Hadash MP Touma-Sliman: Israel Must Be a State with Equal Rights for All its Citizens

Last week, while visiting the European Parliament on the invitation of the Portuguese Communist Party, MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) give an interview to Rosa Luxemburg Foundation on the escalating repression against Arab-Palestinians in Israel, the Gaza war, Netanyahu’s plans for territorial conquest, and the shrinking space for left-wing forces in the country. Above some excerpts of the interview.

As an Arab-Palestinian citizen of Israel, you have been very vocal about the discrimination and inequality facing your community in the past, even referring to Israel’s 2018 Nation-State Law as an “apartheid law”. How have things changed since 7 October?

 

The destruction of Gaza and what followed did not start on October 7

By Oded Goldreich and Assaf Kfoury

An incendiary war has been raging for more than a year in the Middle East.  It has been indescribably devastating on Gaza and has now extended to the West Bank, to northern Israel and Lebanon, with ominous signs of expanding further into a regional war. This is a war driven by an Israeli government bent on exacting vengeful retribution on all its perceived enemies, unrestrained by its American benefactor and main purveyor of weapons. While this war has been extensively covered by the media, what is mostly understated or forgotten are the circumstances that led to it – a covert decades-long war waged by Israel on the Palestinian people. 

Palestinian Communist Party denounces Israeli ban on UNRWA

Statement Condemning the Expulsion of UNRWA from Jerusalem and the Prevention of its Work in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

The Palestinian Communist Party strongly condemns the decision by the Israeli Knesset to expel the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and sever all communications with it. This decision poses a direct threat to the rights of Palestinian refugees and exacerbates their humanitarian and social suffering, as UNRWA plays a vital role in providing essential services in education, health, relief, and infrastructure.

Netanyahu’s far-right regime intends to ban Hadash!

The Israeli far-right government is working systematically to disqualify Arab and Left-wing representatives from the Knesset to secure a permanent majority. It is trying to prevent public and parliamentary dissent against the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the endless war in Gaza and Lebanon.

Netanyahu’s coalition decided to ban Hadash and is still unclear which legislation will be used to ban Islamic Ra’am party. This is done under the false accusation of “support for terrorism”.

Greek soldiers lead the way in demonstration against the imperialist war in the Middle East

With large anti-war demonstrations organized by the Communist Party (KKE) in Athens, Piraeus and various districts throughout Attica, Greece on Saturday 5/10, thousands of protesters raised their voice against the imperialist carnage in the Middle East, demanding an immediate end of Greece's participation in the warmongering plans of Israel, US and NATO in the region. 

The demonstrators demanded the immediate return of the Greek frigate "Spetsai" from the Red Sea, the termination of Greece's multifaceted political and military alliance with the State of Israel and expressed their solidarity with the people of Palestine and Lebanon who are being slaughtered by the Netanyahu government and its allies. 

KKE says: "No involvement of Greece in the wars — Solidarity with the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon"

On 30 September, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) issued a statement on the escalation of Israeli aggression, which reads as follows:

The terrorist state of Israel, with the blessing and the support of the USA, NATO and the EU, is proceeding to a generalized war against the peoples of the Middle East, with unpredictable consequences for the wider region and internationally.

 

World Federation of Trade Unions and PAME hail the massive anti-war mobilizations of the people in Israel

In recent statement, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) hails the  massive anti-war mobilizations in Tel Aviv. More specifically WFTU stresses out:

The World Trade Union Federation is pleased to note the mass mobilizations of the people in Israel against the anti-people policies of the Netanyahu government and are calling for an end to the ongoing genocide in the Palestinian land.

Cypriot communists: Cyprus must stop facilitating the murderous plans of the Israeli Government

In a recent statement (here in Greek), the Communist Initiative of Cyprus (Κομμουνιστική Πρωτοβουλία Κύπρου - Kıbrıs Komünist İnisiyatifi) denounces the facilitation provided by the government to the Israeli state and warns about the grave dangers that the island's deepening involvement in the Gaza massacre poses for the Cypriot people:

Israel's former ambassador to Cyprus, Mr Harari, stated recently that “Cyprus is being dragged into the regional conflict” due to the strategic relations it has developed with Israel. The Medium which hosted the former ambassador's interview reveals that, among other things, special forces of the Israeli army perform drills in Cypriot territory. 

TKP General Secretary Kemal Okuyan: War is knocking Middle East's door

Recent article by Kemal Okuyan, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), published on soL News Portal on August 2, 2024.

 

Here is the reality: War is knocking at the door

Israel wants a full-scale conflict. Its interests and the fanaticism it constantly nurtures require that. It believes that it has seized a favourable opportunity to consolidate and expand the territories it has occupied. 

Israeli communists: Netanyahu's far-right government is igniting a regional war whose price will be paid by all the peoples of the region

In a comment (Hebrew) concerning the new Israeli attack in Beirut, as well as the assassination of Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, the Communist Party of Israel (Maki) and Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) point out:

"The Israeli government insists on igniting a regional war whose price will be paid by all the peoples of the region, including the citizens of Israel itself! The settler government in Israel is knowingly leading the region to ignite an extensive regional war that will wreak havoc on all the peoples of the region, including the citizens of the State of Israel itself.

