THE Israeli Cabinet, after its weekly meeting on Sunday, issued a statement that it was greatly encouraged by the ‘low-key’ international response to its invasion of Gaza and the destruction of its infrastructure.
It said that this low key international response, which in fact is a conspiracy of silence, allowed the Israeli military ‘freedom of action.’
The statement concluded by emphasising that ‘The IDF has been fighting for almost two weeks and the international response to the results of the fighting has been low-key.’
This statement makes it perfectly clear that the US and UK governments are not neutral as far as the Israeli onslaught on Gaza is concerned, an assault which has cost 51 Palestinian lives in the last two weeks.
By their silence, the US and UK governments are encouraging Israel to continue with its murderous attacks. This makes the US and the UK governments accessories to murder.
The US-UK silence is worth its weight in gold as far as the Zionist ruling class is concerned. This is for the obvious and simple reason that the majority of the Israeli population considers that the onslaught on Gaza is pointless, and that the only way to get the prisoner of war, Corporal Shalit returned to Israel and his family, is to negotiate a compromise involving swapping Shalit for a number of Palestinian prisoners.
International condemnation of Israel combined with internal opposition would make the position of the Olmert government too difficult to maintain and the Israeli government would be forced to negotiate.
The US-UK attitude of silence has been vital for Olmert, allowing him to continue with his murderous military tactic in Gaza.
However, both governments know that in the past Israel has exchanged numbers of Palestinian prisoners of war for captured Israeli soldiers.
Even Olmert acknowledged this fact over the weekend when he said: ‘It’s not a secret before the kidnapping that we would free prisoners. But we intended to release them to moderate elements and not to terrorist elements.’
The issue is that Olmert would be prepared to free Palestinian prisoners if he was dealing with a non Hamas government, but he does not wish to boost Hamas in the eyes of Palestinians by freeing Palestinians and Shalit in a deal with Hamas.
Olmert considers that it is vital that the Hamas government is overthrown. The US and the UK by their silence over the attack on Gaza have confirmed once again that this is their policy.
They are opposed to any action that will boost the Hamas government in the eyes of the Palestinian people.
Both governments are in solidarity with an Israeli regime that has killed 51 Palestinians in two weeks, and is risking the life of its captured soldier Shalit, in favour of putting the pressure on the Palestinians to try and achieve the removal of the Hamas government.
They have now reached the point where there is nothing else left in Gaza that is worth destroying and where the Palestinian masses are starving, but still they are no nearer to their target of the removal of the Hamas government.
The working class in the western capitalist states must now move into action to support the Palestinian people.
While the US and UK governments have encouraged the Zionists to reduce Gaza to a wasteland, the trade union leaders have not even called a mass demonstration in support of the people of Gaza.
British workers must demand that their leaders in the TUC trade unions take action.
The first thing the TUC must do is to call a national demonstration to demand that the Blair government condemns the Israeli attack on Gaza and recognises the Hamas government.
The TUC must also impose a trade union boycott of all Israeli goods and services, and spread it internationally through the international trade union organisations. This action must be taken without delay.
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