By Elliot Crossan
With horror, grief and righteous fury, the world is watching as the state of Israel drowns itself in blood. Every last pretence of credibility and humanity that the Zionist leaders maintained is gone; all that remains is the truth of their naked barbarity. 11,000 Palestinians dead and counting; at least 4,500 of them children. This is the most brutal and despicable genocide of our time.
At the same moment, a second spectacle is being uncovered: the sickening hypocrisy of Western imperialism. Since February last year, NATO leaders have been shouting from the rooftops about the criminal invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin. The United States and its allies couldn’t believe their luck; it was a golden opportunity for Western leaders to portray themselves as the defenders of democracy, the “rules-based order,” and most jarringly of all, human rights.
Israel is armed, funded and supported by the US and other Western powers. If NATO pulled its support, the Israeli Government would have no choice but to declare a ceasefire in an instant. Instead, the west continues to provide Israel with the most accurate, high-tech military equipment on the planet. The ultimate precision of these weapons is then turned unflinchingly onto the targets of this genocidal state: not Hamas, but hospitals, schools and refugee camps. The NATO powers know this, and continue to actively support the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
Whatever scraps of moral authority the west was able to cobble together on the world stage from its defence of Ukraine have been blown away in a hurricane of hypocrisy. There is no hiding anymore; the US, the European Union and the New Zealand Government are drenched in just as much blood as the state of Israel.
With every day that passes without a ceasefire, more Palestinian families are slaughtered. But do not for a second think we are powerless to resist. Even in Western countries, where we are subject to relentless pro-Israel propaganda, people are rising up to demand without equivocation: ceasefire now.
The Palestinian movement in Aotearoa and in other Western-aligned countries must counter Israeli propaganda at every turn. Do not back down. Do not apologise for chants such as “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Do not deny Palestinians the right to resist oppression through force.
The movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel must continue to grow. Boycotting goods from South Africa was one of the key tactics which brought down the Apartheid regime; Palestinians are calling for the same tactics against Israel, and we must support them. Unions in particular have the power to stop the slaughter by stopping the transport of weapons and goods to Israel.
We must look beyond even the end of Israeli Apartheid. Our goal must be to bring down the imperialist powers that have enabled this genocide once and for all. We call for an international revolution against imperialism and war in all its forms. When children from Palestine to Afghanistan to Yemen to Ukraine to West Papua can live without fear of oppression and murder — then, and only then, will humanity be truly set free.
All of our solidarity, grief, anger and love goes out to the people of Gaza right now. Stop this genocide. End Israeli Apartheid. End the occupation once and for all. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
Elliot Crossan is a socialist writer and activist from Auckland.
