Israel stands on the brink of invading Lebanon, having doubled its war aims and placed a ceasefire way beyond the horizon.
Reducing whole neighbourhoods to rubble, killing hundreds in pursuit of a single individual is another war crime – in Gaza and in Lebanon. But it is one Labour Britain persists in supporting under the banner of ‘Israel’s right to self-defence’.
Britain, the US and the EU are happy to see Israel degrade all Iranian sponsored militias and deter others throughout the Middle East. That’s why they continue to arm Israel with billions of pounds worth of weapons, including the infamous ‘bunker bombs’ dropped in Gaza and on southern Beirut.
The TUC has called a Day of Action for Gaza on 10 October, following its unanimous vote for an immediate ceasefire. All activists, inside or outside the unions, should build for this.
Anything that can be achieved, from leafleting and watermelon sales to meetings and walkouts, can also act as a springboard for further actions. Indeed, the most important element is to prepare workers for real solidarity aimed at stopping Britain’s blind support for Zionist expansion.
Workers in both private but especially public institutions should campaign for the divestment of all their pension funds and portfolios from Israel, with mass distribution of petitions and leaflets, all the way up to strike action. These are our deferred wages and we should control their use.
Transport workers must enforce a boycott of the movement of all weapons and materiel to Israel – by air, road, rail or sea. Factory workers and software engineers should boycott work on all projects related to the production of these weapons.
And we should demand the Labour government sanction the whole Israeli war cabinet and demand their prosecution. They should cut all diplomatic and trading links to Israel.
The whole labour movement needs to rally to the oppressed, in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Victory to the resistance!