“The repression is designed to isolate the Palestinian people and leave them isolated. But it is not working.”
By Louise Regan, Chair, Palestine Solidarity Campaign
It is now nearly two years since the war on Gaza began – a genocide which has slaughtered well over 61,000 Palestinians and destroyed every part of the infrastructure of life in Gaza. Now, Israel is unleashing new horrors – new levels of barbarity that still do not create a red line for our political leaders to end their support for Israel, including military cooperation.
Having starved the population of Gaza for 3 months during which no food or water was allowed in; then having set up a fake humanitarian agency with none of the relevant expertise to deliver meagre amounts of aid; now Israel is sending forces to slaughter those queuing for these basic scraps. Over 1,800 have been killed searching for food, the majority of these near the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites.
More than 100 aid organisations have called on Israel to end the weaponisation of aid in Gaza, and of the 239 Palestinians that have died from starvation, at least 106 are children.
Our screens are filled every day with horrific images of destruction and death. Every day a new horror is unleashed on the people of Gaza, and the journalists sharing these images have become the most targeted in history. More journalists have been killed in Gaza in 22 months than in WW1, WW2, the Korean war and the Vietnam war combined. Most recently we saw the murder of five Al Jazeera journalists including Anas Al Sharif, when their clearly marked press tent was targeted by Israel. Their crime? Bearing witness to what is happening every day and sharing it for the world to see. As Anas said in his final message to the world, “If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice.”
When, without shame, Israel unveiled plans to corral all of the Palestinians in Gaza into a camp built on the ruins of destroyed Rafah, making clear that this is a holding zone before a planned forced expulsion, David Lammy was asked about this at the Foreign Affairs Select Committee. He described it as a “sticking point.” For the Foreign Secretary, planning mass ethnic cleansing on a historically unparalleled scale is a “sticking point.“
The world has been turned on its head. A state slaughtering at least 61,000 people, destroying hospitals, schools, universities, forcibly starving children cannot be judged to be genocidal we are told, but is portrayed as a “democratic ally” that we should still sell arms to, and trade normally with. The people who should be regarded as terrorists and treated accordingly are not the perpetrators of these crimes, but those who protest against them – the people who should be investigated for crimes and sent to court are apparently people like Chris Nineham, Ben Jamal, Sophie Bolt and Alex Kenny from the peace and solidarity movements. It is a world where a UN special rapporteur calling for action against companies complicit in aiding and abetting a genocide finds herself subject to sanctions.
This repression is designed to isolate the Palestinian people and leave them isolated. But it is not working. It is Israel that is becoming isolated. Israel’s efforts to delegitimise this movement has been based on a strategy of separating the Palestinian struggle from other progressive causes. The strategy is failing not just here but globally. Huge demonstrations regularly see hundreds of thousands on the streets calling for an end to the genocide. Alongside this is mass local campaigning building the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. At least 13 local councils have announced plans to divest from complicit companies, the Co-op became the first UK supermarket to ban all Israeli goods from its shelves, and thousands of people have closed Barclays accounts because of these campaigns.
Our movement has grown massively over the last two years but that has been on the back of the most horrific assault on the Palestinian people. We must answer the Government’s attempts to repress us by raising our voices louder, by building the BDS campaign, and by increasing the pressure on our government to end all arms sales to Israel and impose sanctions.
We must do that not just in our words but in our actions too. We cannot allow our movement to be silenced – we must continue to march, to protest, to boycott and to raise our voices until all Palestinians from the river to the sea, are finally, finally free.
- This is part of our Building a Fighting Left hard-copy bulletin, also featuring Apsana Begum, Diane Abbott, BFAWU and Jess Barnard, which is out now at https://bit.ly/buildingafightingleft
- National March for Palestine – Stop Starving Gaza – Saturday September 6m 12pm, Russell Square to Whitehall. Full info here.
- Louise Regan is the National Chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and an executive member of the National Education Union (NEU). You can follow her on Twitter/X; and follow the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
