Zionism is in crisis!

In the January issue of the newspaper Gerçek (Truth), the Turkish language newspaper of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party (DIP), a piece was published on the reactionary nature of the new Israeli government, established under Benjamin Netanyahu’s premiership. Now, for the last few months, this government’s desire to take control of the Israeli judiciary has dragged the country into a major crisis. The most important pillar of this is the draft bill prepared to deprive the Supreme Court of its power to exercise oversight and to give the executive branch a decisive say in the selection of the members of this court. This is another case of rapidly multiplying powers all across the world that defy the rule of law. Moreover, in this way, Netanyahu is trying to avoid corruption allegations against him. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

The arrangement resulted in masses taking to the streets in opposition to the reactionary government. In addition, Israel’s closest allies, both the U.S. administration and the U.S. Jewish community, began to react to this attempt, first diplomatically and then openly. The president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, also displayed fierce opposition. Finally, inside the Netanyahu government, the Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant went public on Sunday, March 26, stating that this step puts Israel’s security in peril.

Netanyahu’s dismissed the Minister of Defense in response. This led to the sudden eruption of large demonstrations on Sunday, March 26, alongside the demonstrations that have been taking place every Saturday for weeks. On Monday, 80 thousand people took to the streets spontaneously.

In the end, the reactionary coalition at the helm of Israel seems to have stepped back in the face of this backlash. At least for the moment being. Netanyahu announced that the bill was delayed until the next parliament session (that is, mid-April). In doing so, he made another concession to Itamar Ben-Gvir, one of his most reactionary partners, who played an important role in the dismissal of the Minister of Defense. Ben-Gvir, who is sitting in the seat of the Ministry of National Security, has been demanding the establishment of a militia which would answer to him directly and whose purpose would be aggression against Palestinians. And indeed, he got his way.

What does the crisis of Zionism mean for Palestine?

We have just stated the first outcomes of the crisis of Zionism. The fact that Ben-Gvir will have the authority to establish a “National Guard” can only bring about worse massacres for the Palestinians.

However, one should further elaborate on the question. Can a beneficial result come from the sharpening of the internal contradictions of the Zionist enemy and thus weakening it to some extent? To answer this particular question, it is important to know the reasons leading to the resignation of the Minister of Justice in the reactionary government, Yariv Levin, which is the culmination of these internal contradictions. There are two main reasons for the resignation. The first is that the army is also split into two fractions in the face of the bill and this will create some weakness. Secondly, the possibility exists that the disappearance of the “independence” of the Israeli judiciary will lead the soldiers of the Zionist army to be tried in international courts. In other words, one strand of the opposition to the government’s seizure of the judiciary stems from the concern that it will work against the occupation of Palestine and harm Zionism.

The Arab people have succinctly summarized the “democracy” demands in Israeli demonstrations. Israelis are practically saying: “Democracy for us! Apartheid for the Palestinians!” After all, the laws that the protesters are trying to preserve are the ones that are the basis of ethnic cleansing, collective punishment of the Palestinians, administrative detention of the Palestinians, and the Apartheid system in general! There are outlier objections that confront these loves, but they are rather weak!

Wherever there is movement, there is hope!

But it should not be forgotten that the consciousness of the masses does change in action. To say that this struggle of the hundreds of thousands is unlikely to lead to any change in consciousness goes against the great dialectic between practice and consciousness. Something interesting happened in the gigantic mass struggles. The national trade union center in Israel, Histadrut, has recently declared a general strike, although, at first sight, the issue had nothing to do with the class issues. The bosses’ organization immediately opposed this. Perhaps one of the important reasons why Netanyahu took steps to cool the problem was the possibility of the struggle unexpectedly turning into a class struggle. Yes, Histadrut is a Zionist organization. But one should not underestimate the possibility that the general strike would go far beyond the will of the ones who triggered it.

When Netanyahu suspended the issue, the general strike became moot. But, just for now. The question stands: If the Israeli working class were to take part in this gigantic mass action, could both the character of the action and the consciousness of the masses who have carried out the actions transform? The struggle that will be revived after mid-April could provide us with the answer to this question.

