Beit Lahiya – August 2025
The Gaza genocide – the disgrace of the global north
It is to our eternal shame that we now enter the third year since the start of the most recent genocidal attacks, by the military of the Zionist settler state of Israel, upon the colonised people of Palestine. Using, as an excuse, a justifiable armed attack on the colonisers at military installations; a kibbutzim (an agricultural complex but with a military structure with all adults armed and trained in military tactics) constructed on stolen land and which was only 3 kilometres from the Gaza fence; and a music festival (which was only 5 kilometres from the Gaza fence and was, therefore, a display of contempt for the Gazans as they had been starved of resources for decades); the occupying fascist government unleashed an (even for them) unprecedented vicious and sustained attack on the whole of the Palestinian population in occupied Gaza.
Statements made by representatives of the Zionist settler state made it clear from Day1 what their intentions were. Their genocidal intent wasn’t something that developed as the days wore on – it was the driving force behind their assault on the Palestinian people from the beginning and was of such ferocity and organisation that it had to have been a plan just waiting for implementation.
What was also clear from the first days of the assault on the Palestinian people was the fact that the overwhelming majority of the Israeli population was in total agreement with the murderous actions and intentions of the military and the politicians. Here there was no separation from the desires of the ‘leadership’ and the led. All the years of oppression of the Palestinian people had not achieved the desired result, that is a servile mass that would just accept whatever the colonisers imposed so the foreign invaders could enjoy the fruits of their stolen booty, so here there was an opportunity to ‘finish the job’.
The Zionist reaction to the attack of 7th October 2023 allowed the rest of the world to see the true face of Israeli society. The removal of the mask, that years of propaganda and claims of victimhood had kept hidden, allowed more people throughout the world to see the true face of Zionism. This was that, at its core, Israeli society was no different from any other coloniser in various parts of the world in the past; its racism; its dehumanisation of the indigenous population; its arrogance; its separatism; its contempt for any other than their small tribe; its belief in its own superiority; its supremacy; its exceptionalism; its fear; its divorce from reality.
The genocide and ethnic cleansing we have witnessed in Gaza over the last couple of years has also allowed the populations in all the ‘western’ countries, without exception, to see the true nature of their own governments, where the capitalist interests lie and the real role of (what is now described as) the mainstream media.
If politicians had any shame they would hang their heads when they see replays of themselves going through all kinds of verbal acrobatics to NOT describe the indiscriminate slaughter of civilians as ‘genocide’ – even when there are countless images of Zionist politicians saying that is exactly what they are in the process of carrying out in Gaza. It has been amazing, and instructive, to see how brazen these so-called ‘representatives of the people’ have maintained this pro-Zionist stance in the face of overwhelming evidence of what the Zionists are perpetrating in the name of ‘self-defence’.
They recently have made meaningless declarations such as ‘recognising the Palestinian state’ when all that exists of such a state is a vast pile of rubble. They act as if they had experienced some sort of Damascene conversion when the veil that had been covering their eyes (but which was clear from the start to millions of normal people throughout the world) was removed and they could actually see that there was suffering and starvation of a whole population in Gaza. But words are cheap and any action that would have had any meaning, that would have had any effect on the slaughter of the innocents, there was none.
The shallowness of this ‘realisation’ was demonstrated in Britain, for example, by the decision of the Starmer Labour government (at around the same time as talk of ‘recognition’ of the Palestinian state was being mooted) with the proscription Palestine Action, a direct action group; proposing to introduce even more stringent laws to prevent continuing protests against the genocide; increasing harassment and persecution of activists and honest journalists not in the pay of the establishment; and calling students who were preparing to protest on the second anniversary of the start of the genocide as ‘un-British’.
The accusation of not being British enough was presumably making the point that to be truly ‘British’ you should be in support of colonialism and the consequent theft and murder that that has entailed over the centuries and of which Britain, nor any of the other European colonial powers have ever been held accountable; turning the two Jews (of whom at least one was killed and another injured by gunfire from the British police) at an attack at a synagogue in Manchester on 2nd October into virtual martyrs for the cause of Zionism – when there was no clear understanding of why the attack on the Manchester synagogue took place; and attempting to shame any supporter of Palestine as being uncaring if they continue to call for the end of the slaughter at marches and demonstrations on subsequent days; and all the time continuing to actively support the Zionists in their genocide by means of information provided by British spy aircraft operating out of Cyprus (the presence of the British in that country being yet another remnant of the colonial past) and the supplying of vital equipment which allows the Zionist air force to continue its day and night bombardment of refugees sheltering in tents.
Although the Labour Government can be rightly condemned for its pro-Zionist actions and its attacks upon those who protest the inhuman treatment of millions of Palestinians in Gaza those Labourites who continue to support the party also must share much of the blame. Those who shamelessly listened to (and applauded) the empty speeches of concern at the recent Labour Party Annual Conference in Liverpool are as culpable of the genocide as are those in the leadership and the overwhelming number of the Members of Parliament. However, those Labour Party members who continue as members of the party and those who continue to support this pro-genocide grouping in elections (by putting a cross on a piece of paper next to the names of Labour candidates) are equally to blame. Governments, not only in Britain, but throughout the world (although mainly in the grouping of countries under the general banner of the ‘west’) can only continue to sanction mass murder if there is a base that provides them with legitimacy.
