Martin Suchanek, 19. October 2023
On 12th October the German Bundestag unanimously passed the motion on the situation in Israel submitted by the SPD, the Greens, the FPD and the CDU/CSU. Before that, Olaf Scholz stated in a government statement. “Israel’s security is Germany’s raison d’être.”
The parliamentary groups of the AfD and DIE LINKE also applauded and agreed to the motion. When it comes to the raison d’être of German imperialism, no one in the Bundestag seems to want to stand aside.
Unconditional solidarity with Israel …
The decision amounts to nothing less than support for the bombing of Gaza and the imminent ground invasion by the Israeli army. The intention of the Israeli government and the newly appointed emergency cabinet to effectively raze Gaza to the ground and to show no consideration for the civilian population does not challenge the German Bundestag. Hamas is simply blamed for the bombings by the Israeli air force and ground troops.
And this time, according to the government and the opposition in rare unanimity, words are to be followed by deeds. Civilian deaths in Gaza, Foreign Minister Baerbock explains, are unfortunately inevitable – due to the “perfidious” tactics of Hamas (and all other Palestinian organizations) not to line up their fighters in an open field to be shot down, but to entrench themselves. In doing so, it studiously ignores the obvious fact that in every war it is the defending or the militarily inferior side that acts in the protection of its own population.
There is a reason for this. The Bundestag, the government, the entire opposition and all the “establishment” media are abusing the grief and sympathy for the civilian Jewish victims of the eruption of Hamas-led Palestinian forces from Gaza as ideological preparation for support for a war against the local population that would lead to the annihilation of all resistance and mass expulsion. Hence the mantra-like assertion that “solidarity with Israel” must not diminish even if “other images” come from Gaza. Incidentally, the Bundestag also declares its support for military strikes in Lebanon or Syria and increased pressure against Iran.
… unconditional support for the war
Parallel to the debate in the Bundestag, the Ministry of Defence underpins solidarity with Israel. For example, Germany wants to supply ammunition for warships, provide drones and send protective equipment for the IDF. Israel, the resolution states, is to be “given all support” in the war. No one is surprised that the government, the CDU/CSU parties and the AfD agree. But all the members of parliament present, all wings of the “peace party” DIE LINKE do not want to evade the reason of state on this day and vote for a war in the Middle East, which is supposed to bring “peace” by destroying any resistance potential of the Palestinians. “Every Hamas member is a dead man,” Netanyahu proclaims. The newly formed Israeli emergency government uses Hamas as a code word for all Palestinians who resist the occupation and expulsion and want to continue to do so.
Therefore, the Israeli strategy is aimed at the cleansing and expulsion of the entire population of Gaza City. Within 24 hours, they are supposed to leave northern Gaza or face “devastating humanitarian consequences” – a blatant threat of murder by thousands and thousands.
Distortion of the causes
With the votes of the Left Party, the Bundestag is once again distorting the causes of the so-called “Middle East conflict” by reinterpreting the leading role of the Islamist Hamas in Gaza as the cause of the “conflict”, pretending that the central obstacle to “peace” is the “terrorism” of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, PFLP and DFLP or other Palestinian groups. If these were destroyed, everything would be fine again and Israeli “democracy” would only have to be extended to the Palestinians, who could then – at least in the dream world of the Bundestag – even get their own state, on the territory that has not yet been fully taken over and controlled by Israel.
In reality, Hamas’ ideology is not at the heart of the problem. As revolutionaries, we have always rejected them. We stand for a programme of permanent revolution, for a common, binational, socialist state in Palestine that grants equal rights to Palestinians and Jews, that guarantees all displaced Palestinians the right of return, and that is able to settle the claims of two nations in a fair and democratic way on the basis of common property.
However, the Zionist state of Israel, which is based on the racist, colonialist expulsion of Palestinians, is incompatible with such a solution. As long as it controls Palestine, “administers” Gaza and the West Bank as internal colonies, permanently expels, expropriates and ghettoizes the population, there can be no peace and no justice. Ultimately, the area is not controlled by Hamas or any other political force active there, but by the Israeli state – just as prisons are not controlled by the prisoners, even if they are allowed to move “freely” within the prison walls.
As revolutionary Marxists, we stand in resolute opposition to the strategy and policies of Hamas (as well as all Islamist forces) and its regime in Gaza. We also oppose the indiscriminate killing of civilians. Obviously, such actions makes it easier for Zionism and imperialism to portray their large-scale attack on Gaza as “self-defence” in the eyes of many workers.
Moreover, it falls far short of the mark to blame indiscriminate killings of civilians solely on Hamas or Islamism. They are also an expression of the much more comprehensive, decades-long oppression, the daily experience of misery, hunger, dehumanisation in Gaza by the Israeli lockdown. Out of national oppression grows hatred of the state of the oppressors and all those who support or openly support it – and this includes the vast majority of the Israeli population and the Israeli working class.
The Palestinian eruption on October 7 was a desperate attempt by Gaza after decades of isolation, starvation, disenfranchisement, bombing and displacement. It was and is part of the Palestinian resistance.
The political struggle against the religious right in the camp of the Palestinian resistance and the criticism of politically incorrect or counterproductive forms of action must therefore in no way lead to a turning away from the struggle against oppression. Today, when Western propaganda is turning real conditions upside down, we must make a clear distinction between the violence of the oppressed and the oppressors. Only if the revolutionary left and the working class support the struggle for national liberation against Zionism and “democratic” imperialism will they be able to build a political alternative to Islamist forces. Only in this way will they be able to form a revolutionary party that combines the struggle for national liberation with that for socialist revolution.
