For a month, the whole world has stood in awe. We are in awe of the bravery, ingenuity, tenacity and strength of the Palestinian people and their allies. We are in awe of their dignity and steadfastness, their unwavering commitment to freedom and justice. We are in awe of the spirit of sacrifice that enables them to endure the apocalyptic costs sadistically inflicted on them by the Empire they have mortally wounded. We are in awe of the tremendous blow they have struck. It has demonstrated to all humanity the fragility and weakness of the vaunted Zionist military apparatus, long one of the most prominent laboratories of the imperialist ruling class’s machinery of domination.
With a different sense of awe—horror—we have witnessed the bloodlust of the entire ruling class: from Tel Aviv to Tokyo, from Berlin to Washington, from New Delhi to Abu Dhabi. They too were awestruck and horrified by the liberating flood that burst out of Gaza. Now they are taking revenge on the innocent, in a manner so monstrous that it shocks even those of us who never put anything past them.
Despite operating without any restraint of law or resources, the empire is so far helpless to dam up this flood.
Certainly, they are using every form of physical force. Throughout Palestine — and soon after in Lebanon and Syria — the Zionists, in coordination with their Western handlers, have unleashed their arsenal. It cannot even be said that they did so in »disregard« of international law or civilian lives. For it is clear that they are deliberately and brazenly violating all laws and principles of humanity and openly committing genocide.
In the imperial core, the ruling class has deployed their state repressive apparatuses with a brazenness that astounds even those who have long been aware of the gradual erosion of liberal democracy that followed the defeat of the socialist camp and the global counter-revolution. Protests have been banned. Livelihoods, residence status, and even citizenship are threatened. In Germany, the simultaneous corporate-banning and state-criminalization of free speech has surpassed the already monstrous levels reached during the Covid program or the war in Ukraine. The ban on Samidoun takes the already shameless practice of labeling forces such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad or the PFLP as »terrorists« — against the overwhelming global consensus — to an almost parodic level. Of course, there is not a single criterion by which any of these groups could be so categorized that would not apply a million times over to any major party in the Knesset or any other imperialist government.
But perhaps more importantly, at least for us here in the imperialist core, they have also unleashed a torrent of lies, propaganda and manipulation to distort reality and justify their aggression. The word »justify« even goes too far, because in truth they know very well that they can no longer really convince the majority of their population of their absurd narrative. Who can now pretend that the Israeli leadership, the occupying forces and the militant armed settlers — this gang of colonizers who have been robbing and murdering their way through Palestine for more than half a century without showing even a sign of satiation or remorse — are actually victims defending themselves? The ruling class, in its own wall-to-wall spectacle, struggled to maintain even the holographic impression of general consent to this hysteria for more than a few days. The Israeli army’s blatant genocidal program in Gaza — itself, of course, nothing more than a particularly acute phase of the systematic genocide of the indigenous population that »Israel«, like all settler-colonies, necessarily entails – has already, even by their own accounts, far exceeded all the crimes attributed – still without any independent investigation or proof ! –to Hamas or the other resistance factions since October 7th.
The level of mendacity and irrationalism of the ruling class media, which in an earlier era at least gave the appearance of persuasion and dialogue, has reached a point that marks a qualitative change, the outlines of which – although already visible at the beginning of the Covid program – now stand out in stark relief. It is evident that the ruling class has largely given up on traditional ideological hegemony, on persuasion, indeed even on bribery, concessions, or co-option for anything but a thin strata of overseers. They now believe that they can and must rely on terror and force. Therein lies the peculiarity of the current political messaging from the West — the maudlin displays of victimhood and solidarity with Israel, the stern and self-righteous pronouncements against terrorism — all without the slightest effort to hide the innocent blood dripping from their hands.
In the transition to a new global fascist order, the ruling class is trying, on the one hand, to paralyze for as long as possible those torn between the desire to resist and the fear of losing the few crumbs they have. Thus, they preserve what cannot even really be called the remnants of liberal democracy, but only some of its most superficial outward forms. In this way, they offer those who are afraid to fight back the pretence of believing that the ruling class still pretends to abide by any democratic or legal constraints.
