An Israeli Activist Says: Hamas and the Israeli Regime Lead Workers to Slaughter

Israeli police protect stone throwing settlers in West Bank, April, 2022

by Samson Agam

October 7, 2023

Dozens – potentially hundreds – of Hamas operatives took advantage of the incompetent ultra-capitalist Israeli government and invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. At the time this article was written, it is known that over 600 Israeli citizens – mostly unarmed civilians – were killed by Hamas, and an additional 150 kidnapped into Gaza as hostages. Over the rest of the day at least 350 Gazans were killed and 1000 wounded.

The Israeli regime was slow to respond, despite its fabled military might. One reason for this is gross incompetence of the Israeli state apparatus, which became a giant nest of thieves of late – robbing the public coffers to finance interested parties. Another reason is that much of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) was busy protecting West Bank settlers – who have a strong influence over the government – leaving the Gaza border barely guarded. Three battalions, for example, originally stationed near Gaza, were escorting a small group of settlers going to a so-called “sacred tomb” in Nablus (in the West Bank) on Friday.

Additionally, decades of budget cuts left the emergency and healthcare systems in southern Israel in a bad state; one hospital, for example, ran out of food to serve to patients – mostly victims of the attack – soon after they arrived, and local citizens had to bring food from home to help the patients. Meanwhile, the ultra-rich got tax cuts, and fundamentalist religious groups got an unprecedented budget.

Many of those attacked by Hamas in southern Israel were impoverished working class Jews from Ofakim and Sderot. Their lives mean absolutely nothing to the big bosses and their servants in the government. Zionist nationalism, proposed to protect Jews from anti-Semitic slaughter, failed Jewish workers once again. No matter how high the pensions generals get, how much militarism is pumped into the heads of school children – the government gladly sacrifices the lives of innocent working-class civilians to pursue its capitalist and kleptocratic goals.

Many on the international left support Hamas, who sell themselves to Western workers as a “resistance” movement against Israel. This week, Hamas showed its true face – brutal murderers. Their attack on Israeli civilians offers no real hope to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank: retaliation will soon come, with many dead and with further destruction of infrastructure.

Corrupt Hamas bosses present themselves as “freedom fighters” while they get rich from the Gaza siege. Hamas gets a cut from any goods smuggled into Gaza from Egypt. Hamas embezzles from UNRWA and European funding sent to Palestinian civilians. They murder their own citizens, especially LGBT people and dissidents, in a brutal manner. This gang – for the lack of a better word – also gets funding from the monstrous Iranian regime.

No bosses’ government, no bosses’ nationalism, can protect ordinary working-class people. Neither in Sderot, nor in Gaza. The bosses grow rich, the workers get murdered. It is time to turn things upside down – depose all bosses. We need to be rid of both the incompetent thieving gang ruling Israel and their tycoon masters, and the criminal and murderous Hamas lords of Gaza. Only a workers’ state can provide security, safety, and prosperity to the working class!