If not for the sake of their humanity it should be a matter of their own self-interest. How is a government going to care and be concerned about the people in its own country if it is prepared to tolerate (let alone oppose) such actions of the armed forces of the Zionist settler state in Gaza? ALL events in the world are inter-related. It is not possible to separate what is happening domestically from what is happening internationally. What is happening in Gaza is inextricably linked to what is happening in the Ukraine and the other parts of the world where United States funded ‘democratic’ movements are making life difficult for any government that doesn’t totally accept the diktat of the US and its acolytes in the European Union and a few other servile nations traditionally tailing behind whatever their ‘daddy’ decides. (We should not ignore the irony that these movements that are promoted for seeking ‘democracy’ in their own countries are urged on by nations that are increasingly restricting ‘democracy’ in the donor/supporting nations – not least prompted by the mass opposition to the slaughter in Gaza.)
Whilst austerity measures are introduced in all those western ‘democracies’, adversely affecting the lives of the majority, there is no shortage of funding for ‘defence’. Whilst many millions in the US and Europe are struggling to survive the expenditure on arms continues and is planned to increase to level favourable to the US. And one of the principal recipients of this western largesse in the Zionist settler state of Israel – which could not be able to carry out their murders without the full and active support of the former colonial powers. None of these governments are bystanders. In various ways they assist, support and allow to happen all the atrocities to which the Palestinian people are subjected. In the court of world public opinion – if not in any of the ineffectual international courts – they are as guilty as the Zionist politicians, Israel Defence Forces and the general population of Israel itself.
There are many similarities between previous genocides and the one that is currently under way in Gaza. There’s racism; dehumanisation of those under attack; claims of victimhood and ‘innocence’ by the perpetrators; distortions of the facts; an unrelenting propaganda campaign; the constant repetition of lies and misinformation; broken promises and agreements/treaties; and a total contempt for anything related to the indigenous population.
But there is one very important and significant difference to those genocides that have gone before – even those in recent years in Africa and Asia. This genocide is being ‘live streamed’. Modern technology and the concomitant diversity of social media mean that it is impossible to conceal what is happening on the ground. If the vast majority in the ‘global north’ don’t know exactly what is going on in Gaza then they have made a conscious decision NOT to know. This is even more so when we have the murderers broadcasting their own crimes as a matter of pride, be they the fascist, Zionist politicians or individual members of the IDF. Their stupidity and arrogance condemn them, but they are too stupid and arrogant to realise it. But their sense of superiority and entitlement means they continue in the manner they have been acting for decades. The only difference now is in the frequency and open manner in which they make such statements. If there are no consequences why not?
Although all the facts about what happened on the morning of October 7th, 2023, were still coming out the story being told by the Zionists didn’t ring true. Their stories of atrocities were too fantastical; very quickly holes were picked in the testimonies of the ‘witnesses’ and ‘experts’ – individuals and organisations we don’t hear about any more, them having played their role; information started to come out about the Hannibal Directive (where dead Israelis were preferred to captured Israelis); and contradictions in the narrative became more and more obvious and less people were convinced by the ‘official’ record of events.
As time went on ALL of the more fantastical reports (beheaded babies; babies cooked in ovens; children tortured and then killed in front of their parents; organised and systematic mass rapes; desecration and dismemberment of the dead) were all proven to be mere inventions of the Zionist propaganda machine. Two years later not a scintilla of evidence has been produced to substantiate any of these accusations, yet they are still being repeated by the Zionist fascists and their supporters in the west.
But the settler state didn’t just need to depend upon their own propaganda machine and structure. They were ably supported by the group of parasites and ignoramuses that go under the name of journalists. These ‘stenographers’, paid handsomely for producing their lies and distortions, just repeated (and continue to repeat) anything that was fed to them which put the perpetrators of the genocide as justified in their murderous intent. They, after all, had the ‘right to defend themselves’.
Anyone with an iota of analytical ability can see this in either the written, spoken or televised reports on the events over the last two years. By its very reporting it shows itself culpable in the lies that are spewing out of the US/Europe supported colony of the Eastern Mediterranean. The uncritical and supine acceptance of anything that is stated by the Zionists and their supporters; the use of passive language when referring to anything to which the Palestinians are subjected; the manner in which anything coming from the Palestinians is automatically treated as ‘suspect’ by the addition of a single word – Hamas – after years of conditioning that makes some people immediately suspicious of their version of events, their numbers of dead and injured; the liberal use of the word ‘terrorist’ whenever referring to anyone fighting against the murderous military attacks by the Zionists and the refusal to accept that states can also be ‘terrorist’; and the very fact of calling what is happening in Gaza a ‘war’ – as if there are two sides which are equal in terms of resources rather than the fact of a force with some of the most ‘sophisticated’ weapons of the 21st century being use against a few guerrilla fighters armed with small arms, a few grenades and the occasional IED (improvised explosive device). The misuse (on purpose?) of the language of war even extends to the 7th October 2025 when the BBC ‘senior correspondent’ Jeremy Bowen talked about the ongoing discussions about the most recent demand that the Palestinian lay down their arms and capitulate was headlined as ‘will Israel and Hamas seize the opportunity to end the war’.
