Concerning the Use of Terror

Day Eleven of the Israel – Hamas War. The United Nations is describing the situation in the Gaza Strip as a ‘’humanitarian disaster’’. The people within Gaza have been cut off from electricity, water, food and medical supplies. The morgues are filled to capacity. They cannot be buried fast enough. The dead bodies are now being placed in refrigerator vehicles. 

A great many people have fled to Southern Gaza, in anticipation of an invasion by Israel. A great many others have not fled. Some of them are able bodied people, who have chosen to stay and defend their homes. Others do not have the choice of fleeing. These include the sick, crippled, disabled, elderly, pregnant women and people confined to hospitals. The medical personnel, those who are responsible for their patients, have chosen to stay and perform their duty. At the risk of their own lives, they refuse to abandon their patients. 

The Israeli air strikes, in the Gaza Strip, are targeting Hamas, or at least the building that are thought to be used by Hamas. This has caused a great deal of destruction and death, mainly of civilians. As most of the Hamas fighters are safely underground, in bunkers, this bombing is largely ineffective. 

This bombing campaign is similar to the policy carried out by the Americans, in their war in Vietnam, which spread to Southeast Asia. In that case, President Johnson stated his goal, to be that of ‘’bombing the Vietnamese back to the stone age’’! 

Someone should have told Johnson, that the Vietnamese were not very far removed from the stone age! They did not have far to go!

The goal of the American bombing campaign, was never clearly stated. Perhaps it was thought that by destroying their infrastructure, as well as by killing enough of their military personnel, the Vietnamese would embrace American rule, at least in South Vietnam. Or perhaps the American military simply did not think it through. They may have simply resorted to a bombing campaign because they could!

As is well known, that American bombing campaign backfired! It did not break their will to resist! On the contrary, this merely gave rise to hatred and bitterness, so that their determination to fight became ever stronger! Almost the entire population volunteered to assist, in any way possible. Countless men and women joined the military. Others worked on supplying the troops with everything they needed. They adapted. They improvised. They endured. They overcame. 

The Vietnamese made great use of tunnels. These tunnels were extensive, deep and elaborate. The American artillery and air strikes against them, were completely ineffective. The use of ‘’special forces’’, referred to as ‘’tunnel rats’’, troops who were sent into those tunnels, proved to be a disaster. The Vietnamese were waiting for them. Very few of those men emerged alive, from those tunnels. 

In anger and frustration, the American military decided to compound their mistake. As the Vietnamese were also making good use of neighbouring countries, the Americans decided to bomb those countries also! This had the effect of merely enlarging the war.

A similar situation is now happening in the Middle East. In addition to Hamas, which is active mainly in the Gaza Strip, it is thought that another resistance group, that of Hezbollah, is active in Lebanon. So now Israel is launching artillery and air strikes into Lebanon. As well, parts of Syria and the occupied West Bank, have also come under fire. 

If it is the goal of the government of Israel, to enlarge the war, it is succeeding. The government of Iran is giving serious consideration to becoming involved!

The Iranian Foreign Minister has just given a clear warning. He is well aware that Israel plans to invade the Gaza Strip, and is considering a ‘’pre-emptive action within the coming hours’’, on behalf of that which he refers to as the ‘’Resistance Axis’’. Apparently, that is a reference to Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Hamas, Hezbollah and possibly other groups and countries, including Iraq. 

In his statement, he made it clear that the ‘’expansion of the war’’, into neighbouring countries, by Israel, would ‘’change the situational geographical map of the occupation regime of Jerusalem’’. 

He is also concerned with the involvement of others. ‘’The Americans cannot constantly send the signal that they do not want the war to expand, but they are on the side of the Zionists’’.

It is significant that he refers to Israel as being a Zionist state, because that is precisely the case! A Zionist is someone who maintains that God gave the ‘’Holy Land’’, now referred to as Palestine, to the Hebrews. Biblical scholars think this may have happened over three thousand years ago, perhaps during the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. This is of course a matter of faith, and all matters of faith should be respected.

Respect of faith is one thing, but should not be confused with facts. The fact is that, perhaps two thousand years ago, the state of Israel was destroyed, by the Romans. After that, Palestine was occupied by people of various faiths, including Jews, Muslims and Christians. By and large, they respected the beliefs of each other, and lived together in peace.  

That changed dramatically, in 1948. In that year, certain members of the Jewish faith, those who are of the opinion that the Holy Land is for Jews only, decided to form a country, and call it Israel. These people are referred to as ‘’Zionists’’.

The Zionists took control of Palestine, declared it to be the state of Israel, and ordered all non Jewish residents to leave their ancestral homes. An estimated seven hundred thousand Palestinians were ‘’displaced’’, to put it politely, driven from their homes. For the most part, they settled in places now referred to as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. 

Since that time, the state of Israel has expanded to include the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights.

Of course, the people of Palestine have been resisting! This has given rise to various resistance groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. All of them are united in their opposition to the Zionists! They have no quarrel with those of the Jewish faith, or any other faith! Just the Zionists! It is important that all common people be made aware of this!

Without doubt, in the current Israel – Hamas War, both sides have resorted to acts of terror, in the form of attacks on civilians. It is correct to condemn such attacks on civilians! On the other hand, this is not to say that all acts of terror are to be condemned.

Lenin made this quite clear, in 1920, in a meeting with British workers. Lenin responded to their concern with that of ‘’Red Terror’’ in Russia. In particular, those workers expressed surprise at the lack of ‘’freedom of the press and of assembly’’, of the ‘’persecution of Mensheviks and those who support them’’, within Russia. 

The response of Lenin is instructive: ‘’My reply was that the real cause of the terror is the British imperialists and their ‘allies’, who practiced and are still practicing a White terror in Finland and in Hungary, in India and in Ireland….Our Red Terror is a defence of the working class against the exploiters, the crushing of the resistance from the exploiters…Freedom of the press and assembly under bourgeois democracy is freedom for the wealthy to conspire against the working class, freedom for the capitalists to bribe and buy up the press’’. 

This is to stress the fact that ‘’Red Terror’’, against our class enemies, the billionaires, the imperialists, is correct and just! That is far different from the use of terror against civilians!

Yet the Iranian Foreign Minister is correct, when he states that the Americans do want the war to expand! They are war mongers! They are supporting the Zionists! That is the reason they have sent two military fleets to the Mediterranean! They are determined to expand the war, to go to war with various countries in the Middle East, including Iran!

It is imperative that we oppose the American plans for expanding the war in the Middle East! The American government supports the Zionist government of Israel! They want to spread the war, across the Middle East! They must be stopped!

This is not to say that we support acts of terror, against working people!

The Israelis are Zionists, determined to crush the people of Palestine. The people of Palestine have every right to resist such an occupation! They also have every right to demand a return of their ancestral homes!

At the same time, we mast also make it clear that the Zionists, those who are currently in charge of Israel, are not to be confused with the vast majority of Jews. Support for the people of Palestine should not be confused with anti semitism. 

These facts should be made clear to all working people.