This article by John Molloy first appeared in Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.
THE satirist Tom Lehrer once commented that “Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize.” What would he have made of its recent award to Venezuelan “opposition” leader Mara Corina Machado or that the person who covets it most, Donald Trump does so for no more profound reason than self-aggrandisement?
Ironically, Trump is a supporter of Machado and vice versa. As The Independent news site Drop Site News summarised she is “a staunch advocate of free-market economics, privatization of state industries, foreign investment, and closer alignment with the U.S. and Western institutions, she has openly called for U.S. sanctions on Caracas, backed Juan Guaidó’s failed parallel government, and regularly lobbies U.S. media and officials for support.
Her recognition comes as the Trump administration brands Nicolás Maduro illegitimate, and reports point to U.S. regime-change action amid a near-total collapse of diplomatic outreach.”
Trump, of course still holds out hope that is role in brokering a “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas will get him the bauble he seeks, as well as the Gazan property portfolio built on genocide that he and his Zionist proxies have long desired.
The mainstream media may have played the usual “two-sides-ism” with front pages greeting ceasefire news showing both Israelis celebrating the prospect of hostage return and surviving Palestinians smiling on top of rubble that was once their homes. But what do the latter have to celebrate – a pause in their annihilation? What will happen after hostages return – when the IDF are brazen enough to continue their killing spree – even as this news was being announced.
The “history started on October 7th ” shills are content to define “Israel’s right to defend itself” as including dropping 200,000 tons of explosives or 13 Hiroshimas on Gaza since that date.
The Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign reacted to news of the ceasefire stating “We salute the steadfastness and heroism of the people of Palestine, mourn the thousands and thousands of Palestinians murdered in this genocide, send our unbreakable solidarity to the bereaved, displaced and injured, and demand the release of all Palestinian political prisoners held in Israel’s torture dungeons…it is important to be clear that no agreement can dissolve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, freedom, justice, equality and return – international law cannot be subjugated to pieces of paper signed under duress, nor can one colonial ruler simply be replaced by another.
Nor can any agreement absolve Israel of its disgusting crimes of genocide, enforced starvation, apartheid, colonialism, and illegal occupation – there must, and will, be accountability.”
The narcissist political sociopaths will chase the headlines; the spotlight self- congratulatory “ceasefire” signing ceremonies and now doubt secure further arms deals while they are together.
Even St. Tony of Arabia might make an appearance soon. During and after this, Israel will not cease its fire in any meaningful sense and all the people of Gaza remain hostage.
But just as the loss and immediate military defeat of the Tet offensive in Vietnam marked a turning point in relation to public opinion about US and its proxies’ imperialism of that time, Zionism revealing its genocidal essence has changed how the world will look at its actions in future.
As Ann Czernik commented in the Morning Star “Gaza has become a global symbol for struggle against oppression… In Gaza, under the blood, bone, and tissue, below the dust and rubble, beneath the collapsed skeletons of buildings, there is still Palestinian soil soaked in tears.
But one day, a seed will grow, planted by the souls of the departed, and the olive trees will bloom again.
One day, Palestine will finally be free.”