war driven by an Israeli government bent on exacting vengeful retribution on all its perceived enemies, unrestrained by its American benefactor and main purveyor of weapons. While this war has been extensively covered by the media, what is mostly understated or forgotten are the circumstances that led to it – a covert decades-long war waged by Israel on the Palestinian people. 

World Federation of Trade Unions and PAME hail the massive anti-war mobilizations of the people in Israel

In recent statement, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) hails the  massive anti-war mobilizations in Tel Aviv. More specifically WFTU stresses out:

The World Trade Union Federation is pleased to note the mass mobilizations of the people in Israel against the anti-people policies of the Netanyahu government and are calling for an end to the ongoing genocide in the Palestinian land.

Communist Party of Greece (KKE): Article on the war in the Middle East, Palestine and Israel

ARTICLE by the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE:
 

In the last few months, the whole world has witnessed a generalized attack of the political-military machine of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip. Most of the bourgeois media, which support Israel, are trying in vain to convince the people that it all started on 7 October 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing and taking Israeli hostages. The vast majority of the peoples know that the Israeli bourgeois state, with the connivance of the USA and its other Euro-Atlantic allies, has been occupying the territories where, according to the UN resolutions, the state of Palestine should be established and oppressing the Palestinian people for seven decades. 

Cypriot communists: Cyprus must stop facilitating the murderous plans of the Israeli Government

In a recent statement (here in Greek), the Communist Initiative of Cyprus (Κομμουνιστική Πρωτοβουλία Κύπρου - Kıbrıs Komünist İnisiyatifi) denounces the facilitation provided by the government to the Israeli state and warns about the grave dangers that the island's deepening involvement in the Gaza massacre poses for the Cypriot people:

Israel's former ambassador to Cyprus, Mr Harari, stated recently that “Cyprus is being dragged into the regional conflict” due to the strategic relations it has developed with Israel. The Medium which hosted the former ambassador's interview reveals that, among other things, special forces of the Israeli army perform drills in Cypriot territory. 

Fascism in practice: Israeli government closes down Communist Party's offices in Haifa

Communist Party protest (Archive Photo)

Israeli police ordered the closure of the Communist Party's (CPI) offices in Haifa for ten hours on Monday due to a planned screening of a film by a Palestinian director about Israeli army activities in the West Bank city of Jenin.

According to reports, police forces summoned Reem Hazan, Secretary of Haifa district of CPI, on Monday and conducted an investigation with her, ultimately deciding to close the party’s headquarters in order to prevent the screening of Muhammad Bakri’s new film “Janein Jenin” and the launching of an activity against the aggressive war on Gaza. 

Communists of Cyprus warn against any facilitation of US-Israeli imperialist plans in the region

In a statement (here in Greek) issued on 3/8/2024, the Communist Initiative of Cyprus warns about the dangerous escalation of the situation in the region and the involvement of the Cypriot Government in the warmongering plans of Israel and NATO.

“Following the recent developments in our region where the state of Israel has dangerously escalated the situation and with the ongoing genocidal bloodshed on the Palestinian people in Gaza, there is an intense mobilization in all ports and airports of the Republic of Cyprus. Evacuation of tourists from Cyprus and the broader Middle East, military and spy plans and ships coming and going, as well as 200 U.S marine soldiers landing and settling on the island”, the CIC statement points out.

 

Palestinian and Israeli Communists meet in Ramallah to coordinate struggle against war and occupation

A high-level tripartite leadership meeting was held in the city of Ramallah in July between delegations representing the leadership bodies of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP), and the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash).

The meeting reviewed the latest political and battlefield developments considering the ongoing war and genocide to which the Palestinian people are being subjected, especially in the Gaza Strip. It also discussed ways to enhance the struggle and joint action of all three organizations.

Communists of Cyprus demand from the government to stop cooperation with Israel: No involvement in the massacre of Gaza

In a televised address on 19 June, the head of Lebanon's Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, threatened the Republic of Cyprus accusing it of allowing Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises.

The Communist Initiative of Cyprus (CIC) issued a statement (here in Greek) calling the government to end every cooperation with Israel and stop facilitating the Netanyahu leadership in the Gaza war. The statement titled "Cyprus is directly involved in the Gaza massacre: Every cooperation with Israel must stop" reads: 

AKEL: Cyprus' subordination to the US does not make it a pillar of security, quite the opposite

In a televised address on 19 June, the head of Lebanon's Shia Islamist group Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, threatened the Republic of Cyprus accusing it of allowing Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises. 

 

A day earlier, in a statement concerning the meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Cyprus and the USA in Washington DC, the Press Office of AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People) was pointing out:

 

Dockworkers in Greece refused to load arms shipment destined for Israel, forced cargo ship to change route

The militant mobilization of dockworkers at Greece's major port, Piraeus, on Saturday 15 June led to the cancellation of the arrival of “MSC ALTAIR”, a container ship transporting weaponry and ammunition to Israel.

As “Rizospastis” daily reported, MSC ALTAIR began its itinerary from Valencia, Spain and was due to reach Israel via Piraeus. According to information the cargo ship was carrying ammunition and other war material destined to be used by the IDF against the Palestinians in the slaughterhouse of Gaza. 

