No Time to Lose: STOP ARMING ISRAEL NOW!

We call upon union leaders to put teeth into the coalition for a ceasefire in Gaza. Take up the demand that has resonated throughout the United States and internationally: “Stop Arming Israel.”

The leadership of the seven U.S. national unions and more than 200 union locals who formed the coalition calling for a ceasefire in Gaza know full well that the working-class through its unions is a potent force for change. Now is not the time to hesitate or equivocate.

Longshore workers in the United States, Australia, Belgium, Spain, Italy and elsewhere refuse to handle military cargo headed for Israel. Trade unionists in the United Kingdom shut down major arms factories producing parts for F-35 fighter jets.*

The cascade of the call to Stop Arming Israel* transformed into a worldwide torrent since February 14 when the Council of Bishops of the historic African Methodist Episcopal Church stated boldly, “The United States is supporting mass genocide.” U.S. leaders must “immediately withdraw all funding and other support from Israel.”

Oxfam, Save the Children, and Amnesty International called for Israeli arms licenses worldwide to be suspended.

A Dutch court ordered the Netherlands to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts. The Canadian parliament passed a motion to stop granting arms exports to Israel. National and regional governments in Belgium, Italy, and Spain suspended arms sales to Israel, too.

Pressure for a ban on U.K. arms sales to Israel intensified. A letter to foreign secretary David Cameron, signed by 107 MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labor leader, and 27 peers called U.K. arms exports to Israel “totally unacceptable.”

More than 600 leading British jurists, including three retired judges from the U.K. Supreme Court, urged the government to suspend arms sales to Israel, stating that the U.K. could be complicit in “grave breaches of international law” if it continues to ship weapons.

By Friday, April 5, the demand to Stop Arming Israel took on a broader dimension.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, in a comprehensive resolution, called upon “all States to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel.”

Human rights lawyers in Germany filed an urgent court appeal demanding that the German government cease authorization of war weapons for Israel, in accordance with Germany’s War Weapons Control Act.

Pressure to Stop Arming Israel even reached into the inner depths of the Democratic Party, long the major supporter of military funding for the Zionist state and its expansion. 

On Friday, April 5, Representative Nancy Pelosi — who has held the reins of the Democratic Party for decades — along with 29 other members of Congress sent a letter to both President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken in which they stated forcefully: “In light of the recent strike against aid workers” — referring to the three Israeli drone strikes which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers — “and the ever-worsening humanitarian crisis, we believe it is unjustifiable to approve those weapons transfers.”

The writing is on the wall for the world to see. Left to its own devices, the Israeli government will not stop its genocidal war against the Palestinian people, whether the devastation in Gaza or the annexation of the West Bank. Rather its ongoing attacks on Lebanon, Syria, and Iran may draw the United States into a broader war throughout the Middle East.

Rank and file union members are in the streets involved in community actions. How much stronger we would be with the breadth of our unions behind the demand to Stop Arming Israel along with organizing workplace and community actions. 

Notes:

*Unite, UNISON, the British Medical Association (BMA), the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications, and Theatre Union (BECTU) are some of the unions which part in the March 20 civil action which also included trade union members from the education sector, hospitality, and the arts.

*In March 1988, as the first Intifada gained momentum, Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone, along with Fourth International supporters, launched an international campaign: “End All Aid to Apartheid Israel — For a Democratic and Secular Palestine” which garnered the support of Linus Pauling (Nobel Laureate Peace and Chemistry), notable authors, such as Gore Vidal and Kurt Vonnegut, labor and community leaders and activists, as well as historic figures of the Black Liberation movement and struggles for self-determination internationally.

On Nov. 1, 2022, the International Workers Committee Against War and Exploitation, for a Workers’ International (IWC) launched an appeal which was signed by labor and political leaders and activists in 34 countries. 

* The weapons transfers to which the Congressional members refer include 1,800 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs (bunker-busters), 500 MK-82 500-pound bombs, and 25 F-35A stealth bombers, along with a proposed $18-billion sale of 50 F-15 fighter jets, such as those used by the IDF in Gaza. These transfers supplement the 100 arms transfers that already have taken place since October: 32,250 bombs, 122,550 artillery shells, and millions of rounds of ammunition. U.S. military advisers assist with intelligence and provide guidance on urban warfare. The U.S. naval fleet patrols the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

And to prepare for a full-out war with Iran: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with US Secretary of Defense Austin March 26 to arrange more sales of the F-35 than are already in the pipeline. The cost of each long-range stealth bomber (avoiding radar) is astronomical: $110.3 million for the F-35A, $135.8 million for the F-35B, and $117.3 million for the F-35C and along with the request will be the request for the funding the bombs, trainers, and support.