Also on the 7th October 2025, on the BBC website, there was wall to wall coverage of how the Israelis were commemorating the events of 2023 but virtually no reference to a) the fact (even accepted by the Israelis in reports published during the last couple of years) that the majority of Israelis killed on that day were killed by the IDF (following the Hannibal Directive) or b) the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been killed by the Zionists in their genocidal and virtually uninterrupted attack upon the whole of Gaza for two whole years. And on the 8th the BBC grovelled before a Zionist criticism that they had used the word ‘escalation’ and didn’t give enough coverage to the Zionist narrative.
What is also different (or possibly not) is the attitude of the colonising and genocidal country’s population and its attitude to the genocide. In the distant past with the level of communication it was plausible for people to say they didn’t know what was happening – even though in their name. Whether that would have been true is another matter. After the defeat of the Nazis in 1945 the people of Germany tried to convince the world that they didn’t know anything about the extermination camps. The people of Weimar argued that even though the Buchenwald Concentration Camp was within sight of the town.
However, we now know – and it had been becoming quite clear from the early days of the genocide with the sort of postings that were being made on social media – that the overwhelming majority of the Israeli population (polls consistently show the high 80s percentage points) agree with the extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza. So, genocide is not just something that can be laid at the door of the military or political leaders. The present genocide has the support of most of the Israeli population. They state it. They are proud of it. They are as guilty as Netanyahu.
Protests against the genocide started almost immediately in many countries. Protests have been going on ever since and in many places there are regular, weekly protests which bring a substantial number of people out on the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people have taken action letting their governments know that the murderous activity of the Zionist settler state should be stopped. And the result has been – nothing. Empty words, sometimes, but anything that would end the slaughter never. Weasel words from politicians aplenty but concrete action to stop supplying the wherewithal to carry out the genocide is never forthcoming.
A growing number of brave people frustrated that marching in the streets and demanding an end to the genocide was getting nowhere have upped the stakes. There have already been a number of people on boats attempting to break the blockade of Gaza, but they have all been attacked by the Zionist military – with any number of international laws being broken in the process. The reaction of the governments of the countries from which these people come has been abysmal – although not surprising. More often than not they just keep quiet, not responding to requests for them to do what they should do in such circumstances and in this they are aided by the pusillanimous mainstream media and the cretins that call themselves journalists.
In Britain, in response to the proscription of a direct action group in support of Palestine, many people (of all ages but the majority of them being older, retired people) have peacefully sat in public places holding signs which are technically illegal under the terrorist laws put in place by a Labour government. To date more than a couple of thousand people have been arrested for being in breach of the draconian terrorist legislation but to date no one has appeared in court. It will be interesting to see what happens when the first case is heard – although it would not be a surprise if some technicality is invented to defuse the situation. (The British Government gave new life to the defunct Official Solicitor during the Dockers’ Strike of 1972 to get itself out of the hole it had dug for itself.) If enforced in the way it was intended the whole of the British legal and prison system would collapse. But the main aim is to intimidate and create fear in the population – which, so far, hasn’t worked in Britain (or in any other country).
Although polls show that the majority of people are against the genocide and ethnic cleansing the majority do nothing. People will applaud demonstrators as they march pass and cars will toot their horns in a sign of agreement. Such demonstrations are treated as some sort of performance. That the people marching are representatives of those on the side lines. But that’s not enough.
Hundreds of people marching every week have achieved nothing. Not one Palestinian has been saved from a painful death due to all those good intentions. If thousands and not hundreds had been marching through town centres throughout the country every week then we might have seen some changes. But that’s not likely to happen before there are no people in Gaza alive to support.
But all is not lost. The recent strikes and protests in Italy over a combination of repugnance at the government’s attitude to the genocide and domestic failings show us the way forward. Organised labour has to get actively involved and capitalism must start paying the costs of the crimes it is committing at the moment in Palestine.
If capitalism can get away with the genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza they will have the confidence to attack even more the condition of workers in the rest of the world. If they can get away with the slaughter of the Palestinians then other groups will be in their sights. We can already see the growth of the early stages of the militarisation of the so-called ‘developed’ societies. Lose the battle against the Zionists and the battle will be on our own doorsteps.
‘If we could learn to look instead of gawking,
We’d see the horror in the heart of farce,
If only we could act instead of talking,
We wouldn’t always end up on our arse.
This was the thing that nearly had us mastered;
Don’t yet rejoice in his defeat, you men!
Although the world stood up and stopped the bastard,
The bitch that bore him is in heat again.’
Bertolt Brecht, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
To illustrate the depths of depravity we have allowed ourselves to plumb follow these links to an horrific death of a young Palestinian girl and the mocking contempt an Israeli citizen has for the starving in Gaza. And for a comprehensive record of how this crime has developed over the last two years go to the associated links on October 07, 2023 – Palestine’s ‘Tet’?
