The facts are pretty clear now. On October 7 the Israeli government decided to turn a public relations catastrophe
(world’s “greatest army” caught sleeping on the job etc) into an opportunity: respond so brutally that no other group in the Middle East would dare to challenge Israel for a very long time. However, admitting that Hamas had killed around 400 Israelis in uniform, taken another 100 or so prisoner and captured many more civilians (and treating them well by many accounts), would hardly justify the sort of retribution they had in mind. That’s where the beheaded babies, roasted babies, mass rape (followed by execution) stories provided by the Israeli propaganda machine came in handy. It was immediately picked up by the likes of Biden, Blinken, Israeli spokespersons and Zionists around the world, not to
mention ordinary people who have been encouraged by the media to be Islamophobic for many years. Under such cover it has been possible to more or less openly stage the worst war crimes in the 21st century.
Of course, our politicians, both Tory and Labour know all about this but they prefer to say nothing… Ditto the lie machines of the press and media, who have never questioned the Zionist narrative, and are owned by billionaires like Murdoch etc.
The sick irony is that along with the wholesale slaughter of Hamas militants, hundreds of Israelis were also slaughtered by IDF operatives that afternoon. Flying Apache helicopters, they unleashed Hellfire missiles in Kibbutzim or in vehicles heading back to Gaza with hostages on board. The burnt, disfigured, decapitated corpses of course fed into Butcher
Netanyahu’s narrative of Hamas “barbarity”. Note that the Apache pilots and gunners were under orders to do this.
Perhaps that’s why some put film footage onto social media: to relieve their guilt. Similarly, USAAF pilot, Aaron Bushnell, who was involved in supplying weapons to the IDF, used petrol to burn himself alive outside the Israeli embassy in Washington and shouted “Free Palestine” before he died.
So, when uma ubyan, ASkri and Mark make their catty comments about demonstrators who close down weapons factories supplying the Israeli war machine, they are not doing this innocently (or are they plain ignorant?). Personally I find it depraved that people find the mass killing of innocent women and children acceptable. Would they have cheered on the Yorkshire Ripper, for example?
That said, trying to wreck an arms factory is not usually an effective way of building an anti-war movement supported by
workers. That would involve much more patience: organising mass pickets, leafletting other factories in the area and having the arguments with people on the factory gate who are not natural allies but are not happy with their role in this appalling slaughter of the innocents. Mind you, it’s not too late to start. Hasn’t Netanyahu said he intends to keep the assault on Gaza going for at least another six months? And wasn’t Yorkshire the heartland of the 1984-85 NUM strike?
A strong anti-war movement rooted amongst the working class would be a powerful voice in the struggles that lie ahead: almost certainly the war in the Middle East will at some point spread making rocketing energy prices and mass unemployment almost unavoidable. Unless they are organised, workers will be inevitably expected to pay for any new crisis.
