US, UK and European forces – out of the Middle East! Defeat Israel! Support the Palestinian and Yemeni resistance!
Statement of the RKOB (Austrian section of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency), 18 January 2024, www.thecommunists.net
1. According to reports from Reuters and Politico, the European Union (EU) is preparing a military mission “in a broader area of operation, from the Red Sea to the Gulf.” Its official goal is to “protect freedom of navigation” along the crucial route leading to the Suez Canal that connects Europe with Asia. The mission would build on an existing French-led surveillance mission, called operation AGENOR, in which nine European countries have participated (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal). The new EU military mission shall include at least three anti-air destroyers or frigates for the operation, but diplomats say that it is still unclear who exactly will provide what. It is planned to implement this plan by no later than 19 February. Spain is opposed to the new mission in the Red Sea and will not participate.
2. The background of this decision is the massive decline of maritime trade in the Red Sea and Suez Canal since November 2023. This has been caused by a series of courageous attacks by the Yemeni Houthis (officially called Ansar Allah) which are directed both against the territory of Israel as well as against Israel-linked cargo ships. These are actions in protest against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.
3. These attacks on ships – which have not killed or injured anyone until now – have been highly effective as they resulted in a collapse of Israel’s maritime trade in the Red Sea with revenues of Israel’s port of Eilat dropping by more than 80%. As a result, four of the world’s five largest container shipping firms have either paused or diverted their Red Sea operations, and shipping via the Red Sea has declined from 500,000 containers per day in November to about 200,000 currently.
4. This has also major repercussions for Europe since 40% of its trade with Asia and the Middle East passes through the Red Sea. This is particularly relevant for its oil and gas trade as the EU has become more dependent on such imports from the Middle East after it massively reduced its imports from Russia because of its sanction policy. EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis already warned that the current crisis in the Red Sea puts “a risk for the European economy.”
5. The decision of the EU is motivated by the following interests:
a) The European imperialists want – in collaboration with the U.S. and Britain – to take control over the Red Sea in order to stop disruptions of their maritime trade and to secure their commercial interests.
b) The EU mission shall aid Israel as it would also safeguard its shipping trade. Israel has always been a strategic ally of European imperialism which is why Berlin, Paris and Rome have lent unlimited support to the Zionist state and its genocidal war against the Palestinian people.
c) Furthermore, this mission would increase the EU’s role as an independent imperialist power and as a “global player” in world politics, i.e. it would help to reduce its dependence on the U.S.
6. It is clear that the EU naval force is not a “peacekeeping” mission. It is rather a military mission aimed at attacking the Houthis – the most important force in Yemen which is fully committed to support the heroic Palestinian resistance against the Zionist invasion. In other words, the EU naval mission serves to wage war in the Middle East in support of the Israeli Terror and Apartheid state – it represents an aggression against the Palestinian and the Yemeni people. When the US and Britain began to launch military strikes against the Houthis last week, we spoke about the transformation of the conflict from a Zionist War on Gaza to an Israeli-American War against Arab peoples. The EU naval mission deepens this transformation so that we can speak about an Israeli-Western War against Arab peoples.
7. The Austrian section of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) calls the workers and popular mass organisations in Europe to strictly oppose the EU military mission in the Red Sea. It is a reactionary mission aimed at supporting the commercial interests of Europe’s monopolies as well as the economic interests of the Zionist monster. It represents an aggression against the oppressed people – in Yemen and, indirectly, in Palestine.
8. We reiterate the RCIT’s position of unconditional support for the heroic Palestinian resistance. In any confrontation the Houthis and EU (or US/UK) naval forces, we side with the Yemeni resistance We also fully side with all other forces fighting the Israeli or the Western imperialists. In all these conflicts we advocate the military victory of the Palestinian and pro-Palestinian forces and the defeat of the Zionist and imperialist enemies.
Victory to the Palestinian resistance! Defeat Israel!
In any confrontation: Support the Houthis and other resistance forces against Israel and the Western imperialists!
No EU warships to the Red Sea! Expel the U.S.-led naval force from the Red Sea! Close all imperialist military bases in the Middle East!
For a global boycott movement against the Terror and Apartheid state Israel!
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We refer readers to a special page on our website where all RCIT documents on the 2023 Gaza War are compiled, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/compilation-of-articles-on-the-gaza-uprising-2023/.
For our latest statement on the solidarity actions of the Houthis in the Red Sea see: From Zionist War on Gaza to Israeli-American War against Arab Peoples. Stop the genocide of the Palestinian people! Defeat Israel! Kick the US/UK forces out of the Middle East! Victory to the resistance! 16 January 2024, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/from-zionist-war-on-gaza-to-israeli-american-war-against-arab-peoples/