By Yossi Schwartz, Statement of the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 01.10.2020, http://the-isleague.com
Four people were arrested in Tel Aviv after the government approved emergency regulations banning Israelis from protesting more than 1 km from their homes, and gathering in groups of more than 20.
This draconian law aims at preventing demonstrations against the corrupt Prime Minister of Israel and another step in the direction of an authoritarian regime in Israel. “The legislation, which gives the government powers to declare a “special emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic”, was ratified early on Wednesday after an all-night debate in the Knesset. The law passed by 46 votes to 38, allows the government to declare a “special week-long state of emergency” if the coronavirus continues to spread.” (1)
Once again the Knesset has proven to be an instrument of the government and Netanyahu himself the Bonaparte of Israel.
The ISL, RCIT’s section in Israel (Occupied Palestine) condemns this law. As the RCIT has warned from the beginning of the spread of the Corona, the capitalist states use the plague to attack the democratic and the social rights of the popular classes.
Many Israelis ask themselves why the government deals with us as if we were Palestinians. The answer is clear: the Israelis who support the ethnic democracy and the repression of the Palestinians, the Israelis who support the concept of a Jewish democratic state are getting an open dictatorship for the Israelis as well. As long as the Israelis will not break with racist Zionism, they cannot fight successfully for their democratic rights.
We reject the racist idea that Jewish people are entitled to democratic rights, while Palestinians do not have these rights. The struggle for real democracy begins with the struggle for the democratic rights of the Palestinians, with crashing the siege on Gaza, ending the occupation, fighting for the right of the return of the Palestinian refugees, and struggling for one democratic state from the river to the sea.
We also reject the accusation of the Ultra -Orthodox Jews as those that spread the Covid-19. They are the victims of the plague. They are more affected by the Corona because they are large families living in very crowded apartments. Scapegoating them serves the government that deflects the anger from its policies serving the capitalist class.
Only the struggle of the Palestinians workers and the Fallhanis (poor peasants) with the support of the Israelis who break with Zionism can win this struggle as part of the victorious Arab revolution, a revolution that will form a red democratic Palestine as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East. Those Jews who will accept this solution will enjoy equal rights in a real socialist democracy.
To win this struggle we need to build a revolutionary working class International.
* Down with the reactionary law
* Fight for the democratic rights of the Palestinians
* Bring down this government to be replaced by a government committed to the democratic rights of the Palestinians and the Jews
* Immediate whitlow from all occupied lands in 1967
* Break the siege of Gaza
* Open all places of work for the Palestinian workers
* Enforcing the right of return
* Expropriate the big capital under workers control to be used to fight the Corona and the Unemployment and settle the Palestinian refugees
* One democratic state from the river to the sea
Clearly no Zionist party can form a government on such a program. Yet this is the only kind of a government that can fight for real democracy.
The ISL and the RCIT will defend such a government while struggling for a revolutionary workers’ government mainly of Palestinians workers and their allies.
Footnotes
1) https://www.france24.com/en/20200930-israel-passes-law-to-limit-protests-during-virus-emergency
Other RCIT reading:
Adam Smith: Israel: What is behind a Second Lockdown? 19.09.2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/what-is-behind-a-second-lockdown-in-israel/
RCIT: Stop Israel’s State Terrorism against Gaza! 25.08.2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/stop-israel-s-state-terrorism-against-gaza/
ISL: Occupied Palestine: Down with Israel’s Annexation Plans! 30.06.2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/occupied-palestine-down-with-israel-s-annexation-plans/
ISL: Occupied Palestine: Is a New Intifada in the Making? 26 May 2020, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/occupied-palestine-is-a-new-intifada-in-the-making/
Adam Smith, Israel / Occupied Palestine: Trump’s “Peace” Plan, 29 January 2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/israel-occupied-palestine-trump-s-peace-plan/
Yossi Schwartz: Jerusalem Day in Israel: Down with the Reactionary Chauvinist Orgy! 03.06.2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/jerusalem-day-in-israel/
Yossi Schwartz: Zionism and Anti-Semitism, 21.03.2019, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/zionism-and-anti-semitism/