Last Saturday, over 170,000 workers, students and youth marched through London in support of the struggle of the Palestinians against the occupation of their land by Israel and the mass slaughter being inflicted on men, women and children in Gaza.
Over 3,000 Gazans, including over 1,000 children, have been killed in the constant bombing and shellfire that has destroyed their homes, hospitals and schools, reducing the most populated area in the world to rubble.
The Zionist regime has cut off all water, electricity, energy and food supplies while ordering Palestinians in Gaza to leave the north and go to the south of the Strip as it ramps up its murderous campaign to smash Hamas and all Palestinian resistance to occupation.
Yesterday, the UN Human Rights Office said that Israel’s siege of Gaza and its evacuation order there could amount to the international crime of the forcible transfer of civilians.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said: ‘We are concerned that this order, combined with the imposition of a complete siege of Gaza, may not be considered as lawful temporary evacuation and would therefore amount to a forcible transfer of civilians in breach of international law.’
‘Forcible transfer’ describes the forced relocation of civilian populations and is a crime against humanity punishable by the international court.
Not that breaking international law will be treated with anything but contempt by Israel and its imperialist backers in the US and UK.
While thousands of workers and youth marched last Saturday in London, with similar marches in cities across the country, the one notable absence was the TUC.
Just a few weeks ago at the September TUC annual Congress, a motion, submitted by the National Education Union and fully supported by the TUC General Council, condemning Israel’s oppression of the Palestinian people was passed unanimously.
This motion was just the latest in a long line of similar motions passed by the TUC in support of the Palestinian struggle against the apartheid Israel state.
But since this latest motion was passed, the TUC has been absolutely silent as Israel prepares to slaughter thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and drive those who survive into the sea.
While the United Nations Human Rights Office and the World Health Organisation have spoken out denouncing the Israeli onslaught as illegal under international law and amounting to war crimes, the TUC has point blank refused to utter any words of condemnation, let alone organise anything in support of its own policy of support for Palestine.
If these TUC bureaucrats believe that Palestine can be ignored and has nothing to do with the working class then they are criminally mistaken.
The same Tory government that has passed laws making striking illegal and threatening unions with financial bankruptcy if they don’t co-operate with strike breaking is the same government that has sent warships into the Med alongside the two US aircraft carriers to give military aid to Israel.
Meanwhile, US president Joe Biden is due to arrive in Israel today to attempt to organise the forces to smash Hamas and the Palestinian struggle, with the option on the table of a war against Iran to establish imperialist domination over the entire region.
This has everything to do with the UK working class and youth who have demonstrated their overwhelming support for the Palestinian struggle and their hatred of the Tory government.
The time has come to force the TUC to end its silence and inactivity, or for its leaders to be removed and replaced with a new leadership that will lead a fight to put an end to this Tory government.
We would suggest to the organisers that the march called for this Saturday culminates outside the TUC headquarters in London, demanding that the TUC immediately organise a general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers’ government and socialism
A workers’ government will break with imperialism and provide all the support required for an independent state of Palestine where all races and religions can exist in peace.
Only the WRP and Young Socialists fight for this policy and perspective – join today to build up the leadership to put an end to imperialist slaughter with socialist revolution.
