Emergency Protest Against Israel's Attack on Lebanon

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

(San Francisco, Sept. 24) - As Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu goes all out with a "final solution" to its "Arab problem" by wiping out not only the Palestinians in Gaza, but those in the West Bank, the occupied areas, and by also destroying Lebanon, the world wonders if the US will remain as Israel's enabler.

Though Biden has reputedly told Netanyahu that "you are on your own" if he attacks Lebanon, he has also declared "I am a Zionist." How long will he maintain the charade that he is diligently working for a cease fire while he continues the massive arms shipment to Israel's war machine? Does he not realize that Netanyahu never had any intention of reaching a settlement or has his senility become total?

As Israel pursues total war, economist Richard Wolff has suggested an interesting explanation for why the US, unlike any other country in the world, remains in complete support. The people of Israel see their national destiny as a greater Israel consisting of all of Palestine as well as nearby regions, unsullied by native Arab peoples. For this, they need to wipe out the Arabs, all of them.

Israel's history of ethnic cleansing of local peoples is also the history of the United States. This is the elephant in the room, unacknowledged by both the Democratic and Republican establishments. But it exists, and Wolff believes it operates as Freudian guilt mechanism that, projected onto Israel, can only be resolved and excused by Israel's success.

In a vast escalation of the long simmering Israel-Arab conflict, Israel is now attacking Lebanon because Hisbollah, Lebanon's military, does not accept Israel's genocide of Gaza. Both Hisbollah and Yemen's Houthis, who are also firing into Israel, have said that should a cease fire be implemented, they will return to the previous status quo, however difficult. That Netanyahu refuses this mechanism that would automatically end the current phase of the conflict that has killed over 43 thousand civilians shows that his goals go far beyond retribution or revenge for the October 7 Hamas attack.

The Lebanon attack was protested by about a thousand people last night at San Francisco's Federal building. Organized by the Palestine Youth Movement, it was also attended by Jewish Voice For Peace, Democratic Socialists of America, and many Bay Area activists, young and old.

See all high resolution photos here.