During the summer months, the Palestinian situation took a significant
leap forward. The Zionist government gave its genocidal action a clearerfocus. With the announcement and subsequent launch of the occupation of
Gaza City, Netanyahu's (and Trump's) intentions became clear: Gaza must
be completely leveled and made available to Israeli-American programs
that are still unclear, while the Palestinians of the Strip must "flow"
south, where they will be crammed into a large concentration camp
measuring just a few square kilometers. To accommodate the displaced-or
rather, those who arrive alive-there will be four of those food
distribution points that, in truth, until now, have served the exhausted
crowds more lead than food. After that, it is said, every single Gazan
will be offered the opportunity for voluntary exodus to other countries.
There is talk of a $5,000 incentive and a year's guaranteed housing for
those who leave voluntarily. Analysts of various stripes are skeptical
of this plan, both due to the strong resistance Gaza City's population
will face in relocating and the unavailability of countries designated
as suitable for hosting Gazan exiles (Libya, Ethiopia, Indonesia, South
Sudan, etc.). Furthermore, the glaring disagreement of the Army Chief of
Staff, Eyal Zamir, must be considered, fearing excessive losses in the
fighting inside Gaza City and fearing an indefinite bog down. On the
other hand, all these reasons are currently countered by the apparent
determination of Netanyahu and his fanatical supremacist ministers;
while some are still weighing the risks and rewards, devastating Israeli
bombings have been razing peripheral areas of the city for weeks. The
brief "humanitarian" pauses have been abolished, and by September 2nd,
there was already talk of 60,000 people fleeing southward, most likely
toward the new concentration camps planned by the Zionist government and
its US ally.
It's likely that Netanyahu is confident that, in the meantime, bombs and
hunger are already "naturally" selecting those to be concentrated.
Indeed, some health experts have already said that, if up to now we've
only seen a few deaths a day from malnutrition, we could soon enter a
phase of escalation, in which the combination of hunger, malnutrition,
immune deficiencies, and epidemics could bring the death toll to a
hypothetical half a million. Moreover, the Israeli government's
intentions regarding Gaza have now become completely clear: the work
begun with Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009) must be brought to a rapid
conclusion, pursuing the dystopian dream of a "Greater Israel." This
same dystopian dream simultaneously pushes for accelerated ethnic
cleansing in the West Bank, renewed territorial pressure in Syria,
Jordan, and Lebanon, and military confrontation with Iran. In recent
weeks, Netanyahu and his unruly supremacist ministers have frequently
discussed formally annexing a portion of the West Bank, but formal
annexation is of relative importance compared to what is being done on
the ground daily by settlers and the army: expulsions of farmers from
their homes, burning of farmland, hundreds of centuries-old olive trees
uprooted, arbitrary arrests, torture, and the murder of defenseless people.
The mirage of "Greater Israel" allows this and more, but this mirage is
not only supported by the fiery backing of the 700,000 settlers, with
their unspeakable representatives in the government (Ben Gvir, Minister
of National Security, and Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Finance). The
hell of Gaza itself could not have continued and deepened to this extent
had it not been supported by far more weighty interests. The now-famous
report by Francesca Albanese, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the
Occupied Palestinian Territories ("From the Economy of Occupation to the
Economy of Genocide"), provides us with ample insight into this. This
report reconstructs the large-scale business deals that some major
economic players were able to make around the genocide, often in
continuation of the deals some of these players were already doing
during the colonial occupation of Palestine.
The report, which examines eight "key sectors" of the genocide economy,
identifies the "military-industrial complex" as "the backbone of the
Israeli state," that is, a state with a high degree of integration
between political power, the army, major high-tech industry, and
scientific research. "Between 2022 and 2024, Israel was the eighth
largest arms exporter in the world.
Israel's two largest arms manufacturers - the privately held Ebit
Systems and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries - are among the
top 50 arms producers globally. Since 2023, EBIT has collaborated
closely with Israeli military operations, placing key personnel in the
Ministry of Defense.
On the other hand, "international partnerships" have also been very
important in supporting the destructive operation in Gaza. "Israel
benefits from the largest defense procurement ever made, that for the
F-35 fighter jet" (in which the Italian company Leonardo SpA is also
involved). Considering that between 2023 and 2024, military spending
grew by 65%, it's easy to understand how the Israeli (and US) war
industry has a vested interest in prolonging the hell in Gaza. It's very
interesting to see who covered the large public deficit (6.8%) resulting
from the dizzying increase in arms spending. The government increased
the issuance of treasury bonds, benefiting from generous and large-scale
purchases by "some of the world's leading banks" and powerful US asset
management firms such as Blackrock and Vanguard. To get a rough idea of
what We're talking about these two companies, plus a third, State
Street, holding assets of $20 trillion, or 10 times the entire Italian
GDP and equal to the US GDP. Leadership Management magazine calls them
"the true masters of the world." These true masters of the world have
deemed it necessary to protect the business mechanism of genocide from
the risks of excessive state deficits with their own money.
