Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 26.03.025
On March 20,2025 the main publication of the RCI that calls itself an International, while it is no more than a propaganda formation, published a long article by James Kilby titled: “Netanyahu resumes genocide to cling to power”. It is a quite decent description, but when it comes to the actual national question it is no more than empty abstractions that avoid the needed answers.
The article says:
“But so long as Israel was at war – at first against Hamas and the people of Gaza, and later also against Hezbollah in Lebanon – Netanyahu could attempt to distract from his problems at home, and try to rally Jewish Israelis behind him.”[i]
This does not explain why it is possible to rally the Jewish Israelis to such wars? The answer of course is the class nature of the Zionist apartheid as a society of settler colonialists. However, as students of Ted Grant the IMT that now is called RCI, for years advocated the right of self- determination of the Israelis, and even today does not stand for Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea.
For example, one of the leading figures of the IMT: Francesco Merli1 wrote on 23 May 2023 in the article: 75 years since the Nakba: Free Palestine! Intifada until victory:
” A democratically planned economy could provide the resources to guarantee a better life to all the peoples of the region, and lay the material basis for the real emancipation of the Palestinians, the Jews, and all the peoples of the Middle East, by ending the present imperialist nightmare” [ii]
This article leaves out the national character of future Palestine and does not call for Palestine from the river to the sea. It put the oppressed Palestinians and the oppressor Israelis on the same level.
Kirby also writes:
“On 5 March, Trump threatened in a Truth Social post that the people of Gaza would be “dead” unless Hamas immediately released all the remaining hostages. “I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.” “RELEASE THE HOSTAGES NOW, OR THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!” he thunderedץ But from the point of view of Hamas, if they were to release all the hostages immediately – in exchange for only a short ‘truce’ – there would be absolutely nothing to limit the Israelis from unleashing (further) hell on them anyway. It is a demand that they cannot accept“
But what is the Marxist position on Trump threats and not only on Hamas? In the entire article Kirby does not say even once that the interest of the international working class is the military defeat of Israel by Hamas. One of the problems of the IMT was a clear Islamophobia that now even when they try to hide it, explains why the RCI does not call for the military victory of Hamas. Instead, they have spread the illusion that the Israeli workers are a revolutionary class.
The same Meril wrote in 2018: “The crisis of capitalism in Israel is creating the basis for further convulsions in the area, which will put on the agenda once again the need to unify the struggle of the Palestinians in Gaza and the Territories with the struggle of the working class and youth within Israel against the policy of austerity, war and class inequality ruthlessly imposed by the Israeli ruling elite” [iii]
Kirby also writes: “Back in January, there were enormous hopes that the hell inflicted on the people of Gaza would finally be relieved – even if only partially. These hopes have been cruelly shattered this week” [iv]
But what exactly happened in January this year? Trump and his plans. Clearly the RCI shared the illusions in Trump.
Kirby also writes: “The Palestinians have a right to a homeland. But no one is actually doing anything concrete to achieve this. The western imperialists, both of North America and of Europe, have backed Netanyahu’s genocidal war. The local Arab regimes have, in one way or another, either directly collaborated with Israel or simply uttered empty platitudes about a state for the Palestinians. These are in no way the friends of the Palestinian people.” [v]
But what will be the size of the Palestinian state: Part of the west-Bank and Gaza? The entire West Bank and Gaza or from the river to the sea? To this question the RCI is avoiding the answer.
Israel is an apartheid state like the former South Africa. Trotsky in a famous atter wrote:
A Black Republic?
“The overthrow of the hegemony of British imperialism in South Africa can come about as the result of a military defeat of Great Britain and the disintegration of the Empire. In this case, the South African whites could still for a certain period – hardly a considerable one – retain their domination over the blacks.
Another possibility, which in practice could be connected with the first, is a revolution in Great Britain and her possessions. Three-quarters of the population of South Africa (almost six million of the almost eight million total) is composed of non-Europeans. A victorious revolution is unthinkable without the awakening of the native masses. In its turn, that will give them what they are so lacking today – confidence in their strength, a heightened personal consciousness, and cultural growth.
Under these conditions the South African Republic will emerge first of all as a “black” republic; this does not exclude, of course, either full equality for the whites, or brotherly relations between the two races – depending mainly on the conduct of the whites. But it is entirely obvious that the predominant majority of the population, liberated from slavish dependence, will put a certain imprint on the state.
Insofar as a victorious revolution will radically change not only the relation between the classes, but also between the races, and will assure to the blacks that place in the state which corresponds to their numbers, insofar will the social revolution in South Africa also have a national character.” [vi]
The RCI may say but the Palestinians are a minority! The simple truth is that the Palestinians including the refugees are the majority and the solution will come with the victory of the Arab revolution.
Even Kirby writes:
“And yet, millions of ordinary working people, the youth, the poor and downtrodden, across the Middle East sympathise with and support their brothers and sisters in Palestine. Only the revolutionary overthrow of all those responsible – the imperialists, the Zionists, and their accomplice regimes throughout the Middle East – can create the conditions for the genuine liberation of Palestine, and an end to the horror and bloodshed.” [vii]
For the Arab revolution!
For the military victory of Hamas!
For Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea!
Endnotes:
[i] https://marxist.com/netanyahu-resumes-genocide-to-cling-to-power-2.htm
[ii] https://marxist.com/75-years-since-the-nakba-free-palestine-intifada-until-victory.htm
[iii] https://marxist.com/massacre-on-gaza-border-reveals-brutality-of-israeli-ruling-class.htm
[iv] https://marxist.com/netanyahu-resumes-genocide-to-cling-to-power-2.htm
[v] Ibid
[vi] Leon Trotsky Letter to South African Revolutionaries (April 1933)
[vii] https://marxist.com/netanyahu-resumes-genocide-to-cling-to-power-2.htm