Palestine – CEASE FIRE NOW!

Fund basic human needs not military slaughter

Note: The watermelon is a symbol of the Free Palestine movement and its image and emoji is now widely seen on social media. The use of watermelon, which is the same colors as the Palestinian flag, became a protest symbol when flying the flag was banned by the Israeli government in 1967. The Poppy has long been seen in Palestinian art and is a symbol of resilience as it proliferates quickly and covers fields in the Palestinian spring.

Statement from the League of Revolutionaries for a New America

The horrific U.S. backed Israeli war on occupied Palestine and the siege of Gaza have galvanized a global uprising in opposition to the ongoing bombing and genocide of the Palestinian people. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and around the world are marching in the streets, on campuses, and in the halls of power in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Those of us living in the belly of the beast have an international responsibility to stay the hand of the U.S. war machine funding and arming Israel to carry out the annihilation of Gaza. We must demand that our elected officials in the White House and in Congress call for a ceasefire now and freedom for Palestine.

How did we get here?

Today’s deadly war in Gaza is the 75-year continuation of the Nakba “catastrophe” during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the ongoing dispossession, occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, white supremacy, and massive killing of innocent Palestinian civilians. The U.S. played a leading role in the creation of the state of Israel in Palestine in 1948 as the world’s last settler colony – with support from other global imperialist powers and the UN. Israel operates as a client state serving as an economic, political, and military beachhead for U.S. domination and control in the strategic Middle East region.

The U.S. government and ruling class are more than complicit in the war. They are orchestrating and financing the war. They use billions of U.S. workers’ tax dollars to generously support the Israeli war machine – $3 billion annually plus additional billions in special requests – and send an endless supply of bombs, defense systems, advisers, troops, and warships to the region.

Israel’s constant bombardment has turned Gaza – already an open air prison – into a graveyard for over 10,000 innocent Palestinian and international civilians, including more than 6,400 children, journalists, doctors, medical and aid workers, and more. In clear violation of international law, Israel is bombing hospitals, universities, residential areas, and civilian and medical convoys traveling south to the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. The enormity of the dehumanization, death, and destruction is unimaginable – except that it is being documented on television and social media.

The struggle at home

Billions of our tax dollars are funding this murderous genocide that has cut off life essential access to water, food, medicine, fuel, and energy in Gaza. Yet, the U.S. government says there is no money to fund basic human needs for the American people – nutritious food, clean water, housing, education from preschool through college, universal health care and mental health programs, child care, and a safe environment. At the same time, the Biden administration and Congress do not support a ceasefire in Gaza and Palestine

We are at a crossroads. In this moment, the U.S. is concentrating military force and a nuclear armed submarine in the eastern Mediterranean. Instead of supporting a ceasefire, the U.S. is escalating the war. On Nov. 8 the U.S. launched airstrikes into eastern Syria – allegedly to destroy Iranian storage facilities. It is urgent that the American people stop this existentially dangerous escalation and expansion of U.S. backed aggression and war throughout the region.

The twin U.S. ruling class parties of capitalism – Democrats and Republicans – refuse to support a ceasefire in Palestine, refuse to fund the basic needs of the American people, and are expanding the war front in the region. The world is rising up in solidarity with the Palestinian people. The League and all revolutionaries and people of conscience are marching, educating, and demanding a halt to the war crimes and an end to the war makers. Not in our name! Our humanity compels us to demand that the U.S. government at all levels – especially President Biden and our elected officials in Congress – call for a ceasefire now and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Program of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America