The brutal bombing of Gaza City, with the huge numbers killed – well over 11,000 officially recorded so far, with a further 3,000 missing – and the massive destruction of infrastructure, the bombing of hospitals, schools, refugee camps, the targeting of ambulances and medical staff, all highlight the barbarism of the Israeli army’s onslaught on the Palestinian people. 

The following is an interview conducted by marxist.com with a Palestinian teacher, living in the West Bank. They provide a powerful eyewitness account of the brutal violence being enacted against Palestinians by illegal Israeli settlers, backed up by the IDF. They also express frustration towards the Palestinian Authority, and the ruling elites in the Middle East, who are abandoning Palestine to its fate; in stark contrast to huge solidarity from the masses of the region. The interviewee has asked to remain anonymous, for security reasons.

Bourgeois democracy in Austria is in a senile crisis. Like in other countries in Europe, the Hamas attacks of 7 October have been used to whip up a reactionary mood. Muslim migrants and the communists of Der Funke (the IMT in Austria) are at the centre of these political attacks, with reformist leaders of Social Democracy and Communist Party actively persecuting party members who stand in solidarity with the Palestinians.

A month after the Israeli government commenced its ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, the Organisation of Port Dockers of Barcelona (OEPB), ​​has resolved “not to allow the activity of ships in our port that contain war material”. The USTP (Port Workers Union) also took the same decision on 8 November.

The slaughter in Gaza has now reached the grim milestone of 10,000 killed, while more than a million have been displaced with nowhere to go. To give a sense of scale, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has killed more people in Gaza in one month than the total number of Ukrainian civilians killed in the 21 months since the Ukraine war broke out in February 2022. The latter figure stood at 9,600, according to last month’s estimate.

IMT comrades in Modena, Italy (Sinistra Classe e Rivoluzione) organised a campaign inside the FIOM (metalworkers’ union of the CGIL) in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and in particular in support of an appeal issued by Palestinian trade union organisations. At a demonstration at the weekend, 2,000 workers and youth, both immigrant and native Italian, marched together in a lively demonstration, showing their full solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for an end to the Israeli bombing and occupation.

Comrades of Socialist Appeal, the British section of the International Marxist Tendency, have been targeted by the police and the rest of the establishment for waging a determined campaign to build solidarity with the Palestinian people. We call on you to help us in this fight. Intifada until victory!

“The politicians' smears are not because they are strong... They are afraid that the people, we workers, will realise our own power. Afraid that we workers will unite, organise and threaten their rule." Fredrik, a communist from Revolution (IMT in Sweden), spoke at the 10,000-strong demonstration in Stockholm on Saturday. This is his speech.

Events in the Middle East are having a profound impact on consciousness in Britain. While the establishment all sing from the same hypocritical hymn sheet, hundreds of thousands are taking to the streets. Revolutionary explosions impend.

To justify its genocidal bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli state, with the complicity of Western imperialists, tries to present itself as the guardian of superior moral values in the face of Palestinian “barbarism”. There could be no better example of the complete moral bankruptcy of the ruling class.

The Israeli army, after much prevarication, finally started ground operations in Gaza over the weekend. But it was not a full-scale invasion. The Israeli military leaders are fully aware of the great risk to their own soldiers if they commence street-by-street fighting with troops on the ground. They are also wary of giving Hezbollah the excuse they require to widen the conflict, opening a second front on the northern border with Lebanon. So what are Netanyahu and his generals preparing for?

Trotsky warned in 1940 that the attempt to solve the ‘Jewish problem’ in Europe through the dispossession of the Palestinians would be a “bloody trap”. These words ring true to this very day. But the real history of Israel-Palestine has been buried under mountains of falsification.

From the outset of the latest Israel-Palestine conflict, the capitalist media in Britain has acted as an obedient mouthpiece for the establishment, echoing their imperialist propaganda. We need to build a voice for the exploited and oppressed.

As Israel prepares its forces for a land invasion of Gaza, all the western imperialist leaders, from Biden to Sunak, Scholz and Macron, are getting very nervous. They worry about what their world will look like when this is over.

As the Israeli state escalate their genocidal campaign in Gaza, the York University administration have also ramped up their campaign of silencing the student movement for denouncing this genocide.