A-Infos (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #23/25 - Solidarity is the only route (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

During the summer months, the Palestinian situation took a significant 
leap forward. The Zionist government gave its genocidal action a clearer 
focus. 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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