Israel’s provocation of Iran has had the benefit for the Israeli government of simultaneously claiming victimhood, distracting attention from Gaza and providing a spectacle of its military reach at a time when its own public are showing increasing impatience with the IDF’s failure to achieve any of its stated objectives. Its murderous onslaught on Gaza has not freed Israeli hostages and Hamas has not been defeated. Israel being publicly hugged by the US and by the Arab regimes that depend on US support, will not stem, however, the mounting international solidarity movement in support of the Palestinians. The Reuters news agency’s tracking of world-wide street protests over Israel’s war, indicate that over 85 per cent of them are in favour of the Palestinians.
Israel is not the victim of Iranian aggression; it is to Israel’s aggression that Iran responded. Israel always discounts its own role in bringing about the situation which provokes a violent reaction. Biden’s gung-ho support for Israel against Iran will remind many Americans that Israel risks dragging the US into a Middle East war which will further dim his electoral prospects. Fear of a Trump victory will not readily convert to voting for a candidate dubbed by many as “Genocide Joe”. During his current term, Biden did not restore Trump’s cut to UNWRA’s funding nor renounce his recognition of Israel’s claims to East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Worse still, his administration dramatically stepped up arms supplies to Israel, even as it has been carrying out its genocidal war.
Gaza should also feature prominently in the British general election later this year. It will be an opportunity to hold the main political parties to account over their abject subservience to the pro-Israel agenda of the US. The Guardian (11th April) reported: “Experts said Keir Starmer’s party could struggle to win as many as a dozen of its key targets, and could even lose two of the seats it now holds, as a result of alienating some Muslims and younger progressive voters angered by its stance on Gaza and the climate crisis.” In more and more constituencies, including Sheffield Heeley, moves are afoot to field a candidate that supports, along with other progressive causes, the Palestinian struggle for justice. There can be alternatives!
Provoking Iran – a smokescreen for Israel’s genocide
