The Al-Rashid Street Massacre in Gaza: A Particularly Heinous War Crime Even for Israel’s Standards!

International

By Michael Pröbsting

Since nearly five months, the Israeli army is slaughtering the Palestinian people in the Gaza Ghetto on a daily basis. The Zionist monster tries to annihilate as many Palestinians as possible in order to expel the population from their homeland. In short, Israel commits a genocide, a new Nakba.

Even US Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin felt obliged to admit yesterday that more than 25,000 women and children have already been killed. (Revealingly, at the same time, he also said that the U.S. has sent about 21,000 precision-guided munitions to Israel since the start of its war!)

Still, yesterday’s massacre at the al-Rashid Street stands out even among the horrendous series of Israel’s war crimes. More than 100 Palestinians were killed within minutes after Israeli soldiers and tanks fired on a crowd of thousands waiting for desperately needed food assistance. These people have been bombed and starved by the occupation forces since months and, if that wasn’t terrible enough, the Israeli troops kill them when they frantically try to get some food from aid trucks!

No doubt, this is a particularly heinous crime even for Israel’s standards! The defensive and ill-prepared reaction of leading officials in Tel Aviv and Washington shows that they are fully aware of the seriousness of this war crime. Even Italy’s right-wing government feels obliged to condemn this massacre and to demand an immediate ceasefire. At the meeting of the US Security Council last night, all states except the U.S. wanted to condemn Israel’s massacre.

No doubt, the vast majority of the world’s population strongly condemns Israel’s war of annihilation against the Palestinian people. Even in the U.S. and Western Europe – Israel’s most important allies without which it would no longer exist – most people demand an immediate ceasefire.

Israel’s partners in crime

Still, the Zionist state can continue its genocide against the Palestinian people. How is this possible? It is possible because Israel is not alone – it has a few but very powerful partners in crime.

To put it short, this ongoing massacre can only take place because of Washington, Cairo, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. The U.S., as it is well-known, delivers money and weapons year for year and protects Israel against any international sanctions.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates make sure that the Arab states don’t take any serious actions against Israel. Furthermore, these traitorous regimes have opened a land bridge to bring goods to Israel as Yemen’s Houthis have shut down the Red Sea maritime transport route with its glorious strikes against Israel-linked ships.

And General Sisi’s military dictatorship in Egypt saves the Zionist monster by keeping the border to Gaza closed for most of the time – it only opens to gates to Rafah with approval from Tel Aviv. In other words, Cairo helps Israel to starve the Palestinian people.

What has to be done?

The key task of the global pro-Palestine movement is to support the resistance and hit Israel and its partners in crime wherever possible. The mass protests all over the world must expand and intensify so that governments don’t dare to support the Zionist genocide.

In Europe and the U.S., transport workers and their unions must boycott all transport from and to Israel. This is also relevant for India where Modi – leading a Hindutva-chauvinist government which brutally suppresses the popular masses, the Muslims, and the Dalits – sympathizes with the Zionist state. Likewise, we need a global popular boycott of all Israel-linked corporations and goods.

In the Middle East, the popular masses, and particularly transport worker, must boycott all trade with Israel. The land bridge to Israel via Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan must be cut by any means necessary.

In Egypt, the crucial task is to force the regime to open the border to Rafah and to send the Palestinian people in Gaza everything they so desperately need – food, medicine and weapons!

Brother and sisters, in the last five months we have built an unprecedented global pro-Palestine solidarity movement. This has shaken the world! But it is not enough! We must redouble our efforts in order to defeat the Zionist monster and to advance the liberation struggle of the Palestinian people!