This week, in a televised address, ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer spoke of his “grave” concern of the Middle East being pushed “ever-closer to the brink”. Remarkably, not a word was uttered about the spate of murderous escalations carried out by the Zionist regime.
The Israeli state-sponsored terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Syria – involving thousands of explosive pagers and walkie-talkies – were not deemed relevant to the escalating tensions by Starmer. Neither were the Israeli Air Forces airstrikes reaching into four neighbouring countries; nor Mossad agents’ assassination of Hamas’ leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Netanyahu’s own self-serving reasons for aiming to prolong the war (which are common knowledge, even in Israel), and his repeated attempts to escalate the conflict to draw in US imperialism squarely behind him, did not feature in Starmer’s speech to the nation.
Encouraging the British public to step through the looking glass with him, the UK Prime Minister instead condemned Iran alone as the culprit of the “chaos and destruction” in “Lebanon and beyond”.
Iran, which has shown tremendous restraint in the face of constant provocations from the Zionist state, was portrayed as the sole aggressor. Israel, which is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, and which has begun to spread its slaughterous spree to Lebanon, was painted as the innocent victim.
Starmer and his Manichean worldview – in which conflicts, including that in the Middle East, are simply a fight between the forces of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ – has turned reality upside down and inside out.
I completely condemn Iran’s attack on Israel this evening. pic.twitter.com/cj2R6o5Lfd
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) October 1, 2024
Imperialist hypocrisy
“We stand with Israel,” Starmer swore for the hundredth time. “We recognise her right to self-defence in the face of this aggression.”
We have been here before. This is, word for word, the language used by the entire British establishment just before Israel began its mission to reduce Gaza to rubble. Now, once again, Israel’s ‘self-defence’ is being used to justify the carpet bombing of the Lebanese capital.
How on Earth this has anything to do with the “safety” of Israeli citizens, as Starmer suggested, is anyone’s guess.
This is a well-rehearsed refrain. For decades, any flare-up, bombardment, or full-blown assault the Israeli state has carried out against the Palestinians – or any neighbouring Arab state – has been explained away with this familiar phrase.
With the wave of this magic wand, Israel is absolved of its crimes, and attention is shifted elsewhere.
Similarly to the events of 7 October, Iran’s latest missile attacks are portrayed in the so-called ‘free press’ as a bolt from a clear blue sky; as an unprovoked act of aggression.
When Israel attacks, it is always ‘limited’ and ‘targeted’. When Israeli bombs kill civilians, it is unfortunate ‘collateral damage’ in pursuit of a greater good. When the Israeli Defence Force invades a sovereign nation, this is euphemistically described as “self-defence”.
According to the West’s ‘rules-based order’, it seems, Israel’s ‘right to self-defence’ is not equally afforded to any nation, group, or person hostile to the imperialists’ friends in Jerusalem.
The hypocrisy is enough to make you choke.
Who is the real menace?
The most bewildering statement from the PM’s address was the claim that Iran “has menaced the Middle East for far too long”.
This is precisely the way in which the Israeli ruling class – taking its lead from its sponsors in Washington – has portrayed Iran, in an effort to justify Israel’s constant provocations and aggression.
Starmer’s prior training as a lawyer is therefore coming to good use. Only now, he is acting pro bono for Netanyahu and US imperialism.
Israel acts as US imperialism’s primary attack dog in the region. This explains why the entire British establishment has fallen into line behind Netanyahu, jeering on his reckless rampage, which threatens to set the entire Middle East alight.
Netanyahu’s actions have nothing to do with ‘saving hostages’ or ‘bringing security’ to Israeli citizens. Instead, as he has openly acknowledged in recent days, the Israeli leader’s aim is to “change the balance of power in the region for years to come”.
The ‘security’ of ordinary Israelis, in other words, has always been subordinated to the Zionist ambitions of expansion and domination in the Middle East.
The Israeli ruling class has cynically utilised the events of 7 October to pursue this imperialist ambition. Along the way, it has received political and diplomatic cover at the UN, alongside military support from Starmer, the British establishment, and their masters in Washington.