47th Anniversary of Palestine Land Day

On the occasion of the 47th anniversary of “Land Day,” which has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance, activities are held in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories.

On “March 30, Land Day”, which symbolizes the struggle, territorial integrity, independence and freedom of the Palestinian people, the Zionist occupation is being protested in different parts of the world, especially in the Palestinian territories.

On March 30, 1976, Israeli forces seized thousands of acres of land belonging to Palestinians living in the Galilee region of northern Palestine. Thereupon, the Palestinian people started a resistance to protest this usurpation and went on a general strike. Israeli police opened fire on Palestinians participating in the demonstrations, killing 6 people and wounding hundreds. This event has become a symbol of resistance against Israeli seizure of Palestinian land. Since then, March 30 has been known as “Palestinian Land Day”.

March 30 is an important day in terms of showing that the Palestinian lands are under occupation and expressing the existence, unity, territorial integrity, independence and freedom of the Palestinian people against the Zionist occupation. With this tradition that has been going on for 47 years, Palestinians say that they will not give up their homeland, that they will continue their struggle to return to their homeland, and that they will not recognize the Zionist occupation.

Israeli Minister Calls for Ethnic Cleansing

The far-right Israeli minister of finance, Bezalel Smotrich, called for the complete destruction of the Palestinian village of Huwara, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, attacked by radical Jewish settlers.

“I think the town of Huwara should be wiped off the face of the earth,” Smotrich, head of a pro-settler party in Netanyahu’s far-right coalition, said at a press conference.

Two days after two Israeli settlers were killed in their cars by a suspected Palestinian gunman, radical Jewish settlers set fire to many houses and vehicles in the Palestinian village of Huwara, killing one Palestinian and injuring dozens.

Israel has been systematically pursuing ethnic cleansing since the Nakba in 1948.

We held a rally to protest the mutual reappointment of ambassadors with Zionist Israel

As the Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism, on Saturday, September 10, we gathered in front of the consulate building of Zionist Israel in Istanbul, to condemn Zionist terror and its local collaborators and object the decision taken by the despotic regime in Turkey to appoint mutual ambassadors with Israel. We stand against any measure of so-called normalization with Zionist. To that aim, we held our rally to call the toiling people of Turkey to fight against the despotic regime, imperialism and Zionism.

We stood behind a banner which carried the following battle cry: “Despotic regime invited the Zionist ambassador; the toiling people of Turkey will kick him out! No reappointment of ambassador with Zionist Israel.” Throughout the rally, we voiced our call to struggle untile Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.

In the speech at the beginning of the rally on behalf of the Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism, our comrade underlined that the despotic regime dragged the country towards an alliance of evil, an alliance of humiliation in relations with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and Israel. With the slogans such as “let Israel be destroyed, along with the kings and sultans” we called the toiling people of Turkey, to fight against the reactionary forces and follow the path of Deniz Gezmiş and his comrades, who were Turkish communists who fought for the freedom of the Palestinian people in the Palestinian lands, against this reaction, and became the epitome of anti-imperialism in these lands.

In the statement made on behalf of the Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism, we pointed out that the despotic regime, which negotiated to facilitate Israel’s stealing Palestinian gas and selling it to Europe, sold out the Mavi Marmara case, increased the volume of trade with Israel despite all the boycott calls from Palestinian, in fact has always been amicable toward Israel. We was stated that the struggle will continue until the Middle East is cleared of Zionism and imperialist bases, and until the Palestinian people will stand victorious. We also called for the termination of all diplomatic relations with Israel and the expulsion of the Israeli mission, which is the exact opposite of what the despotic regime has been doing, namely taking the relations further and reaching the point of mutual ambassador appointment.

Solidarity with Palestine event in Berkeley, California

A group of activists with the name “Women in Black” held a solidarity event with Palestine on the University of California, Berkeley campus on Friday, July 22nd. The group has been holding these events regularly for over 25 years every Friday. This time, militants from Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism also joined the effort. During the action, information cards exposing the racist nature of Zionism and the Israeli state were distributed to the students on campus, and a sign showing the systematic invasion of historic Palestinian land by Israel was upheld.

