No to Zionism’s barbaric war!

January 2009

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Hands Off the People of Iran unreservedly condemns the massacre of Palestinians by Israeli military forces. Air raids on Gaza have killed over a thousand people and a land invasion with tanks and heavy weaponry has created hell for the inhabitants of Gaza. No words can express our horror at the barbaric actions of the utterly unscrupulous set of leaders in Israel using their soldiers to commit war crimes.

Clearly this operation is in line with US imperialist strategy in the region, part of the so-called ‘war on terror’. This is confirmed by the refusal of the current President and President elect, Obama, to condemn Israel or to support calls for a ceasefire.

The biased reporting of these events by sections of the Western media has given the impression that this is a war against Hamas and Islamic fundamentalism. The reality is that the victims of the onslaught are defenceless Palestinians who in a desperate search for any viable opposition to Israeli colonialism voted for Hamas in 2006.

The Palestininan people have the right to resist. But this does not mean that HOPI politically supports Hamas. We do not believe it offers a real alternative to imperialism. Its politics will lead to further disasters. However, we reject the lies about Hamas told by Israeli military spokespersons to justify their barbaric war.

Very few reporters have reminded their audience that it was Israeli forces that broke a four-month long ceasefire on November 4. Few have mentioned the fact that in the late 1980s, it was Israel that supported Hamas in order to weaken secular, leftist Palestinian groups. Few have reminded their audience that Israel actually encouraged the corrupt and pliant Fatah leadership to overthrow their religious political rivals and recapture power – a poisonous policy of divide and rule.

Aggressive American neo-con-servatives participated in the sinister plot to instigate a Palestinian civil war. (Avi Shlaim – The Guardian January 7 2009). The reactionary Arab regimes in the region have once again proved they have no intention of supporting the Palestinians beyond some tired rhetoric. Egypt has actually aided the Israeli blockade, closing the Gaza frontier both to humanitarian aid and to volunteers attempting to bring in medical aid.

As far as the Iranian government is concerned, after all the empty slogans and propaganda in defence of ‘Palestine’, its current near silence on Zionism’s atrocities speaks volumes.

Ahmadinejad’s posturing and provocations, whether over nuclear weapons or the decision to host neo-Nazis in Tehran, have only helped Israeli propaganda and the warmongers in Washington. Yet even in the field of diplomatic efforts, Iran’s response to the Gaza carnage is muted. At a time when Palestinians need regional help, the regime puts its own interests first and keeps its head down.

No one should put any trust in the Islamic regime in Tehran. It has actually helped the enemy sow sectarian division among the Palestinians in Lebanon and Iraq. Iranian-backed militias have ethnically cleansed thousands of Palestinian refugees from Iraq, under the eyes of the occupation regime. The Iranian rulers have traded oil and arms with Israel, and if they use the Palestinian people to serve their interests today, it would be as pawns, to be sacrificed tomorrow.

However the working people of Iran have a right and duty to aid the Palestinian people in any way they can; but not because of a shared religion. Instead, this should be offered as an expression of international working class solidarity. This tradition has deep roots in the history of the mass radical left forces in the region.