REVOLUTION #123

Israel insists that genocidal racists should have nuclear weapons, but Iran cannot have any nuclear program, even for peaceful purposes

This is Bob Avakian—REVOLUTION—number 123.

Here are some important facts: Israel, itself a racist apartheid state, has large numbers of nuclear weapons—and before the racist apartheid regime in South Africa was abolished several decades ago, Israel was very “tight” with that South African apartheid regime and actively aided its move to develop nuclear weapons (this move to develop nuclear weapons was abandoned by South Africa after apartheid was abolished there).

The Israeli government—full of genocidal racist madmen who have repeatedly and blatantly lied to “justify” their monstrous acts—has now started a major war against Iran, with the claim (which they expect everyone to just accept) that Iran is very close to developing a nuclear weapon. Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the Israeli government, has for decades been claiming that Iran was “very close” to developing a nuclear weapon—when, time and again, this has been shown to be a lie. This war against Iran, waged by Israel, is yet another massive war crime, on top of its genocidal assault on the Palestinian people.

Let me be very clear once again, as I have been, going back to the 1980s: It is crucially important—as an expression of basic humanity and essential internationalism—to firmly support the Iranian people against the dark-ages and murderously oppressive Iranian regime. At the same time, and for the same reasons, it is crucially important to firmly oppose Israel’s illegal attack on Iran, as well as its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people, with the full backing of the U.S. government, under Trump as well as Biden before him.

Israel was a strong supporter of Trump’s move, during his first time in power, to pull the U.S. out of an agreement with Iran which limited Iran’s nuclear program to peaceful purposes—an agreement which Iran was carrying out. In the context of recent talks between the Trump regime and Iran, Israel again declared not only that Iran must agree not to develop nuclear weapons but must abandon its nuclear program altogether, even for peaceful purposes. This was the position taken by Trump in what were not really negotiations with Iran but just gangster blackmail by Trump. Now Israel has launched a massive attack on Iran, clearly in violation of international law (similar to the war the U.S. started with its invasion of Iraq in 2003, based on lies that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction— another war crime which Netanyahu also clamored for and fully supported). Not only has Trump actively backed and aided Israel in this new war crime—he has threatened to have the U.S. become directly involved in and further escalate the already massive attack on Iran, heightening the danger of a wider war with even greater potential horrors.

Yes, Trump is a fascist—that has real meaning and terrible consequences for the people in this country, and in the world as a whole: It is of immediate and vital importance that people be mobilized massively around the crucial stand put forward by RefuseFascism.org that In The Name Of Humanity, We Refuse To Accept A Fascist America! and the urgent demand that The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go, Now! At the same time, it is also important to recognize that it is the system of capitalism-imperialism that has given rise to this fascist Trump regime in this country, and that the ruling class of this country and its political representatives as a whole are guilty of horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the Middle East and throughout the world, as well as within this country itself—something thoroughly documented in the “American Crime” series and other works at revcom.us.

There is the very profound question posed by a doctor who volunteered to work in Gaza—striving, amidst tremendous destruction and suffering, to provide medical care to the mercilessly bombarded Palestinians there, overwhelmingly civilians and huge numbers of children. Speaking to the fact that both the Democratic and Republican parties have supported Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian people, this doctor sharply raised: What does it mean that there is no major political party in the U.S. for whom genocide is a “no go”? All decent people should think deeply about the truth and the profound implications of that!

As made clear in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have authored, we revcoms (revolutionary communists) recognize the profound need, and are dedicated to working tirelessly, for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. It is typical gangster logic, proclaimed by all major ruling class politicians in this country, that the U.S.—the only country that has actually used nuclear weapons—can have thousands of such weapons, posing a threat to the very existence of humanity, and U.S. “allies” like Israel can have nuclear weapons, but countries that “we” do not like should not be allowed to have any such weapons. And now Trump is threatening to go from aiding Israel to actively taking part in its war crime against Iran, with the still greater destruction and greater danger that would bring!

All this emphasizes yet again the crucial and immediate demand that The Trump Fascist Regime Must Go—Now!

And, in even more fundamental terms, it emphasizes this profound truth:

We, the people of the world, can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. And it is a scientific fact that we do not have to live this way.