The information cards contained factual data and slogans on various topics, from children murdered and imprisoned by the Israeli state to the US financial and military support to Zionism. Slogans that expose the link between Zionism and imperialism, such as “Israel is an Apartheid State”, “US Money and Support Empower Israel to Continue to Impoverish Palestinians and Steal More of Their Lands”, and “Stop Funding of Israeli Oppression of Palestinian Children” were raised through these information cards. 

College students showed great interest in the event, and often expressed solidarity with Palestine. Although Zionists attempted to provoke a conflict by setting up their table right next to the sign, the sheer number of pro-Palestinian activists and the help our comrades from Friends of Palestine prevented anything that stood in the way of success.       

Palestinian students fight against Zionists and administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC)

Last month, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UIUC started a divestment campaign for the corporations that are complicit in human rights violations and that contribute to Israeli military, US prisons and US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The divestment campaign asked to divest from companies such as Caterpillar Inc., Elbit systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Aramark, which directly contribute to the occupation of Palestinian lands, criminalization of immigrants and people in color, and illegal labor in US prisons. 

After weeks of diligent campaigning, planning, and outreach, SJP UIUC presented its Divest resolution to the Illinois Student Government (ISG) on February 16th in order to place its referendum question on the student ballot for the upcoming election, at which the students at UIUC would be asked to vote to divest from these companies. However, Zionists senators tried all kinds of low roads to obscure the resolution from passing and not show up as a referendum question for UIUC students. As a first calculated plan, five Zionist senators walked out during the middle of the voting section and caused the meeting to be adjourned. As such, next week on February 23th SJP was again forced to present the resolution to ISG. This time the resolution passed with a simple majority of 17 to 14. However, as a second insidious plan, Zionists senators this time requested a secret ballot during the meeting, in order to “protect” their senators and identity. The secret ballot request was voted and accepted but unbeknownst to SJP, it was later weaponized against SJP with claims that it violated the ISG constitution. 

As a last resort, Zionist senators filed a judicial complaint against SJP’s divestment resolution, including a complaint against the meeting agenda being sent out “late”, or less than 48 hours beforehand. However, ISG later confirmed that the agenda had been sent out late on multiple occasions before, and yet the judicial committee upheld the unmerited claims of Zionist senators. As a result, the resolution could not be accepted by the Campus Student Elections Committee within an appropriate deadline. 

These pre-mediated attacks have clearly shown that how far Zionists, as they call themselves “only democracy in the middle east”, can go to exploit the flaws of democratic institutions in order to advance their anti-Palestinian, settler-colonial ideologies as well as showing the corruption of democratic institutions such as ISG, who blatantly shut its eyes to the silencing of Palestinian voices.  

As a response to this institutional corruption, SJP organized a protest on March 9th calling on the students to show solidarity and support for Palestinians on the campus and globally. Ally organizations across the campus showed up at the protest, showed their solidarity with SJP and delivered their speeches at the protest. A comrade of Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism was also present at the protest, showing an international solidarity with the Palestinian students.

We held a rally against Herzog the Zionist murderer

Isaac Herzog, the President of the Zionist Israel, the watchdog of the apartheid regime and the proponent of the ethnic-cleansing policies targeting the Palestinians, has come to Turkey yesterday, as the special guest of the despotic regime in Turkey. To protest his unwelcome presence, we held a rally before the so-called Israeli consulate in Istanbul, along with the participants of the “#GetOutHerzog Campaign” (Herzog Defol Kampanyası), TOKAD and Eğitim İlke Sen.

