The original version of this article was first published by our British comrades on communist.red
On April 1, seven food aid workers, including three Britons and one dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, were killed in Gaza when their jeep was bombarded by the Israeli military.
The Israeli government has deployed every excuse to avoid responsibility for this attack: from calling the strikes “unintentional”; to claiming that the aid convoy was accompanied by an armed Hamas militant. This is all, of course, blatantly false.
The vehicle was clearly labelled “World Central Kitchen” (WCK). It was travelling in a non-combat zone, and had shared its coordinates with the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF).
Far from being the result of a “miscommunication”, one IDF source revealed to Haaretz that “the General Staff know exactly why WCK were bombed—because in the Strip, everyone does whatever they like.” In other words, entire IDF units are targeting civilians with impunity.
Let us be clear: this was cold-blooded murder—part of a deliberate strategy by the Zionists to starve Gaza, by making it impossible for food aid agencies to continue their operations there.
As the head of WCK commented in an official statement: “This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations, where food is being used as a weapon of war.”
Far from being the “sorrowful accident” portrayed in the capitalist press, this attack was in fact a great success in the eyes of the Israeli ruling class, despite the negative press.
Ships carrying 300 million tonnes of food and supplies have been turned back to Cyprus. Several aid agencies have ceased working in Gaza.
This will have catastrophic consequences for civilians in the Gaza strip, who are already suffering widespread malnutrition, starvation, and disease. The massacring of aid workers therefore sends a clear message to the world: we intend for thousands more to starve.
Blood on their hands
Now that citizens of the big imperialist powers have been killed, however, their governments find themselves in an embarrassing position.
Rishi Sunak and “Lord” David Cameron are cringing and complaining about the need for an “independent investigation”, and have decried the “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza.
Joe Biden made what’s been called an “unusually blunt” statement, claiming that he is “outraged and heartbroken” by the killings. Though not heartbroken enough to stop paying for the weapons that Israel is using to murder aid workers.
The heartbreak continued in Canada with Justin Trudeau saying, “This is something that never should have happened, and we are heartbroken for the families and for the organization that has been putting people in harm’s way to counter the extraordinarily devastating humanitarian crisis going on in Gaza right now.”
Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh likewise posted, “I’m devastated. Canada must demand accountability and justice.” A good way to start would be for the NDP to stop propping up the Liberals and bring down this genocide-supporting government.
We aren’t fooled by these crocodile tears. The imperialist governments have actively supported Israel’s slaughter in Gaza every step of the way.
They’ve sent millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Israeli occupation forces. They’ve justified atrocities like the massacres at the Al-Shifa and Al-Aqsa hospitals. They’ve turned a blind eye to genocide.
And now they feign shock and horror when Western citizens are caught in the crossfire. What foul, stinking hypocrisy!
These mealy-mouthed statements won’t wash the blood from their hands.
Down with imperialism!
The truth is that the western leaders—Sunak, Biden, Trudeau, Scholz, Macron, and the rest of this warmongering cabal—did everything short of ordering the strike themselves.
They provided the political cover, alongside the financial and military means, and have promised the Zionist government that they will have its back, no matter what.
No amount of independent investigations, or toothless denunciations from the United Nations and the International Court of Justice, will stop the Israeli imperialists from committing war crimes against civilians, aid workers, and healthcare workers.
While our ruling class scrambles to conceal its open barbarism, we, the communists, will continue to wage a tireless struggle to bring down this entire blood-soaked imperialist system.
- Every political party is complicit!
- Down with genocide Justin! Down with imperialism!
- Intifada until victory! For a Socialist Federation of the Middle East!
