Today marks both the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip and one week since Israel began its ground invasion of the neighboring country of Lebanon.
Israel’s brutal military response to the Hamas-led October 7 incursion has shown no sign of slowing down as the United States, its primary supplier of military aid, continues to commit weapons, funding and rhetorical support to its deadly assault on Arab populations in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon.
Over 1,000 Lebanese civilians have been killed and over a million displaced as they flee the encroaching violence. From Beirut, we speak to Rima Majed, a professor at the American University of Beirut, who highlights the disruption to daily life that Israeli warfare has created.
“This is really a huge catastrophe, and it’s not a humanitarian one. It is a political catastrophe, and it’s a social catastrophe. And this would not have happened … if it wasn’t for the [international] backing and the arming of Israel.”
Zionism is a fascist ideology that dehumanizes an entire people, Palestinians, and even neighboring people like Syrian and Lebanese people when it fits the needs of Settler Colonialism. But it’s important to note that not all Israelis are Zionist, there are anti-zionists within Israel.
The end of Israel, as in a regime change, is about extending human rights to Palestinians, not the expulsion of Israelis. Equal rights, equal right of return, and equal representation.