On the other hand, they simply want to terrorize us—to remind us that of course, if not today, then tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, we too can become the »human animals« (Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defence Minister) of Gaza. We are neither citizens nor legal residents with inalienable rights, but live and breathe at the mercy of the ruling class. Hence, the uncanny bivalence of today’s political message, which would perhaps be possible without the sophisticated machinery of spectacle made possible by modern telecommunications. The ruling class proclaims: »We are all Israel«. On the surface, this seems like a replay of Cold War dichotomies or their attenuated variations from the War on Terror. But there is another level, more felt than rationally comprehended.
When the ruling class — which acts ever more openly as a caste and spends most of its time loudly proclaiming its next plan to admonish, punish, rob and disenfranchise us — declares »WE are Israel«, they of course mean THEM — not us! THEY are the chosen people, the »children of light« — we, the masses, are the »children of darkness« (Netanyahu). Indeed, even the Israeli masses themselves perhaps fall short of this prestigious position. This was already evident during the Covid program and is now even more evident as it becomes increasingly likely that the Israel Defense Forces deliberately slaughtered its own population on October 7th in order to manufacture atrocities that could be blamed on Hamas and used to justify the following aggression.
The quest of today’s ruling class to turn itself into a caste is full of contradictions, as we have noted in the past. Not least of these is the telecommunications control grid they have built around us, and which they need to manipulate, surveil, and discipline us. Despite the vast machinery of censorship and disinformation they have welded it into, it also remains a powerful conduit for information flows. Fewer and fewer can take seriously the evidence-free claims about the Palestinian resistance when the evidence of Zionist crimes flows ceaselessly from Gaza. The catalogue of past lies is simply too long and too well known to erase. More and more people have the courage not to play along and pretend that Israeli or American claims are simply »biased« or »inaccurate«. They are lies until proven otherwise — and more and more people know it!
Fortunately for us, the rulers forget this themselves, and fall for their own propaganda. This was particularly striking in the run up to the first great mobilization in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance under the name of »The Friday of Al-Aqsa Flood« on October 13th. The imperialist media was flooded with breathless warnings of impending terrorist attacks and outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence. Of course, the warnings themselves were mainly propaganda. However, it seems likely that the ruling class also overestimated its ability to actually elicit such crimes — and perhaps believed that the migrant flows they directed into Europe in their devastation of West Asia and North Africa would fulfil the rulers’ own racist fantasies. Despite endless threats and endless incitements, the people in Europe — of all backgrounds — who have taken to the streets to show solidarity with the Palestinian resistance have dashed all such hopes. It is telling that those in power ultimately had to resort to their trusted ISIS operatives to produce a few horror images for their media hype. These efforts have largely failed because even moderately informed people know that the so-called »Islamic State in the Levant« as well as the so-called »Jewish State in the Levant« are just an extension of Western imperialism and work in close coordination. It should be clear that neither has any legitimate claim to represent Islam or Judaism. If they represent any religion, then it can only be described as Americanism. Hamas, of course, has consistently opposed both monstrosities and worked tirelessly to drive ISIS out of Gaza while Israel has operated as their unofficial air force in Syria
The ruling class probably thought they could control Hamas too. This brings us to one of the most pernicious lines of propaganda being spread, especially in »conspiracy theory« networks: the idea that the entire Al-Aqsa flood operation and everything that followed was nothing more than a cunning Zionist plot. We must first make a clear distinction here between popular Islamic liberation forces and takfirist death squads such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda or Boko Haram, which, after first having been deployed in earnest along the borders of the socialist bloc from Bosnia through the Caucasus to Afghanistan and Xinjiang, have since become an important part of imperialist strategy in West Asia and Africa. The latter are essentially mercenary groups created, trained and directed by the West or its local agents. Together with the more overt face of empire and its local authoritarian clients, they form part of the pincer with which insubordinate populations are terrorized and subjugated. Such groups cannot be compared to popular mass organizations such as Hamas or Hezbollah. While it is true that conservative Islamic organizations have been cultivated and supported by the West as a preferred alternative to secular socialist and communist forces, this does not give the West ultimate control over them. ISIS and Boko Haram are accountable only to their handlers in Langley, the real popular Islamic resistance to Zionism and imperialism is accountable to the masses — who continue to support them because they deliver! – We are confident that any ideological deformations bred by the malign influence of empire will be overcome in the struggle against it.
