Democratic socialist politicians like Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib are right about the violence in Israel and Palestine: we should both be mourning civilian deaths and calling for an end to the Israeli occupation.
I think the one point of nuance that’s continually lost (and ironically, you glossed over it as well) is the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. They’re doing more than just “annexing” and “being mean”. They’ve been murdering and disappearing Palestinian civilians for decades.
I think Israel has been complacent, because it’s been relatively easy for them to live with Iron Dome and use Gaza as an open-air prison. The scale and effectiveness of this attack is unprecedented even if an attack is expected in general, which makes Israel’s failure to stop this and Hamas’ success even more surprising.
It’s really good to see Burgis (and Jacobin) publish something level-headed about the situation from the left, as well as seeing some Marxist pages I follow make the same distinction. Left pages (I’ve only seen a few personally) posting memes about revolutionary violence to sort of under-handedly voice support for Hamas I find pretty abhorrent, considering how anti-Communist Hamas is, not to mention would gladly start their own final solution if given the chance.
I don’t think anyone should feel good about supporting any group but civilians in this conflict. That means Israel needs to stop treating Palestinians as “animals,” which is what their Defense Minister recently openly referred to them as. That also means siding with Palestinian civilians but not the anti-semitic, fascist, Hamas. Many Israeli politicians probably have more in common with Hamas than not in their ideaology. The good people in this fight are the ones not fighting.
The unfortunate thing is how Israel’s western allies are basically enabling their complete blockade of Gaza from here on out. 2 million people will have no power, food, water, or medical supplies coming in, while being bombed with nowhere else to go, with the full support of it’s allies.
I think the one point of nuance that’s continually lost (and ironically, you glossed over it as well) is the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. They’re doing more than just “annexing” and “being mean”. They’ve been murdering and disappearing Palestinian civilians for decades.
I think Israel has been complacent, because it’s been relatively easy for them to live with Iron Dome and use Gaza as an open-air prison. The scale and effectiveness of this attack is unprecedented even if an attack is expected in general, which makes Israel’s failure to stop this and Hamas’ success even more surprising.
It’s really good to see Burgis (and Jacobin) publish something level-headed about the situation from the left, as well as seeing some Marxist pages I follow make the same distinction. Left pages (I’ve only seen a few personally) posting memes about revolutionary violence to sort of under-handedly voice support for Hamas I find pretty abhorrent, considering how anti-Communist Hamas is, not to mention would gladly start their own final solution if given the chance.
I don’t think anyone should feel good about supporting any group but civilians in this conflict. That means Israel needs to stop treating Palestinians as “animals,” which is what their Defense Minister recently openly referred to them as. That also means siding with Palestinian civilians but not the anti-semitic, fascist, Hamas. Many Israeli politicians probably have more in common with Hamas than not in their ideaology. The good people in this fight are the ones not fighting.
The unfortunate thing is how Israel’s western allies are basically enabling their complete blockade of Gaza from here on out. 2 million people will have no power, food, water, or medical supplies coming in, while being bombed with nowhere else to go, with the full support of it’s allies.