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| Left Voice's new allies (source) |
Reader John B. commented on my last post (Trotskyist Antisemitism) suggesting that I include this quote from the Left Voice's Declaration. The full quote from John is here:
"...However, the course of action pursued by the Hamas militias, which attacked military posts and civilians alike, has been easily instrumentalized by Netanyahu and the imperialist states to try to legitimize their declaration of war. It has allowed the Israeli government to rally the opposition and critical sectors behind support for a military offensive against the Gaza Strip. We reject the attacks on the civilian population. We do not share the methods of Hamas, which impede the necessary unity in struggle between the Palestinian population, Arabs who live in Israel, and sectors of the Jewish working class who break with Zionism and its criminal policies; this unity must be built around the denunciation of the state of Israel and its systematic apartheid in Palestine. We do not share Hamas’s program and strategy, which proclaims its objective to be the installation of an Islamic fundamentalist state throughout the territory of the state of Israel. If the “two-state” policy promoted by the PNA through the Oslo Accords proved to be a resounding failure, Hamas’s proposal also does not represent a progressive alternative..."
He is certainly correct that I should have included--or at least cited--this paragraph in my previous post. Thus I add this addendum.
John offers his opinion here:
If I had written that article, I would have put that paragraph toward the top of it, but it clearly indicates that the Left Voice comrades don't "support" Hamas. Politically, that is.
I disagree with John's conclusion. Left Voice has enthusiastically marched under Hamas' banners, including:
- From the river to the sea--Palestine must be free.
- End the occupation.
- Resistance is justified.
Left Voice signs off on the Hamas program in every important particular. They are straight-out anti-Semites. But as a fig leaf to protect themselves they include the paragraph John quoted.
It's a very small fig leaf. First, they oppose the civilian deaths only for tactical reasons. Left Voice has no complaint about killing Jews on general principle. They just think that this particular incidence of mass murder was "easily instrumentalized by Netanyahu." Only when Hamas has the capability of murdering 100,000 Jews or perhaps a million Jews--then might be the best tactical time to get on with it.
Then they claim to oppose the "Islamic State." This is reserved for an as yet hypothetical time in the future when all the Jews have been wiped out and Hamas has to figure out what happens after that. That's the only time Left Voice will dare to disagree with them on any principle. Until then the number of Jews to be killed is a purely tactical concern.
I have a professor friend--a former colleague before I retired--who is a religious Muslim but not Palestinian. He is clearly sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and argues that dropping 1000 pound bombs on Gaza is killing innocent children along with Hamas generals. He has a point. His advice is that Israel should stop dropping 1000 pound bombs.
But he is not antisemitic. He rejects the slogans that Hamas promulgates. He condemns the barbaric attack on Jewish civilians. He just thinks the best way forward is a ceasefire. I disagree with him because I don't think it will work--I think Hamas will just stage a new attack to kill more Jews and the only viable strategy moving forward is to eliminate Hamas. But on this reasonable people can disagree--and my colleague is both a reasonable and an honorable man.
He's not antisemitic and I'm not anti-Palestinian. I think Palestinians should have at least a middle class lifestyle and their full civil rights, either within Israel or in a separate Palestinian state. I strongly disagree with that (small) segment of Israeli opinion that supports the expulsion of Palestinians from the Holy Land. From the river to the sea, there are approximately 10 million Jews and 6 million Palestinians--and there is no good reason why either one of them has to leave or be murdered.
Oh--I guess there is at least one reason: Hamas, along with their antisemitic allies in the US, including Left Voice.
Even absent any humanitarian motives, it is obviously in Israel's best political interest to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties as much as possible. This is why Hamas, their US allies, and the UN are all busily trying to inflate the number of Palestinian dead--literally by using their own civilians as human shields, and figuratively by just lying about the death toll. Of course the Hamas brass hides under the biggest hospital in Gaza City--where else would they hang out?
If Israel didn't care about civilian casualties, then why did they send in ground troops? Surely, a few dozen 2000 lb bunker buster bombs over al-Shifa hospital could take out all the tunnels, brass, militia, and tens of thousands Palestinians to boot. No Israeli soldier would have to die.
Here's the truth (h/t Arnold Kling): The only reason Israel is sending in ground troops is to protect Palestinian civilians. A 2000 lb bomb can't distinguish between a child and a terrorist--but a soldier can, at least some of the time. Since dropping bunker busters on a hospital is unconscionable, Israel is putting its own soldiers at risk so it can take out Hamas while injuring as few civilians as possible. Or, put another way, Israel won't be dropping any bombs on top of their own soldiers. The more Israelis there are on the ground, the fewer civilians will be killed.
There is no other reason for those soldiers to be there.
John also dings me for this:
Given the main focus of this blog, I'm surprised you didn't mention the SWP's full-throated endorsement of Zionism and the Israel slaughter in Gaza. Indeed, The Militant's coverage of this most recent crisis is indistinguishable from the Murdoch media or the press releases of the Israeli Defense Force.
He is correct--the Socialist Workers Party is the only Trotskyist grouplet on my beat that rejects antisemitism. I'm happy to point that out--as I did in the Further Reading segment following the previous post. That link is The SWP Defends Civilization. Which is nothing less than the truth.
Further Reading:
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