Now, it is possible that the current clique in Tel Aviv knew about the Al-Aqsa flood, or perhaps deliberately provoked it by leaking information about their own planned offensive, against which the resistance has indicated that its operation was a pre-emptive defence against. They may have believed that this was in their own interests, especially in view of their own precarious domestic political situation. But the Palestinian resistance also deliberately carried out the operation because they calculated that it would be in their interests. Who was right? Obviously, the Zionists had no idea of the full scope of this operation. It is clear that they were overwhelmed. The resistance has won victory after victory, inspiring all of humanity with its valour, principles, righteousness and glory. The Zionists, meanwhile, have brought eternal shame upon themselves and their Western managers. As a substitute for military victories that they cannot win, they have chosen to openly commit savage genocide, bombing schools and hospitals, murdering women, children and journalists. In this process, the West has lost what last vestiges of legitimacy it had left at home and abroad. It is clear that at this moment they really have nothing left but terror.
However, none of this is really new. The end of the »West« has long been announced, registered and recorded. The power that has propped it up — the imperialist bourgeoisie — has already been quietly working to make the transition to a »multipolar« world as smooth and superficial as possible. It hopes that in this world there will only be a symbolic redistribution of power. It strives to slow down the unstoppable rise of the global South, even if only temporarily. Nothing could be more typical of this than the so-called Abraham Accords, in which the Gulf despots — even as they proclaim ever more noisily their BRICS-ishness and their independence from the West — have made clear the boundless abysses of their betrayal of the Palestinian people, and their collusion with American and Zionist supremacy in their region.
The truly hysterical, fascistic stance adopted by virtually all Western politicians — who no longer even give the slightest appearance of being committed to democracy, human rights or the laws of war — can be seen as a kind of ideological-propagandistic short-sell. The social democracies and labour aristocracies — themselves a legacy of Cold War concessions forced on the ruling class by global communism and decolonization — are slated for controlled demolition. This has been clear since September 11 at the latest. In the course of its dissolution, the political class of the West has been assigned a role of almost cartoonish villainy in order to legitimize its symbolic successors from the South. To recognize this dynamic, one need only look at how the insipid language of ceasefires is celebrated by the politically naïve as a radical stance against Israel and the West.
WHO is calling for a ceasefire? Neither the Palestinian resistance nor its allies from the Axis of Resistance. As soon as the Palestinian resistance deems such a move strategically necessary, we will support it, but that hasn’t happened yet! They are opening fronts, intensifying the struggle. The masses all over the world do not want the Palestinians to lay down their arms and accept the pre-October status quo. Hardly anyone who goes to the demonstrations called in favour of »ceasefires« goes for any other reason than to unconditionally support the Palestinians‹ right to liberate themselves from the criminal occupation once and for all.