 

Communists from Israel and Cyprus demand an end to the war in Gaza

Protest in front the UK military bases in Cyprus, January 14, 2024

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus), Stefanos Stefanou, met Friday, May 17, with MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash), member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Israel, with whom the situation in Gaza and in Israel in general was discussed. 

 

In statements made after the meeting, both Stefanou and Touma-Sliman called for an end to the war and the implementation of the resolutions of the UN on the Palestinian issue.

Communist Party of Israel-Hadash: Netanyahu's fascist government on verge of causing humanitarian disaster in Rafah

“Israel’s fascist government is on the verge of bringing about a humanitarian disaster in Rafah,” Hadash and Communist Party of Israel (CPI) says in a common statement on Monday, May 6.

Protesting far-right Israeli government plans to “bomb and invade the Rafah area on the Egyptian border, which houses hundreds of thousands of displaced people,” Hadash and the CPI warns of “the mass slaughter and humanitarian disaster involved in the bombing of a very small area containing more than a million displaced people.”

Israeli left-wing MP Ayman Odeh expelled from the Knesset because he condemned the massacre in Gaza!

The chairman of Hadash-Ta'al left alliance and MP, Ayman Odeh, was removed from the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, following statements against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the devastating humanitarian situation there.

"What the army is doing there is murder, it is a massacre - the starvation of children," Odeh said, adding that "there is blindness of heart and there is blindness of conscience. I appeal to you to be a real opposition against this government and its crimes in Gaza. There is a position regarding October 7, but what the army is doing there is a crime, it is killing, it is murder, it is a massacre". 

McCarthy in the Knesset: Hadash deputy Ofer Cassif expelled from Israeli Parliament

Members of the Knesset committee on Tuesday took a key step toward expelling MP Ofer Cassif (Hadash) over his support for the South African-led International Court of Justice case accusing the Israeli Government of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The following day, the extreme-right, racist Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben Gvir, published on his social network a photo of comrade Ayman Odeh (Head of the Hadash-Ta'al coalition) with Khalida Jarrar (Palestinian PFLP parliamentarian), with a comment threatening the revocation of Comrade Todeh's mandate.

Ceasefire Now! Thousands protest across Israel calling for release of hostages and Netanyahu’s dismissal

Tens of Thousands protest Saturday night, January 27, in various demonstrations across Israel, demanding the release of hostages, immediate elections, against war in Gaza and the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Protests were held this in several locations across the country. Protests demanding elections were held at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, Horev Center in Haifa, Karkur Junction, Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva, Rehovot, Nes Tziona, Kafr Saba and Caesarea. 

Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism and Dangerous Conflations

On Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism and Dangerous Conflations: A Jewish Voice for Peace and PARCEO Explainer

 

What is antisemitism? 

Antisemitism is grave, serious, and totally incompatible with movements for collective liberation, and we stand against it in any form. 

Antisemitism is discrimination, targeting, violence, and dehumanizing stereotypes directed at Jews because they are Jewish. 

Communist Party of Israel — Hadash: In response to an Israeli call "to drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza"

In a statement issued in response to the call to drop a nuclear bomb on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the head of the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, and former Knesset Member Issam Makhoul called on the international community and relevant international organizations to remove the threat of Israeli nuclear weapons from the Palestinian people and the peoples in the region, and oblige Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT)! 

Israel: Communist MP Aida Touma-Sliman sanctioned over statements against Gaza War

Aida Touma-Sliman and Ofer Cassif (Photo: Zo Haderech)

Knesset Ethics Committee suspended Wednesday a leading Communist Party of Israel lawmaker, MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) from the plenum sessions and committee meetings for a period of two months over statements she made against the war in Gaza.

The Touma-Sliman’s post read: “And they still insist: The ‘most moral army in the world’ does not harm innocents and does not attack hospitals!” That evening, the army spokesman issued an official statement saying that the military is not striking [Palestinian Hospital in Gaza Strip] Al-Shifa.” Touma-Sliman said her words were taken from “repeated Palestinian testimonies in the hospital” that she had given and subject to “the right of freedom of speech given to members of Knesset.”

KKE: Short answers to current ideological-political questions concerning the Israeli attack and massacre against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip

Article by the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE

Short answers to current ideological-political questions concerning the Israeli attack and massacre against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip

From the first hours of the recent military attack of the Israeli state and the massacre against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, the KKE took a militant and principled position on the side of the Palestinian people and organized dozens of solidarity mobilizations. The communists led many workers’-people’s mobilizations all over Greece. 

Israel: Communist Party leading member Mohammad Barakeh detained after announcing anti-war protest

UPDATE, 10 November 2023

 

According to the Communist Party of Israel (CPI), after several hours of detention and interrogation, comrade Mohammad Barakeh, was released without restrictions, all other members arrested at the protest were released with restrictions including a distancing from Nazareth for 14 days.  

 

A leading Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and former Hadash lawmaker was detained Thursday morning after he announced a protest against the war in Gaza. Mohammad Barakeh, chair of umbrella organization for the Arab-Palestinian community in Israel, the High Follow-up Committee, called for Arab officials to demonstrate in Nazareth. The general public was not invited to the vigil.