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Capitalism Can’t Bring Lasting Peace To Gaza

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Nine months after the start of the Israeli military’s genocidal assault on Gaza, Palestinian families are still being torn asunder by the relentless onslaught of Israeli bombs and missiles, largely supplied by the US government. The horror in Gaza continues to deepen with the growing threat of mass hunger and starvation. Locked in an open-air prison turned into a horrific war zone, more and more Palestinians are relying on crowdfunding to reach food or be able to escape the Strip. Twelve thousand GoFundMe campaigns raised $77 million by March, showing the deep level of solidarity that exists among working-class people for Palestinians.

These donations are only one part of a global solidarity movement fighting in the streets, workplaces, and campuses with a burning desire to do whatever they can to end the war. Pressure from this inspiring global movement, including mass protests throughout the Middle East and growing pressure within Israel, have played a role in limiting how far Israel and the US can go with their campaign of bloodshed. This is reflected in the recent symbolic criticism of Netanyahu by leading Democrats who have stood by the Israeli occupation for decades, as well as Netanyahu’s reluctance to go as far as his far-right government partners are pushing for, which would include the mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank and a resettlement of the Strip by Israeli settlers.

Threat of Wider War

The Israeli government’s proclaimed target of eradicating Hamas is widely admitted to be unachievable, and they have also failed to free all of those abducted in the October 7 Hamas attack. The recent military rescue of four Israeli hostages came with the devastating massacre of over 300 Palestinians, including an estimated 64 children. The desperate mass-media campaign attempting to celebrate this rescue to lift morale in the Jewish population was temporary, as the war cabinet fell apart over disagreements and splits and has now been dissolved altogether by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Simultaneously, the desire to reach a ceasefire that would include bringing all hostages back home is growing within Israeli society, with tens of thousands marching in June calling to reach a deal and for immediate elections to bring down the Netanyahu regime.

The continuous “war of attrition” between Israel and Hezbollah, the organization in Lebanon aligned with Iran and Hamas, is now threatening to explode into an all-out war, backed by significant support in the Israeli population after tens of thousands of Israeli civilians had to flee their homes without sufficient government aid or prospect to go back. Instead of de-escalation, we are seeing Israel ramp up its attacks on Hezbollah, including bombings and targeted assassinations. This raises the real threat of a wider regional war, which would mean bloodshed and destruction on a vast scale.

A war between Israel and Hezbollah would from the beginning be connected to wider geopolitical conflicts. Iran is closely connected to Hezbollah, and could be pulled into the war. Despite warnings and diplomatic efforts to defuse the situation, US imperialism would likely be drawn in especially if Iran becomes involved.

Capitalism Needs Imperialism, Imperialism Needs War

War is fueling more war. Biden continues to support Israel militarily despite the war’s profound unpopularity. Biden and the Democrats cannot afford more upheaval if they want to win the 2024 election. So why are they continuing this?

The logic of capitalist development, based on the nation-state, leads to the development of imperialism and the fight over territory, and especially markets. The US was previously the unchallenged imperialist power in the world, but now, Chinese imperialism has risen to confront it. All “regional” conflicts are now being drawn into this wider battle for global domination. Israel and key Arab countries are the US’ allies in the region against Iran and its various proxy forces, which are aligned with China. Both Democrats and Republicans are united in seeing ongoing support to Israel as essential to the interests of US imperialism.

So the saber-rattling of the ruling classes isn’t due to personality quirks of ruling elites, or even solely due to reactionary ideas. Capitalism’s drive for profit, and its need to secure political control and “stability”, based on its interests, over as much of the globe as possible, underlies the support for this genocidal war by US and Israeli imperialism. The US desperately needs Israel as a strong ally in the Middle East to ensure China and Iran are not able to gain more political and economic influence in the region.

Devastating war and destruction is baked into the capitalist system. As more and more innocent lives are lost, the mobilization of the masses becomes a significant danger to the ruling elites. Millions of protestors internationally have organized massive demonstrations for an immediate ceasefire. Thousands of students across the US and internationally have fought for Palestinian liberation by occupying their campuses to demand universities divest from companies profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. 

What is needed in the movement now is escalation based on clear demands. We can look to the graduate students in UAW 4811 at the University of California system, who not only called for a ceasefire and an end to repression of campus protesters, but went on strike to demand it. Despite the strike being called off fairly quickly, this is an example for the entire labor movement, and shows the next step for every union that has called for a ceasefire. Students should renew the campus protests in the fall, and link up with campus unions and other local unions to shut down campuses completely if demands for full divestment from companies profiting from Israeli occupation are not met. This also means not backing down once administrations have conceded to create task forces or said they’ll “look into” investments, which are usually empty promises designed to get students to pack up and go home.

Ultimately, we need to turn this fight into one against the entire global system of capitalism and imperialism, which drives the war and oppression our movements are seeking to end. We can and should fight to replace this rotten system with a socialist world, where we can finally have an end to war once and for all.

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