Israeli state forces are driving through a wave of repression in a bid to suffocate Palestinian resistance.
It comes as Israeli politicians conspired to kick out prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in the wake of the Palestinian revolt.
Militarised Israeli cops have arrested more than 1,000 Palestinians in cities inside Israel’s borders in a crackdown following a wave of revolt last month.
And occupation forces are terrorising the streets of the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
Israeli cops arrested hundreds of people, targeting Palestinian neighbourhoods inside Israel last week.
It comes after Palestinian citizens of Israel took part in a general strike, and fought back against Zionist attacks.
In the West Bank, which is under military occupation, Israeli soldiers have killed almost 30 Palestinians since 10 May, during a wave of protests.
And in east Jerusalem riot cops patrol the streets, firing tear gas and crowd control bullets at people.
Footage shows police shot a Palestinian teenager in the back, before throwing a stun grenade at her as she lay on the ground.
The repression comes after Palestinians rose up in Jerusalem and the West Bank last month.
It is the crucial context to Israeli politicians’ bid to get rid of Netanyahu.
Israel is in a long-running political crisis and has had four elections in the last two years.
All mainstream Israeli parties agree that they will never allow Palestinians to have a state.
But they don’t want to live with the Palestinians they keep under occupation.
Netanyahu has survived 12 years as prime minister by championing the repression of Palestinians.
But now, the Palestinian revolt, and Israel’s failure to defeat resistance group Hamas, mean right wing Israelis no longer trust Netanyahu.
And so-called “centre‑ground” politicians don’t think he can get on with US president Joe Biden, which Israel depends on.
Cobble
Politicians were trying to cobble together an anti‑Netanyahu coalition as Socialist Worker went to press.
Their government would be led by far right Naftali Bennett who champions severe repression of Palestinians.
Yet the Israeli state still fears Palestinian resistance.
Last week it postponed a legal ruling on whether to evict Palestinian families in a Jerusalem neighbourhood.
Similar eviction attempts sparked last month’s revolt.
It’s a sign that increased repression could spark yet more Palestinian resistance.
There were more protests across Britain in solidarity with Palestinians last weekend, more than a week after Israel’s assault on Gaza ended.
Many of the demonstrations were not called by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which organised the huge demonstrations in London last month.
At least 2,000 people marched in Birmingham on Saturday. Hope, an activist in Birmingham, told Socialist Worker, “It was incredible, it completely dominated the city centre.”
Hope added that many of the people on the protest said it was important to keep taking action despite the ceasefire.
“People are angry that nothing changes and then every few years Israel attacks Gaza again.
“They don’t want to go back to the same thing,” Hope added.
Other protests took place in cities and towns including Manchester, Stoke, Leicester, Worthing, Oxford, Wigan, Haverfordwest, Luton Liverpool, Maidenhead and Sheffield.
Hundreds of people came out last week to defend activists who had occupied an Israeli arms factory near Leicester.
Campaigners from Palestine Action sat on the roof of the Elbit arms factory—an Israeli drone manufacturer—for six days.
Cops made at least ten arrests as hundreds protested at the gates in support of the action.
The continuing protests show people want to keep taking action in solidarity with Palestine—and to target Britain’s support of Israel.
The momentum of the mass demonstrations last month shouldn’t be squandered. More should be called.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas, which governs in the Gaza Strip, has shown signs of reconciliation with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
It comes as other Arab states, backed by the US, work to exclude it from the “reconstruction” of Gaza after Israel’s devastating assault last month.
Hamas was forced to denounce Assad in 2012 after the regime bombed Palestinian refugee camps in Syria as part of the drive to crush the Syrian Revolution.
But now Assad has praised Hamas’s resilience against Israel.
Hamas wants to use resistance against Israel to increase its influence among Arab rulers. But this means siding with dictators that have massacred both their own people and Palestinians.
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