This article was originally published on X (formerly Twitter).
The German ruling class plays a key role in the genocide of the Palestinians. The hypocritical “warnings” from German Chancellor Scholz and other leading politicians about the attack on Rafah cannot hide this fact.
In the same RND interview in which Scholz shed some crocodile tears over “incredible human losses of innocent civilians” in Gaza, he defended Israeli war policies and made it clear that German arms deliveries to Israel will continue unabated.
When asked whether there is “a red line vis-à-vis Israel and when the support could become less,” Scholz explained: “We were very clear from the beginning and that is why I want to say this again ... Israel has the right to defend itself and to fight Hamas.”
He rejected a possible restriction on German arms supplies to Israel, which have increased more than tenfold since the beginning of the genocide, with the cynical argument that the weapons supplied by Berlin could have “no negative effect” at all.
This is criminality of the first order! Since the beginning of the genocide, the Israeli army has already killed over 35,000 Palestinians—including more than 13,000 children. Over 78,000 people were injured, many of them seriously.
Gaza is almost completely destroyed, hunger and misery are rampant. With the attack now taking place on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of refugees are crowded together, the genocide of the Palestinians is being pushed to the extreme.
In the RND discussion, Scholz again denounced the opposition to Israel and the genocide as antisemitic. This turns the world on its head. Antisemites are not the students and workers who protest against genocide and war—including many Jews.
It is the ruling class that is once again drawing on its fascist traditions: supporting a genocide, fomenting racism, establishing a police state and waging war for imperialist interests.
The war aims in the Middle East go far beyond the extermination and expulsion of the Palestinians. For the imperialist powers, Israel serves as a bulwark for the imposition of their economic and geostrategic interests throughout the region and worldwide.
The unleashing of the Israeli war machine is a component of the drive to eliminate Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and Iran, escalate the war offensive against Russia and China, and redivide the world among the imperialist powers.
There is only one way to stop the genocide and the developing Third World War: to build an international mass movement of the working class against fascism and war and their root cause—capitalism.
This is what the SGP and its international sister parties are fighting for in the European election campaign. Read and share our election statement as widely as possible! Register as an active supporter and become a member of our party!
And join our first online discussion event on May 16 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a socialist perspective in the fight against genocide in Gaza with our candidates Christoph Vandreier and Gregor Kahl.