Over a million displaced. Carpet bombing, destroying schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks. Indiscriminate attacks, murdering and maiming civilians. This horror now describes not only the besieged Gaza Strip, one year on, but also Lebanon.
So, Sir Keir, we ask again: who is the real menace?
‘War is peace’
In his speech at the United Nations last week, Starmer paid lip service to the lofty ideals of ‘peace’ in the Middle East, this troubled corner of the world – calling on Israel and Hezbollah to “stop the violence”. But this plea for ‘peace’ did not last long.
Following Iran’s retaliation on Tuesday, Starmer performed his duties as a poodle of US imperialism, lambasting Washington’s enemy. UK fighter jets also played a limited role in defending Israel from Iranian missiles.
Since then, Starmer and co. have echoed Israel’s official statements: describing the murder of Hezbollah’s political leader Nasrallah, airstrikes into Beirut, etc. as a strategy of “escalating to de-escalate”. In this Orwellian dystopia, war is peace.
In truth, the biggest threat to world peace is not Hezbollah, nor Iran for that matter. The real terrorists are US imperialism – the most reactionary force on the planet – and its allies.
In Israel, the western imperialists have created a Frankenstein’s monster that they are no longer able to fully control or subdue. It is the myopic actions of Netanyahu, pursuing his own narrow interests, that are now spreading death and destruction far and wide.
Occasionally they cry crocodile tears, calling for a ‘humanitarian disaster’ to be averted; for the IDF’s worst excesses to be curbed. Yet at the same time, these warmongers write Netanyahu endless blank cheques, which he happily cashes in, providing him with the military, financial, and political support that he needs to get away with genocidal murder.
We must be clear. The western imperialists are the architects of the sectarian violence that sprawls across the Middle East. It is they who are responsible for sowing instability and chaos in the region, and worldwide.
Bring down the war criminals!
In his recent speech, Starmer had the cheek to suggest that he is working towards a “political solution” to the crisis. But this crisis is one that he bears responsibility for.
It was he that justified Israel’s fire and fury after 7 October – to the point of even arguing, before he and his party faced a mighty backlash, that Israel had the ‘right’ to prevent medicine, electricity, etc. from entering the Gaza Strip.
It was he that visited Israel as one of his first trips from 10 Downing Street, in order to affirm his unwavering support for Israel. It is he that swears by the imperialist project that is Zionism.
All Starmer’s opportunistic calls for ‘peace’ are just newspeak and verbiage, aimed at hiding what he would really like to see in the Middle East: the peaceful submission of Israel’s enemies.
There were some who suggested that Starmer was perhaps a changed man, following his government’s so-called ‘embargo’ of arms sales to Israel. Yet the Labour leader has once again proven that, when the chips are down, he will always come rushing to Israel’s defence.
We can have no trust in Starmer and his government to bring about any meaningful peace between the peoples of the Middle East. From head to toe, he is drenched in the blood of innocent Palestinian and Lebanese men, women, and children.
Workers and youth in Britain can see right through the hypocritical sermons of Starmer and his cronies. Ordinary people know that the real danger to peace and prosperity resides not in Dahiyeh but in Downing Street.
It is ‘Sir’ Kid Starver and his chums who are letting children go hungry and leaving the elderly to shiver, both in Britain and in the Middle East. It is they who say there is money for warfare, but never for welfare or healthcare; who can always find billions for bombing schools and hospitals abroad, but not for repairing crumbling schools and hospitals back here.
This is why we say: the main enemy is at home. And it is why we must get organised and build a force that is capable of overthrowing all the warmongers in Westminster.
Join us in this task. Join the communists in the fight against capitalism and imperialism. Join the Revolutionary Communist Party today.
- Hands off Lebanon! Hands off Gaza! Free Palestine!
- Stop the bombing! Stop the genocide!
- Bring down the war criminals in Westminster, Washington, and Tel Aviv!
- End imperialism! End capitalism!
- For a revolutionary way forward! For a Socialist Federation of the Middle East!
