From Pro-Palestine to Anti-War

26-10-2025: A supposed ceasefire is in place between the Israeli state and Hamas after purportedly being brokered by US President Donald Trump, two years after the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023. No sooner was the ceasefire announced, both the Israeli government and Hamas accused each other of violating its terms. Hamas accused Israel of forming, arming and funding criminal gangs in Gaza which carried out murders, kidnappings and looting. Israel in turn accused Hamas of not returning all hostages, or the bodies of hostages, and of being too slow to return the ones they had.[1] In an obvious breach of the ceasefire, the Israeli state launched a wave of airstrikes across Palestine, which reportedly killed 26 people[2] – and then said that the ceasefire can resume ! Despite the accusations and actions of both sides, the full scale genocidal Israeli war has abated, giving Gazans and Palestinians and Israeli civilians some breathing space after two years of sheer horror.

The pro-Palestine movement – where to now?

Since October 7 2023, Western nations have faced a non-stop pro-Palestine movement which in some cities has mobilised every week for two years. Now with a shaky ceasefire in place, this pro-Palestine movement faces a fork in the road. Does it continue on the same path, should it wind itself up, or should it take a different path? We would argue that the latter is a desperate necessity. Yet for this to occur, there should be a recognition of the politics of this movement. Arguably, the liberal position on the question of the terrorism of Hamas needs to be junked. Certainly, the state terrorism of Zionist Israel has of course proven to be thousands of times worse, or at least in terms of scale. Yet Western liberals claiming that the terrorism of Hamas is just part of the resistance, or can be understood in terms of an armed struggle, are deeply mistaken. No sooner had Hamas re-taken Gaza we see images broadcast of Hamas carrying out public executions in the Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City.[3]

The ones being executed are claimed by Hamas to be collaborators and lawbreakers – but how can anyone in the outside world be sure? Perhaps Hamas is executing Palestinian opposition, whether in criminal or political terms, but we do not know. What may be the case is that Hamas’ public executions are set up as another show of force, or another show of barbarism, that demonstrates to Palestinians and Israelis and the world that Hamas’ violence is here to stay – and therefore Israel “must” continue its campaign to allegedly eliminate Hamas in some fashion. Yet the evidence of collaboration between Hamas and the Israeli state continues to accumulate. The Israeli publication +972 Magazine published an interview with Adam Raz, who has written a book on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy for “endless conflict”.

Even leading activists in the pro-Palestine movement in the West acknowledge that the Israeli state, and Netanyahu in particular, has funded and supported Hamas. Yet Raz’s book uncovers the staggering amounts supplied by the Israeli government to its supposed enemy. In 2018, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stopped transferring money to Gaza altogether. In stepped Netanyahu, who persuaded his cabinet to transfer suitcases full of cash through the Rafah Crossing to Hamas. Contained in these suitcases was around $30 million, and these were sent every month, from the summer of 2018 until October 2023.[4] That is to say, Hamas was supplied with 1 million dollars per day, every day for five years, prior to October 7 – from Israeli taxpayers. Just this fact alone brings this scenario into sharp relief. Netanyahu and Hamas are both opposed to a two-state solution – and therefore they are strong allies. Of course, behind both stands US and European imperialism.

Regional wars

Given this level of collaboration, it is difficult to argue that Hamas and the Israeli state conduct a no holes barred war against each other. The terrorism of Hamas complements the state terrorism of the Israeli state, both sides are either openly or covertly backed by imperialism, and so both sides are set up to continue an endless cycle of violence. This was the case before October 7, but since that time the Hamas/Israel conflict is part of imperialism’s wider aims. October 7 was arguably set up in order to draw the Islamic Republic of Iran into a regime change war.[5] Iran did not take the bait, despite obviously wanting to assist Palestine – but doing so risked Israel unleashing its nuclear weapons. This could have led to the deaths of millions of Iranians and Palestinians, and others. In June, imperialism used Israel to launch strikes on Iran in the 12-day war,[6] but they soon ran out of missile stockpiles and had to pull out of this attempt to topple Iran. But many are expecting this war to resume within months.

The pro-Palestine movement in the West is largely oblivious to this aim, mostly because its leading organisers share the same aim as imperialism for Iran – regime change. They also share imperialism’s aim of regime change in neighbouring Syria – which was accomplished in December last year when Al Jolani – the former number two of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) was installed by US imperialism after 13 years of a horrific proxy war. Completely unelected, Al Jolani and his ISIS and Al Qaeda goons soon embarked on mind boggling massacres of Syrian Alawites, Druze and Christians.[7] In fact, by focusing so intently on Palestine, to the exclusion of almost all else, the pro-Palestine movement in the West arguably assisted the political conditions for imperialism to take down Syria at the time that it did.

Imperialism/NATO did stretch Russia to its limits with its proxy war via the arming of Nazis in Ukraine, which limited its ability to defend Syria. Other factors were obviously at play, such as exhaustion of the Syrian defences, differences with its Iranian ally and more. It should be remembered that Hamas fought in Syria on behalf of imperialism and with ISIS, Al Qaeda and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) for ten years in a crazed campaign against secular Arab states. Yet it could be said that the whole strategy of imperialism in Syria was to take down an ally of Russia in the Middle East, precisely in order to soften up Iran for a regime change war. Arguably the war on Iraq from 2003 had the same aim. And yet the pro-Palestine movement in the West since October 2023 focused only on Palestine rather than defending the Middle East against imperialism and its Israeli state proxy.

