Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted with fury yesterday following the announcement on Monday that the Labour government was suspending some arms sales to the Zionist state, describing this as ‘shameful’ while insisting that ‘with or without British arms, Israel will win this war’.
In the face of the complete failure by Israel to win the war, Netanyahu is sounding increasingly desperate as the international opposition by workers, youth and the masses of the world to Zionist genocide is taking its toll on the cast iron support given by Keir Starmer and the right wing Labour leadership to Israel’s ‘right’ to bomb and murder over 40,700 Palestinians in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s anger at this ‘shameful’ decision was not pacified by the attempts of Labour Foreign Secretary David Lammy to assure him that the decision to suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licenses covering items ‘which could be used in the current conflict in Gaza’ did not amount to a ‘blanket ban’ or an embargo and that the UK continues to support Israel’s ‘right to self-defence’.
Lammy insisted that this decision was made with ‘regret’ by the Labour government following legal advice that ‘leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.’
This decision to suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licenses does not include suspending components for the F-35 fighter jets used by Israel – and called by one campaigner the ‘workhorse of Israel’s brutal bombing campaign’ – which were deliberately excluded.
This week, the Israeli military confirmed an F-35 was used to drop 3,000 pound bombs on al-Mawasi, a so-called safe zone, on July 19.
Despite the very partial suspension and all the assurances from Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healy that it would have no ‘material impact’ on Israel, not just Netanyahu but the US are up in arms over this perceived break with iron clad support for Zionist genocide.
ITV’s senior political reporter Robert Peston reported that the US government felt ‘let down’ and that ‘they (the UK government) assured us they wouldn’t do this’.
This breach, albeit a small breach, in the solidarity between the US and its faithful imperialist ally in the UK, represents the force of the seismic mass movement of workers and youth throughout the UK, Europe and the US against Israel’s plan to exterminate or drive every last Palestinian out of their country.
It is a war the Zionists are losing, with Netanyahu, even after 11 months of mass murder that has claimed the lives of over 40,700 Palestinians, mainly women and children, failing to achieve his proclaimed objective of crushing Hamas and the Palestinian resistance to occupation.
Instead, it has created a massive crisis for the Zionist regime internationally and at home with over 300,000 Israelis taking to the streets on Sunday, followed by a general strike called by the largest Israeli trade union on Monday and protests continuing in cities throughout yesterday, demanding a ceasefire and a return of Israeli captives.
With the Israeli regime backed into a corner, massively weakened at home and facing huge opposition from workers across the world demanding an end to arming the genocidal regime and for an independent state of Palestine, the time has come for the working class to drive forward its action.
In the UK, workers must take the lead by forcing their trade unions to call a general strike demanding an immediate end to the war in Gaza and that the Labour government call a total ban on all arms to Israel, immediately recognise the independent state of Palestine, and provide it with all the support required for its establishment.
On Monday 9th September at 8am there will be a mass lobby of the TUC Annual Congress demanding that it calls an immediate general strike to bring an end to Israel’s genocide and to stop the Labour government arming it and instead give full support to the Palestinians.
We urge workers and youth to join the mass lobby in Brighton that day to force the TUC to end its inaction over Palestine by calling a general strike, a demand that will inspire millions of workers across Europe and the US to do the same.
