Stop U.S. Arms Shipments to Israel Now!

Follow the Example of the Spanish Unionists!

Editorial by Mya Shone

“The biggest action we can take as trade unions is a general strike,” stated Carmen Arnaiz, secretary of Social Activities at the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) in Spain. Arnaiz was addressing reporters Friday, September 27, as a 24-hour general strike was underway “against the genocide and occupation in Palestine”.

The nationwide work stoppage was the concerted effort of more than 200 trade unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). It was accompanied by demonstrations in front of factories that produce military equipment as well as at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid. Universities suspended classes after students walked out in solidarity.

“We organized this action,” Arnaiz explained, “to respond to the demands of Palestinian workers. … The message we want to send to the Spanish government and the world,” she noted, is “cut all relations with Israel” — which means specifically severing all diplomatic, commercial, and military relations.

Biden’s silence is agreement

That was Friday. By Saturday, Israel had expanded and intensified its war in the Middle East. Benjamin Netanyahu had fully taken the measure of Biden and Harris. While on U.S. soil in New York to address the United Nations, Netanyahu posted a photo of himself giving the go ahead for the IDF to drop many bunker buster and incendiary bombs on four apartment buildings in Beirut. The attack, now exposed as years in the making, not only killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s longtime political leader, but wiped out hundreds of Lebanese children, women, and men. A U.S. Department of Defense official told The Washington Post that he had never seen so many bombs used against a single target as in the Nasrallah strike.

“His (Nasrallah’s) death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims,” was Biden’s only comment. Not a recrimination or in any way a signal to lay off Lebanese sovereign territory.

By Sunday, Israel stepped up its carnage with massive bombing raids on Beirut and throughout areas of the south. The number dead, as has occurred in Gaza, is rising rapidly along with one million Lebanese displaced already from their homes. On a roll and with no opposition coming so far from the U.S., the IDF bombed power stations and a port in Yemen.

Shock and awe to lay waste to these countries is not where it ends. The IDF called up two brigades last week as part of preparations for a ground offensive into southern Lebanon. On Monday, the ground attack and Anschluss attempt on southern Lebanon had begun once again. IDF chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi sent a clear message to his troops: “You go in, destroy the enemy there and decisively destroy their infrastructure.”

Israeli bombs rained down on Damascus, Syria, killing a Syrian TV anchor, the latest in the relentless Israeli attack on press freedom and exposure of its war crimes. (More journalists have been killed in Gaza alone in the last 12 months than in the 20-year Vietnam War.)

What can these Biblically inspired settler-colonists be thinking except for the extermination of the indigenous peoples of Palestine and surrounding nations and annexation of their land? No Lebanese adult can forget the 18-year occupation which gave rise to the formation of Hezbollah, as the impoverished Shia of the south fought to defend their homes, nor will the Palestinian people ever abandon their struggle.

Meaning for us

What does that mean for us, here in the United States? We know that every bomb, 500-pound or 2,000-pound bunker buster, that every F-16 and F-35 fighter jet that carries them as well as other military weaponry is not only manufactured in the United States but is bought by Israel with our U.S. taxpayer funds.

On July 21, seven national unions, representing more than 6 million workers, called upon President Joe Biden “to halt all military aid to Israel”. That letter was signed by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), the International Union of Painters (IUPAT), the National Educational Association (NEA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Autoworkers (UAW), and the United Electrical Workers (UE).

The NEA and SEIU are respectively, the two largest unions in the U.S. by membership. The NEA alone has 3 million members across the United States while SEIU has 2 million members working in healthcare, the public sector and property services. While the UAW members work primarily in the auto industry, the union’s reach is far and wide with members who build helicopters, firearms, industrial equipment, handle child care, make food products and beverages, are casino dealers, workers in assisted living centers as well as homecare workers and have other jobs in the healthcare industry, graduate employees and postdoctoral researchers in universities (particularly California), are legal services attorneys and staff in many states, canine trainers at a Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, municipal and state workers and librarians.

We’re sure that you agree. There is no time to lose for these unions to put substance into their sentiments and, like the workers in Spain, demonstrate the strength of their resolve. It need not start with a general strike to get the message across. There are many workplace opportunities and the reach of these unions into U.S. daily life is broad. By law, for instance, every worker must have two 15-minute breaks which would create a massive work stoppage in itself if taken simultaneously.

In the Bay Area workers and students are planning actions, such as walkouts, for Tuesday, October 8. Their actions vary with the conditions they confront in their particular situation. Across the country there will be demonstrations on the weekend of October 5. Union locals, at the minimum, could participate marching along with their banners.

Let the action begin!