Nationalism uber alles

The pro-Palestine movement in the West has also relentlessly brandished Palestinian flags ad nauseum. To be sure, waving the odd flag of an oppressed nation is usually not too much of an issue. But the manner in which the pro-Palestine movement has overtly backed Palestinian nationalism has had awful consequences. For two years, working people saw the “left” marching with Palestine flags only, seemingly being uninterested in other critical issues. In the United Kingdom (UK), this contributed to the “Unite the Kingdom” rally on September 13.[8] In Australia, this contributed to the “March for Australia” demonstrations on August 31 and October 19.[9] Certainly the main focus of these demonstrations were mainly about immigration numbers, but also about other factors such as the loss of free speech, a cost of living crisis and a housing affordability crisis. But faced with the Palestinian nationalism of the “left”, millions of workers were driven to the right and into their own form of conservative nationalism in response. This situation, to say the least, is not a net gain for the left.

The so-called left also repeatedly mobilised for Palestine on a moral basis, which is not a basis for political change. Of course, a genocide is morally wrong, but no one claims to stand for genocide. The liberal left implied that they were moral because they opposed a genocide, and that everyone else must do the same. Yet this is not how politics works in the real world. Many workers can agree and most probably do oppose a one-sided war against Palestine. However, the left must make the links from the deteriorating living conditions in the west with the war on Palestine AND the multiple other wars being waged by imperialism. Specifically, a drive for a bi-national workers’ state in Palestine and Israel would be in the material interests of workers world-wide. A revolution against capitalism in the Middle East would tip the balance of global class forces in favour of working people.

Instead, much of the leadership of the pro-Palestine movement was effectively in favour of an all out war of all of Palestine versus all of Israel. Not only is this impossible given imperialism’s backing of Israel, it is simply a suicide mission – and not left-wing either. The faux left half acknowledge the futility of this course, so they demand imperialist governments apply sanctions on Israel. Yet this is the ultimate in class collaboration. This “left” denounces all government backing of Israel as pure evil – and in the same breath attempt to enlist these very same governments as allies by imposing sanctions. This is the obverse side of promoting Palestinian nationalism – it implores one to recognise and even bolster the nationalism of larger and more powerful (imperialist) nations. It is a dead end.

For a real anti-war movement

For many liberals, the pro-Palestine movement was a substitute. Many of them, though they could not openly state it, are behind NATO’s proxy war on the Russian Federation. There are important exceptions to this rule, for example figures such as George Galloway and Roger Waters. Yet the majority of the ostensible left parties leading the pro-Palestine movement seek regime change in Russia[10] – which means World War III. Ultimately, they also seek regime change in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) – which again means World War III. And this is despite the governments of Russia and China – at least in words – being strongly in favour of Palestine. In fact, Palestine itself – or at least the Palestinian Authority – has applied to join the non-imperialist BRICS bloc. The PRC has already welcomed the beginning of the process to bring this about.[11] BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa plus 15 other non-Western states) has the passive or open support of almost the entire Global South, as it is forming a financial alternative to imperialism – which in time will become an economic and political alternative.

Imperialism is desperate to prevent the rise of the multipolar world, regardless of what political contradictions may lie within. While the pro-Palestine movement in the West myopically focuses on Palestine only, imperialism is setting up the Middle East as a war front against Iran, Europe as a war front against Russia, and Asia as a war front against China. Washington and its European “allies” are thus organising proxy wars, hot wars, regime change operations and colour revolutions from one end of the globe to the other. While the multipolar world is not socialist per se, it has the potential to forge forward in the direction of socialism. Certainly, the very concept of treating all nations exactly the same, regardless of their size or power, can only be a precursor to the end of world capitalism.

The pro-Palestine movement must transform itself into, or be replaced by, a genuine anti-war movement. This is an urgent necessity. It must oppose imperialism on all fronts not just in Palestine, but in all four corners of the planet. It must link the dire cost of living crisis, the crushing of democratic rights such as free speech, the increasing surveillance of the capitalist state (such as digital ID), the ever-rising taxation burden on working people and more – to the constant threat of wars abroad. It should urge a bi-national workers’ state in Israel/Palestine as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East. Revolutionaries in the movement should push for Marxist vanguard parties to help lead the inexorable rise of multipolarity towards a real and much needed socialism. We have a world to win.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.cnbc.com/2025/10/19/israel-trades-accusations-of-ceasefire-violation-with-hamas.html (22-10-2025)

[2] www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-media-reports-military-attack-gaza-2025-10-19/ (22-10-2025_

[3] www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/middle-east-news/2025/10/15/hamas-gaza-executions (22-10-2025)

[4] www.972mag.com/netanyahu-hamas-october-7-adam-raz/ (22-10-2025)

[5] www.redfireonline.com/2023/10/16/the-west-ignites-another-proxy-war-in-the-middle-east/ (22-10-2025)

[6] www.12daywar.org/ (22-10-2025)

[7] www.redfireonline.com/2025/03/24/syria-al-qaedas-kristallnacht-on-alawites-and-christians/ (22-10-2025)

[8] www.nbcnews.com/world/europe/london-braces-mass-far-right-rally-charlie-kirk-will-mourned-rcna230978 (22-10-2025)

[9] www.crazzfiles.com/march-for-australia-announces-october-19-rally-locations-taking-back-hyde-park/ (22-10-2025)