Dockworkers in Greece refused to load arms shipment destined for Israel, forced cargo ship to change route

The militant mobilization of dockworkers at Greece's major port, Piraeus, on Saturday 15 June led to the cancellation of the arrival of “MSC ALTAIR”, a container ship transporting weaponry and ammunition to Israel.

As “Rizospastis” daily reported, MSC ALTAIR began its itinerary from Valencia, Spain and was due to reach Israel via Piraeus. According to information the cargo ship was carrying ammunition and other war material destined to be used by the IDF against the Palestinians in the slaughterhouse of Gaza. 

 

Communists from Israel and Cyprus demand an end to the war in Gaza

Protest in front the UK military bases in Cyprus, January 14, 2024

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus), Stefanos Stefanou, met Friday, May 17, with MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash), member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Israel, with whom the situation in Gaza and in Israel in general was discussed. 

 

In statements made after the meeting, both Stefanou and Touma-Sliman called for an end to the war and the implementation of the resolutions of the UN on the Palestinian issue.

Communist Party of Israel-Hadash: Netanyahu's fascist government on verge of causing humanitarian disaster in Rafah

“Israel’s fascist government is on the verge of bringing about a humanitarian disaster in Rafah,” Hadash and Communist Party of Israel (CPI) says in a common statement on Monday, May 6.

Protesting far-right Israeli government plans to “bomb and invade the Rafah area on the Egyptian border, which houses hundreds of thousands of displaced people,” Hadash and the CPI warns of “the mass slaughter and humanitarian disaster involved in the bombing of a very small area containing more than a million displaced people.”

Israel: Jewish and Arab workers honored May Day, sent message of proletarian solidarity amid war

Thousands gathered on Saturday, April 27, for the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and Hadash May Day parade in Nazareth, this after the police confiscated last Friday equipment and flags from the Hadash and CPI branch in the city ahead of the march.

At Paulus Street in Nazareth, between the red flags and flags of Palestine, banners were carried against the deadly war in Gaza, occupation of the Palestinian territories, US imperialism, capitalism and in favor of the dignity of the working class. Young Communist League orchestras filled the air with the sound of drums.

KKE: Statement on Iran's attack against Israel and the escalation of war in the Middle East

In a statement (here in Greek) concerning the escalation of war in the Middle East, following Iran's missile and drone attack against Israel, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) stresses out:

"Iran's expected attack on Israel, in retaliation for the Israeli state's criminal attack on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, which resulted to dead Iranian officials, constitutes a dangerous escalation of the war in the Middle East that could reach terrifying dimensions in case of an attack by Israel and its allies against Iran.

Israeli left-wing MP Ayman Odeh expelled from the Knesset because he condemned the massacre in Gaza!

The chairman of Hadash-Ta'al left alliance and MP, Ayman Odeh, was removed from the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, following statements against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the devastating humanitarian situation there.

"What the army is doing there is murder, it is a massacre - the starvation of children," Odeh said, adding that "there is blindness of heart and there is blindness of conscience. I appeal to you to be a real opposition against this government and its crimes in Gaza. There is a position regarding October 7, but what the army is doing there is a crime, it is killing, it is murder, it is a massacre". 

Mass rally of the KKE in Athens: No participation of Greece in NATO’s abattoir of war!

The General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, was the main speaker at the mass rally held by the KKE outside the Greek parliament on Monday 11 March.

In his speech, D. Koutsoumbas called on the people to break the omerta that the New Democracy government and all other parties are trying to impose on the involvement of our country in the imperialist wars raging in the region and in all the dangerous plans of the USA and NATO. “The message that the New Democracy government and the warmongering EU will receive in the coming elections, should be much more resounding! The only ballot paper that can carry this anti-war message across Europe is that of the KKE”, he stressed.

McCarthy in the Knesset: Hadash deputy Ofer Cassif expelled from Israeli Parliament

Members of the Knesset committee on Tuesday took a key step toward expelling MP Ofer Cassif (Hadash) over his support for the South African-led International Court of Justice case accusing the Israeli Government of genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The following day, the extreme-right, racist Minister of National Security of Israel, Itamar Ben Gvir, published on his social network a photo of comrade Ayman Odeh (Head of the Hadash-Ta'al coalition) with Khalida Jarrar (Palestinian PFLP parliamentarian), with a comment threatening the revocation of Comrade Todeh's mandate.

Ceasefire Now! Thousands protest across Israel calling for release of hostages and Netanyahu’s dismissal

Tens of Thousands protest Saturday night, January 27, in various demonstrations across Israel, demanding the release of hostages, immediate elections, against war in Gaza and the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Protests were held this in several locations across the country. Protests demanding elections were held at Habima Square in Tel Aviv, Horev Center in Haifa, Karkur Junction, Jerusalem, Be’er Sheva, Rehovot, Nes Tziona, Kafr Saba and Caesarea. 

Israel: Communist lawmaker Ofer Cassif faces possible expulsion from Knesset

Seventy Knesset members signed a motion on Monday to support the expulsion of lawmaker Ofer Cassif (Hadash) from the Knesset over his support of South Africa’s petition against the Israeli government at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Cassif announced on Sunday that he would be joining the lawsuit against the war in Gaza in the Hague. More specifically, in his announcement, he claimed: