Marching may not save Gaza, but voting can

Voters have no idea of their own power and most democratically-elected politicians in the world hope it stays that way. If they could eliminate the voting process in the world’s democracies, it would certainly suit the agenda of some very powerful people who do some very bad things.

Looking at Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to remain in power is a classic example and worthy of any PhD student’s attention if there was a campus in the world that would welcome a fresh, honest, academic approach to his efforts to cling on to his position as Israel’s prime minister. I doubt that such a campus exists anywhere, such is the power and influence of the global pro-Israel lobby.

It’s an open secret that Netanyahu has sacrificed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians (and some of the Israeli hostages if truth be told) to keep his job. In this he has support from the world’s most powerful lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which buys influence by funding US politicians of all political stripes. AIPAC’s sole aim is to keep Israel’s occupation of Palestine in place, and it will fund any politician who agrees with this objective.

This is no conspiracy theory; the AIPAC website makes this clear. It describes itself as a “national movement of pro-Israel Americans”. Even the ever petulant Donald Trump knows that his presidency is secure as long as AIPAC is happy.

The Track AIPAC group rejects AIPAC’s influence in the US and openly supports AIPAC-free candidates such as congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashid Tlaib. It goes into astonishing detail about the amount of US taxpayer’s money that Trump has lavished on pro-Israel enterprises. The US president has already approved $14 billion in military aid and weapons sales to the occupation state.

Track AIPAC’s analysis has revealed that an eye-watering $230 million has been spent by pro-Israel interest groups benefiting Trump since 2020. Miriam Adelson’s Preserve America PAC has proven to be by far the biggest spender, pouring more than $215m into the US presidential election campaign to help Trump. The octogenarian was married to arch-Zionist Sheldon Adelson, founder of the Las Vegas Sands casino company and the Israel Hayom newspaper, from 1991 until his death in 2021. The Republican Jewish Coalition, an AIPAC ally, has lavished $14m on support for Trump since 2020.

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All of this power, wealth and manna from Hell would amount to less than Jack Spriggin’s enchanted five beans if voters in America galvanised themselves and did the right thing.

The right thing isn’t bringing about the fall of Israel; the Zionist state has already pressed the self-destruct button. The right thing is to stop the genocide of an innocent people who had their land stolen from under their feet at the hands of ruthless Jewish terrorists who would and did do anything to further the Zionist cause.

We have witnessed in real time on our smartphones and tablets Zionists who are prepared to plumb the depths of humanity to get their own way. Should they succeed and annihilate the Palestinians, where, and against whom, will they stop?

Netanyahu has already shown his map of “Greater Israel” at the United Nations. Wake up Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia; the Zionists are coming for you next.

Israel has become a zombie nation, inured to human suffering. It is unmoved by the plight of child amputees who’ve had their bomb-damaged limbs sawn off without anaesthetic because the Israeli military deliberately removed pain relief from the aid convoys that the occupation state let in; and it hasn’t let any aid of any kind get into Gaza for a month now.

Israelis are no longer affected or distressed by the horrific images that have put the rest of humanity into a tailspin. Israel has turned schools, universities, hospitals, clinics and baby units into what its false “self-defence” narrative claims are legitimate enemy targets. Its soldiers’ actions have galvanised millions of ordinary people around the world who still have a sense of common humanity and feel the pain of the Palestinians.

Of course, the politicians look on warily and just hope that the anger at Israel’s savage brutality does not spill over from the streets into the voting booths. With most of the election results in Europe lurching towards the far right, though — something not seen since the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany — we continue to ignore the alarm bells.

The UK’s local elections in May are just around the corner, which is when voters can and should flex their power by delivering a shock to the national government. Only people power can now save this planet from the pernicious influence of Zionism, a political ideology which thinks that it is acceptable to target babies in incubators.

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Americans used to look across the Atlantic with envy at Britain, a small island punching well above its weight which could turn the tide of popular opinion as a champion against political repression and for human rights. Under Sir Keir Starmer, however, that Britain has largely disappeared because, as we have seen in the US, the influence of the Zionist lobby has overwhelmed him and other senior politicians in this country.

We have much to thank the Palestinians for, because they have not only demonstrated the power of legitimate resistance to Israel’s evil occupation, but also exposed the injustice that drives the Zionist cause. Now that our eyes have been opened, we must turn our global resistance movement into actual power by voting out the people and parties who support genocide and the bombing of starving refugees in tents.

Coincidentally, there is also a by-election in Runcorn and Helsby on Thursday 1 May, the first big opportunity for voters to pass judgement on Starmer’s ruling Labour Party. It has long been a safe Labour seat, but with Starmer backing those behind the Gaza Genocide and his war on asylum seekers and refugees, political pundits are wary about predicting the result. Labour candidate Karen Shore has hardly endeared herself to some in the party, who fear that her rhetoric comes straight out of the far right playbook. There are also concerns about a backlash from Starmer’s support for Israel. Independent candidates are becoming more favoured in some districts.

Losing a single seat might seem like small change, but if Labour loses an MP in Runcorn and Helsby, and takes a beating in local elections across the country it will trigger panic in the corridors of power. Labour MPs will fear that they are next in line to fail and fall. Starmer’s future as leader may also come to an abrupt but timely end, with or without the support of the pro-Israel lobby.

The time has come, therefore, for voters to flex their electoral muscle and bring down those politicians who share the view that Palestinian babies and children, and other protected persons in Gaza are a threat to Israel and thus can be killed with impunity. In the words of US journalist and satirist H L Mencken, “If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.” For the sake of us all, not least the people of occupied Palestine, let us hope that there are neither cannibals nor missionaries in Runcorn and Helsby.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.