No, it is neither the Palestinians nor the global masses supporting them who are calling for a »ceasefire«. This is the call of the controlled »left« wing of the ruling class: internally, in the imperial core, by the liberal opposition; externally, by the supposedly anti-systemic and multipolar forces afraid of the truly revolutionary implications of the Al-Aqsa flood. Both gain their power by convincing the masses that they cannot achieve anything by their own efforts, that the ruling class is all-powerful, that they must accept drudgery and the most abject compromises. Many naive and well-meaning people, especially in the West, wilfully misinterpret the calls for a ceasefire as calls to stop Israel, but they are nothing of the sort! The Zionist entity has never respected a ceasefire in its entire existence. As we speak, their boot is on the neck, they are committing outrageous crimes before the eyes of all humanity. The only means by which these genocidal imperialists can be forced to cease firing is their absolute military defeat and dismantling – just like Nazi Germany. The road to peace was clearly pointed out by Mao:
»We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished by war, and to get rid of the gun you must take up the gun.«
The call for a ceasefire is a trap. It serves to seduce and mislead the honest, naive masses in the West. Their humanity urges them to support the Palestinians, but their indoctrination prevents them from understanding the necessary corollary: support for armed resistance. This is the only way to end the criminal occupation and fascist terror. The demand for a ceasefire is used as a framework to achieve two core objectives of the ruling class. The first is to provide the Zionists with an alibi so that they do not have to concede military defeat to the resistance. The second is so that once they have ended this acute phase of genocide, they can declare a ceasefire and criminalize the legitimate ongoing resistance of the Palestinians as recalcitrant and in violation of international law — just as the infamous Dayton Accords achieved in Yugoslavia.
Of course, all these perfidious efforts are failing. The whole world continues to rejoice at Palestinian victories. Only the most depraved cretins fall for the maudlin portrayals of victimhood. All of humanity, with the exception of the sordid strata of servile courtiers of the ruling class, sees the Palestinians as the leaders of us ALL.
The entire ruling class the world over is trembling in absolute terror. The Hashemite fascists are begging the Americans for more missiles. The Gulf despots sheepishly try to cover up the Abraham Accords — some are even refusing to sever all economic ties with Israel, let alone allow their airspace to be used by resistance forces. Sisi and Mohammed VI peer desperately across the Mediterranean. In Western Europe and the United States, they are pushing their state repressive apparatuses to their limits, risking total collapse. In the face of this huge, liberating flood, the entire ruling class is desperately struggling for composure in the hopes of arresting nothing less than the flow of time itself. The call for a »humanitarian pause« expresses not only the zeitgeist of a post-legal, post-democratic, post-liberal, »rule-based« fascist order, but also their utter desperation and fantasies of a reprieve, their desire to halt, to freeze the unstoppable force of history.
They cry out as Joshua once did: »O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the valley of Ajalon.« They will get no respite and no peace! The sun, the moon and the stars roll on, glorifying the resistance of the Palestinian people. We are all Gaza! The Al-Aqsa flood exposes every false authority on this earth. The rulers are terrorized, and they have nothing but terror left! We must not be intimidated by the true terrorists, the Zionists and their Western handlers.
The great Palestinian revolutionary, Ghassan Khanafani, was once asked why he would not talk to the Zionists. He replied that it would be a conversation between neck and sword. Those who call for a ceasefire are calling for just such a peace — they are demanding that the Palestinians make peace with a sword in their necks. We maintain that the right to resist occupation and genocide is inviolable! The would-be rulers of the world cannot revoke it on any grounds, real or imagined.
Long live the resistance, long live liberation.
Down with the banning of Samidoun and all other resistance organizations!
We recall that Nelson Mandela and the ANC were labeled terrorists by the US until 2008! We will not fall for the same chicanery today!
Down with the criminal occupation of every inch of Palestine, freedom and self-determination from the river to the sea.
Unconditional solidarity with the resistance against Zionism, as against all forms of racism, colonialism and imperialism.
We have said that the Zionist entity is the sword, the Palestinians the neck. This is also true in the sense that a sword does not swing by itself! They, the Zionists, are a tool of the Empire. We do not believe that they do anything without its consent. Herein lies the hysteria of the German ruling class. We do not believe for a second that these criminals are driven by any kind of guilt for the crimes of their ancestors. Just the opposite is the case! They support this genocide of Semites for exactly the same reasons their ancestors organized the last one.
Their crimes are the simple, monstrous consequence of their class interests. We can have no illusions about this. So we say that the cause of Palestinian resistance is glorious not only in its own right — which it undoubtedly is — but because it advances the liberation of us all. Whether today or tomorrow, we are all Gaza.
