Genocide in Palestine Deepens Crisis in Israel here ♦ Letter from Tel Aviv here ♦
July 16— Six thousand UNRWA aid trucks remain blocked from delivering food to Gaza’s starving population. Close to one thousand Gazans have been killed trying to get food. The UN Special Rapporteur described the blockade as “beyond cruelty” and “grotesque barbarism.”
A British diplomat recently warned that deep discontent is growing within the Egyptian army toward President Sisi. He stated that any attempt to force Gaza residents through the Rafah border crossing could ignite a broader conflict engulfing Egypt and the entire Middle East.
The cost of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank has reached a breaking point for Israel. According to the Israeli Defense Ministry, military spending surged by 18%—to $28 billion—at the onset of the genocide. By 2024, that figure had ballooned to $47 billion.
Following the 12-day war with Iran, the IDF (Israeli “Defense” Force) had already exhausted most of its annual budget.
The toll of the genocide on Palestinians in Gaza is unimaginable. But the psychological toll in Israel has also been devastating. A Tel Aviv University study found that 23% of adult Jewish Israelis now have PTSD, up from 4.5% before October 7. Among Arab Israelis, the rate is nearly double, fueled by rising racist attacks.
IDF reservists are returning from duty exhausted, physically broken, and showing severe signs of depression. The government has reportedly stopped tracking the suicide rate among soldiers. Israel’s mental health system, already underfunded before, is now strained beyond repair.
Meanwhile, Moody’s has downgraded Israel’s financial rating to its lowest level in history. This will further weaken its already fragile housing market. Low-paid workers from China and India had been brought in to replace Palestinian laborers from the West Bank. They are now withdrawing and returning home.
Workers and youth around the world – even in the US — are seeing through Zionism’s lies. They are increasingly sympathetic to the Palestinian masses, whose existence cannot be erased.
Our party continues to distribute Red Flag to comrades in Israel. They are organizing the masses to end the horrors there and in the rest of occupied Palestine through communist revolution. Despite immense challenges, we are still able to share Red Flag electronically with some readers in Gaza and Iran.
Our goal remains steadfast: to forge revolutionary unity among workers in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, Egypt and the rest of the region by building the International Communist Workers’ Party.
Letter from Tel Aviv: “Please Keep Red Flag Coming”
The Kahanist right is trying to build an actual concentration camp for Gazans. Everybody else, including most Zionists, is very strongly against this madness.
The government is falling apart. The war needs many more soldiers, and there are none, unless ultra-orthodox youth enlist. But they don’t want to. So their powerful politicians try to push a law exempting them once and for all from any military service.
Without new ultra-orthodox conscripts, the IDF (Israeli “Defense” Force) is exhausted and increasingly demoralized. Both by extremely long reserve or regular service and from what they are made to do in Gaza. Soldiers now sometimes break their own bones to get a leave from the military.
The ultra-orthodox military exemption law is very unpopular among anyone who is not ultra-orthodox. So there is opposition to it even from within the government. But if it does not get passed, the ultra-orthodox will leave the ruling coalition. And there will be elections soon.
At the same time, the police have stepped up repression of dissent, including arresting dissident journalists for made-up crimes. Protestors also get arrested and abused by police on a regular basis.
I see a huge opening for the working class in Israel/Palestine to seize this opportunity of complete disarray. Please keep Red Flag coming.
—Comrade in Tel Aviv
Genocide in Palestine Demands Communist Revolution: here
More on Zionism here