This piece is a contribution to the Pre-Convention Discussion for our 32nd National Convention. During Pre-Convention Discussion, all aspects of the party’s program, strategy, and tactics are up for consideration and debate. The ideas presented here are those of the author or authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Communist Party USA, its membership, or their elected leadership bodies. — Editors

Fuel was added to the hellfire that rages in the Middle East when Iran retaliated against Israeli aggression by sending hundreds of drones and missiles against Israeli military bases.

This was just the latest escalation in an explosive and economic war the US has waged on Iran, with Israel’s direct participation, a war that has ebbed and flowed since the Iranian revolution of 1979 that deposed a US-installed dictator.

The current context includes Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians, aided and abetted by the US with money, weapons and diplomatic cover. Israel’s bombing of Gazan civil society into rubble, its wanton slaughter of tens of thousands of Gazans with US-made bombs while starving to death more than two million, has illuminated its 75-year oppression of Palestinians, generating as never before anger and engaging opposition from billions of people around the world, including in the US and a majority of the world’s governments.

When the Israeli Air Force on April 1 bombed the Iranian embassy in Syria, a violation of International Law and and act of war, killing several senior Iranian generals as well as civilian diplomats, Israel’s leaders unbelievably claimed they didn’t consider that a provocation. Perhaps the fact that Israel has for decades assassinated Iranians at home and bombed them and their allies abroad with impunity led them to believe they could do so indefinitely.

Tehran saw differently. Although its retaliatory attack on Israeli territory was telegraphed to Israel and the US and was planned not to cause serious damage, which turned out to be the case, it raised the stakes in the long term war, a cause for alarm to all who want to end rather than expand the bloodshed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with pressure from his openly fascistic partners, has been angling to hook the US into an even wider war with Iran for decades. He partially succeeded as US forces in the Middle East shot down much of the Iranian missiles and drowns headed toward Israel. He has vowed that Israel will escalate the war even further.

President Biden has stated that If Israel directly attacks Iran the US won’t participate. But there are rightwing forces in the US, especially presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his allies, that are clamoring for the US to expand the war on Iran and increase support for Israel’s genocidal war. They are banking on a large number of US voters appalled by the Biden administration’s “ironclad” backing of Israel, to refrain from voting in November’s election, providing Trump a path to the White House and fascism with an opening on American soil.

Because of mass pressure from below President Biden has been forced to acknowledge the unacceptable death toll Israel has leveled on Palestinian civil society and humanitarian aid workers, such as those from the World Central Kitchen, by calling for a ceasefire. He has not yet, however, turned talk into action by ending weapons shipments to Israel.

To the contrary, based on Iran’s air attack, Biden and much of Congress are demanding more weapons be shipped. The legislation to send more weapons passed, accelerating the existing conflagration in the Middle East and simultaneously reducing Biden’s re-election chances.

The CPUSA urges all those who love peace and justice to call their members of Congress and the White House demanding immediate de-escalation.

Call Washington:

202-224-3121 – name your Congressperson and get patched through

202-456-1111 – the White House

• Vote no on, or veto, weapons delivery to Israel
• Call on President Biden to demand a permanent ceasefire in Gaza
• Call President Biden to unlock full funding to the UN aid organization UNRWA and tell Israel to stop blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza
• Insist that President Biden restrain Israel from attacking neighboring countries and stop vetoing UN Security Council resolutions that condemn those attacks and attacks on Palestinians

Or send a message to your representative on the House and Senate websites.

Images: First the Blood, Now the Treachery on Palestine by Montecruz Foto (Creative Commons); Love and peace by Omar Chatriwala (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Deed)

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