In the rally, we carried placards and banners that read “Get out Herzog! No to any normalization with Zionist Israel” in both Turkish and English. Deputy Chairman of the Revolutionary Workers’ Party (DIP, Devrimci İşçi Partisi) Levent Dölek, who is also one of the spokespersons of the “Friends of Palestine against imperialism and Zionism,” was first to take the floor. Dölek recalled that the Zionist movement has not just collaborated with the imperialists but also tried to collaborate with the Nazi regime in Germany and recently supported DAESH in Syria. He called to sever all ties with Zionism and also evoked the memory of revolutionary fighters from Turkey who had fought as a part of the Palestinian resistance, as well as the martyrs of the Mavi Marmara. Aynur Efe, the spokesperson of the “Get Out Herzog Campaign,” also gave a speech, where she reiterated the call to sever all ties with Israel. Finally, a comrade read the press statement. The statement underlined our anger in the face of Herzog’s arrival and demanded Herzog to be kicked out of Turkey immediately.

Invitation

We, the Friends of Palestine Against Imperializm and Zionism Platform, invite all the friends of Palestinian people to join us on the 9th of March, at 19:00, in front of the Zionist consulate building, to protest the visit of the Zionist-in-chief Herzog and the invitation made to him by the tyranny regime of Turkey.

No to Rapprochement with Israel and Usurpation of Palestinian Natural Resources!

Birzeit University was raided by Zionist forces in early January. They first opened fire on and then captured five students who have become leading figures in the Palestinian cause. 

The on-going ethnic cleansing operation conducted by the Zionist Israel in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, which had ceased for a while thanks to the resistance of the dwellers, and international solidarity, re-accelerated, with the unlawfully demolition of the Selhiye family’s house. It can be considered to be a harbinger of a new wave of attacks on the neighborhood. 

The very same day Israel targeted the Bedouin communities inhabiting in the Naqab region, attacking those who defied planting trees in their centuries-long lands for Jewish enclaves projected for future.      

As we have pondered on what to do to stop those Zionist aggressions and atrocities, Erdoğan said on January 17th that Israeli President Herzog would visit Turkey, foreshadowing that the commercial, military and intelligence-sharing relationships would “normalize” and accelerate!     

Zionist Israel, which is an ethnically-discriminatory, racist and expansionist state, is an outpost at the service of imperialism, which had massacred millions of people; which had replenished the jet fighters bombarding the Turkish National Assembly on July 15th; which is enemy of Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Persians and other people of the region. 

If you ask based on the above what “normalization” means, it is that we will make a deal with the devil to be accomplice in usurping and marketing Palestinian natural gas. 

We call on our people to force the government not to make a deal with the devil because we do not have even a shred of interest in colluding with Zionism and imperialism. What are in favor of us are the victory of Palestine and the demise of the imperialist outpost.

AKP government should halt the normalization process and sever the diplomatic, commercial, military and intelligence-sharing relationships with Israel!

Down with imperialism!

Down with Zionism!

Down with Zionist Israeli State!

Free Palestine from the River to the Sea!

First screening of the Fedayin documentary with Turkish subtitles took place in Paris

As the “Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism”, and in partnership with the United Campaign for Freedom for George Abdallah and ADHK, we organized the screening of the documentary “Fedayin: George Abdallah’s Combat” in Paris on Friday, January 21. The screening took at the Dersim Cultural Center in Paris, with the Turkish subtitles that were recently translated by the militants of the Friends of Palestine against Imperialism and Zionism. While the majority of the audience consisted of people originally from Turkey, comrades from France, Bangladesh Tunisia and Morocco were also present.

In the stand we set up at the entrance of the event, we presented Turkish and English leaflets introducing our platform to the participants, as well as the French translation of the text entitled “Freedom for George Ibrahim Abdallah” adopted by the 6th Congress of the DIP (Revolutionary Workers Party) from Turkey.

The event started with a minute of silence observed for the martyrs of the revolution. A militant from the United Campaign for Freedom for George Abdallah first introduced comrade George Abdullah and his struggle in French. Our comrade, the representative of the Friends of Palestine, addressed the participants in Turkish, stressing our determination to take George Abdullah from the clutches of French imperialism, and urged all participants to participate in the rally that will be held at the Administrative Court during the hearing on January 27.

The screening and the ensuing exchanges came to an end with an appeal to come together for the rally on January 27th.