On 11 May Israeli soldiers murdered Shireen Abu Aqleh, a respected Palestinian Al Jazeera journalist, despite her being clearly identified as Press as she covered the raid on a refugee camp in Jenin. Two days later, Israel security forces brutally attacked her funeral cortege: images of the assault, as the occupation forces used batons to pummel the legs of pallbearers and tore down Palestinian flags, shocked the world. Aqleh’s murder – and the subsequent attempts of the Israeli government to deny responsibility and discredit her – shone a spotlight on the utter disregard of the Zionist state for Palestinian life.
Like Gaza, Jenin has been a focus of Zionist attempts to crush Palestinian resistance, and a stronghold of past intifadas. On the morning Aqleh was murdered, Zionist forces in Jenin also assassinated Dawoud Zbaidi and teenager Tha’er al-Yazouri in al-Bireh. This followed the April killings of Ahmad Sadi, Mustafa Abu Alrob, Sha’s Kamamji, Saif Abu Libdah and 17-year old Mohammad Zakarnah. In recent months, US-made military vehicles have stormed villages in the region, demolishing Palestinian homes. These Israeli offensives have met with unrelenting resistance by Palestinians. The murder of Aqleh prompted an international outpouring of solidarity and anger; students at Georgetown University in the United States – Aqleh held dual Palestinian/US nationality – held her image and snubbed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as he addressed their graduation ceremony. Across the world, protests were held in tribute to Aqleh. Yet Zionism’s war crimes, however appalling, continue to find willing apologists in imperialist countries, including Britain.
On the same morning Aqleh and Palestinian youths were killed, British MP, Shadow Cabinet member and Labour Friends of Israel representative Wes Streeting toured the Zionist state. He found plenty of time to smile for the cameras while promoting free trade with Israel, but uttered not one word in condemnation of the killings. The British Labour Party’s consistent support for Zionism has been further on display in recent attacks on the incoming president of the National Union of Students, Shaima Dallali, over her support for Palestine. A letter against her election was signed by 21 former NUS presidents: these include Labour former Cabinet members Jack Straw, Charles Clarke, Jim Murphy and of course … Wes Streeting. Straw’s long and inglorious career in support of the Zionist state includes blocking a UN investigation into the Jenin massacre in 2002 and facilitating British collusion in Israel’s imprisonment of Ahmad Sa’adat in 2006. In 2016, Clarke labelled then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a terrorist sympathiser for opposing the proscription of resistance organisations Hizbullah and Hamas. Murphy is a former chair of Labour Friends of Israel.
The NUS has totally failed to defend Dallali from the smear campaign mounted against her; indeed, prominent members have enabled it. The pro-Labour Oxford NUS delegate Anas Dayeh supported the campaign against Dallali, writing that Jewish students in Britain ‘cannot be made to feel responsible for a conflict that is being waged thousands of miles away.’ After the pro-Zionist Jewish Chronicle mounted an attack on Dallali, Labour Against Antisemitism used this as ‘evidence’ to declare that ‘anti-Jewish racism in the NUS is spiralling out of control.’ The offending material included posting ‘a video of anti-Israel protesters calling for an intifada,’ supporting BDS, and attending an ‘abusive’ protest against the Israeli ambassador in London.
The NUS seems determined to censor all support for Palestine. Rapper Lowkey, known for songs supporting the Palestinian people, had been scheduled to perform at an NUS centenary event, labelled a Liberation Conference, in Liverpool on 30 March. Amidst Zionist complaints, the union showed its spinelessness by promising ‘safe spaces’ for those offended by Lowkey’s pro-Palestine message. The concert was pulled. We defend both Dallali and Lowkey against these vicious campaigns to silence and distort support for the Palestinian struggle. Recent events show that with a determined and principled struggle, pro-Zionist reaction can be beaten back.
- In France, campaigning and legal challenges have forced the Macron government to lift the ban imposed on Collectif Palestine Vaincra in April. The activists are refusing to be silenced by new attempts to suspend them.
- On Nakba Day, 15 May, a coalition of anti-imperialist groups mobilised to challenge the German state’s ban on all open-air pro-Palestinian events, and successfully marched through Berlin.
In Britain, Palestine Action has continued direct action against Zionist arms company Elbit, despite the arrest and criminalisation of many of its activists. Having won the battle to kick Elbit out of Oldham, activists occupied the corporation’s Bristol offices on 15 May. - This is the resistance that needs to be deveoped internationally in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Imperialism’s complicity with Zionism’s crimes has emboldened Israel to believe it can act with impunity. The Israeli politician Israel Katz directly warned Palestinians who fly the Palestinian flag to ‘ask your parents about the Nakba’, adding ‘If you don’t calm down we’ll teach you a lesson that won’t be forgotten’. More Palestinian children are being killed – on 25 May, 16-year-old Gaith Yameen became the 12th murdered by Israeli soldiers this year, following the shooting of Amjad Fayed in Jenin the previous day. At least 88 Palestinians were wounded, including 19 rubber-coated steel bullet injuries, in the Nablus raid in which Yameen died.
Fight imperialist support for Zionism! Justice for Shireen Abu Aqleh and all those murdered by the Israeli state! Victory to the Palestinians!
Louis Brehony
PALESTINE ACTION SHUTS DOWN ISRAELI WEAPONS COMPANY
On 15 May, activists from Palestine Action marked Nakba Day by occupying and comprehensively trashing the Bristol headquarters of Elbit Systems. Elbit is Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, supplying 85% of the occupying army’s drone fleet. Five days later, activists shut down its London offices for the day, drenching the building in red paint before locking themselves on to the entrance. In January, the group used occupation and direct action to permanently shut down Elbit’s weapons factory in Oldham. Seven activists from the Bristol protest have been released on bail while two remain in prison. Palestine Action is mounting a campaign in support of the prisoners. For more information or to send solidarity messages, comrades are urged to write to [email protected]. Solidarity with all those who take principled action in support of the Palestinian liberation struggle and against the racist Zionist state!