Among the other seven key sectors that Francesca Albanese documents as
having a strong stake in the continuation of the ongoing genocidal
action, it's interesting to highlight "Surveillance and Carcerality,"
namely products such as CCTV cameras, drone surveillance, artificial
intelligence, and others. All tools already used in the repression of
Palestinians before October 7, 2023, and even more so after that date.
These tools of repression are produced by the famous high-tech companies
(startups) of which Israel is the global leader.
Thus, the mirage of "Greater Israel," the expansionist ecstasy of an
intrinsically sectarian and militaristic state, is further fueled by the
interests of the most "modern" segment of Israeli capitalism, which in
turn is intertwined with big US capital. In this context, we see the
very obvious self-interested complicity of European countries, who,
faced with the succession of tragic events in Palestine, stammer rather
than speak. The EU is notoriously Israel's largest trading partner,
representing, in 2024, 32% of its total trade, equal to 45 billion
euros, of which 5 billion with Italy. But some BRICS countries, and
especially China, are also doing major business with Israel, despite the
sympathies held for those countries by some within the Palestine
movement. Statistics show that China is the largest exporter and the
third largest importer to and from Israel. It is particularly
interesting to see how "Contropiano," a magazine of the Communist
Network, has addressed the issue. It recently published an article by
Zhang Sheng, a university researcher from Istanbul, who attempts to
somehow "climb the mirrors" to Then having to admit that "political
solidarity with Palestine and economic ties with Israel create a
contradiction in Chinese foreign policy, and Beijing has simply declared
itself a friend to both sides," in addition to not having yet used the
term "genocide."
And it is precisely the word "genocide" that has instead established
itself as a discriminating term, above all linguistic correctness, in
signaling the gravity of what is happening before our eyes, an enormity
that almost cannot be contained in any word. "Stop the genocide" is
today the watchword that unites, across the world, enormous rivers of
people, even very different from each other, who pour into the streets,
and in some cases discover or rediscover direct social commitment,
nourished by empathy for a population upon whom all the destructive
potential accumulated over the centuries by humanity seems to be
unleashed. It was not October 7th that allowed the Palestinian question
to return to the center of attention, as some claim; on the contrary, it
was the incredible timing of the A hyper-Zionist government, which in
just a few days has confronted the entire world with hell on earth. From
this perspective, it becomes secondary whether the October 7th action
was aided and abetted by Israeli intelligence, because in any case, such
action was objectively useful to those who likely already wanted to
unleash hell. We are now at an extremely critical juncture. To advance
the operation in Gaza City, Netanyahu has called up 60,000 reservists,
at a time when the refusal to wear the uniform is growing significantly,
albeit for a variety of reasons. At the same time, Israel is
experiencing a series of large-scale demonstrations and strikes
demanding negotiations for the release of the hostages. We know full
well that the majority of these protesters are not opposed to the war,
but merely intolerant of its prolongation. We are certainly not
experiencing the internal implosion of the Zionist state, but neither
are we approaching the national cohesion that any state preparing for a
difficult military operation strives for. We also know that on the
margins of these demonstrations, a diverse anti-Zionist and
anti-militarist minority is active and growing somewhat. The images of
many young people unequivocally identifying themselves with signs
reading "Stop the genocide" are significant. Equally significant is the
sight of Jewish and Arab citizens united in the anti-Zionist bloc.
In this context, in a few days, the Global Sumud Flotilla, composed of
dozens of vessels, hundreds of activists, and various personalities,
will set sail for Gaza. As is well known, the flotilla's purpose is to
bring several tons of food to support the now malnourished population of
Gaza. The Israeli government has been quick to announce that it will
treat the solidarity sailors like "terrorists," meaning harsh prison
terms and perhaps even more. Of course, those people are not without
their sneers! However, it is objectively not an easy transition, given
the presence on board of hundreds of European citizens and some
well-known figures. For their part, dockworkers from various cities have
announced that "not a nail will pass through the ports" if anything
happens to the flotilla. Calls for direct, in-person mobilization are
multiplying. So, let's be ready. With the Global Flotilla in our hearts.
Claudio Strambi
https://umanitanova.org/unica-rotta-la-solidarieta/
_________________________________________
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