Solidarity with Palestine!
This presupposes that revolutionaries take a clear stand on the side of the oppressed in the face of the Israeli attack and in a situation in which the entire Palestinian nation and any resistance is demonised. As necessary as a left-wing critique of Hamas as a reactionary, Islamist, anti-Semitic force is, it is also important to counter its demonisation by the media. It is Zionist and Western war propaganda to equate Hamas and its actions in Gaza with the Islamic State. Hamas is not a fascist force, nor has it established a “fascist” regime in Gaza.
This does not change their deeply reactionary character. Of course, their leaders and officials have also used the management of scarcity under their direction for enrichment. But this does not distinguish them from other clerical and nationalist “regimes”. Of course, Hamas also took repressive action against its own people – but it also allowed other groups of resistance on its right and left (PFLP, DFLP) sides.
With the demonisation of Hamas, a barbaric war of aggression – of killing to the last man! – comes massive repression in countries like Germany. All combatants, all Palestinians who even raise their voices, are declared “Hamas” or “Hamas supporters”.
The existence of other political forces, especially the Palestinian left, is thus denied. They, too, appear only as “Hamas”. Since all the fighters are Hamas, they all become jihadists and “terrorists” in the style of the Islamic State. In this way, the national liberation struggle is reinterpreted as a religious one, and the Palestinian population is racially defamed as an “uncivilised”, “barbaric” mob.
A first task of internationalists and anti-imperialists in Germany and all Western countries in the face of concerted agitation is to oppose this democratic-imperialist ideology and inversion.
No to racist criminalisation!
A second, related one is solidarity with the Palestinians and their resistance to its criminalisation. The Bundestag and the government are not only supporting Israel in the war with weapons and propaganda lies, they are also intensifying repression.
Of course, this is not new. For years, Palestinian organisations have been on the “terror lists” of the EU and Germany, their organisations have been banned, and their democratic rights – such as the right to freedom of expression, assembly and organisation – have been severely restricted. They cannot appear openly, present or defend their policies, programmes and strategies, but are rather forced to present their convictions in a kind of slave language.
In addition, pro-Palestinian demonstrations and rallies have been regularly banned for weeks in Berlin and other cities for years; Activists are arbitrarily arrested.
All of this has been aimed for years at silencing all political currents of the Palestinian people, especially the left.
Now, in view of the war against Gaza, we are facing a new dramatic escalation of defamation and repression.
- The Ministry of the Interior is to impose an activity ban on Hamas and a ban on the Samidoun prisoner aid network. Thus, any further organisational-political activity can be made a punishable offence.
- In many cities, all demonstrations and rallies that could be in solidarity with Palestine have been and will be banned. Hundreds of participants have been arrested in recent days. An extension is quite possible and could last for weeks.
- Numerous slogans of the liberation struggle, which are defamed as “anti-Semitic”, are also banned. The display of the Palestinian flag is also criminalised. In general, any “Israel-critical” statement is branded as “anti-Semitism” or brought close to it.
- In Berlin schools, the wearing of the kufiya, the display of stickers and stickers with inscriptions such as “Free Palestine” or a map of Israel in the colours of Palestine were forbidden.
- Intelligence services and provocateurs will be increasingly used against all supporters of Palestine.
- Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims who do not have German passports are threatened with deportation for anti-Zionist or anti-imperialist activity. Anti-Islamic racism has recently emerged under the guise of solidarity with Israel – while at the same time trivialising right-wing anti-Semitism and imperialist white chauvinism.
And the German left and workers’ movement?
With the exception of a few internationalist and anti-imperialist groups, the German left and bureaucratically-led workers’ movement is taking the side of the oppressor, albeit unsurprisingly. Like the SPD and Die Linke, the trade union leaders are also joining the chorus of Israel solidarity and supporting the massacre of the Palestinians.
They either agree to the undermining of democratic rights, bans on demonstrations and spying by the secret services, or they clothe themselves in noble silence or relativisation of the oppressed and oppressors.
Against the tide!
In the current situation, we have to fight against the tide of hate speech and defamation. This means taking a clear stand against all bans on associations and assemblies and taking a stand against the increasingly open anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism in Germany. We support all actions and campaigns of the left and anti-imperialist forces to organise protest and resistance together and in a coordinated manner.
- No to all bans on demonstrations! No to the ban on Palestinian organisations and associations, their flags and symbols! No to all bans in schools and public spaces!
- Stop the criminalisation of people who demonstrate for Palestine! Stop all proceedings and all surveillance and spying measures!
This must be part of the struggle for a broad solidarity movement with Palestine, also supported by the workers’ movement. The rulers are also aware that the pro-Israel mood in Germany will not last forever. Because in the coming weeks, despite media distortion, more and more horror images will testify again and again about the impact of the Israeli bombardments with thousands of deaths and the hopelessness for hundreds of thousands of refugees in Gaza.
Therefore, we must work today to expose the lies of the ruling class in order to bring about a change of mood in the working class, especially in the trade unions. This will only be possible if we openly oppose the agitation by the media, but also the social-chauvinist policies of the leaderships of the trade unions, the SPD and the Left Party, and denounce their support for the attacks on Gaza. Only in this way – by combining solidarity with Palestine and the struggle against the chauvinism and racism of the leaderships of the workers’ movement – can and will it be possible to build a common solidarity movement for Palestine, based on the migrants and on the progressive and internationalist sections of the working class.