On Saturday, July 18, 2026, so-called New York City (occupied Lenapehoking)’s incumbent mayor Zohran Mamdani was interviewed on a New York Times podcast and was pressed on his campaign promise to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, as what seems to be the perfect opportunity had arisen: Netanyahu’s plans to attend the United Nations General Assembly in NYC in September 2026. Mamdani answered the interviewer’s pointed questions while staying cool, calm, and collected. “Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do,” Mamdani said.¹ “But we won’t be writing our own laws to that end.”

Then, on July 21, the NYC mayoral office released a two minute video of Mamdani, assumed to be following his team’s work and research of trying to see if arresting Netanyahu is possible. The answer was a defeated negative. The video looks like any other state sanctioned statement, including Mamdani’s usual self-assured, confident composure, sitting in front of the all-but-blood-soaked u.s. flag. A transcript of the short press release is provided below:

Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, the architect of a horrific genocide against the Palestinian people. He is responsible for the killing of more than 73,000 people, for the maiming of tens of thousands of children as those who survive undergo amputation without anesthesia. For the targeting of neonatal hospitals and maternity care centers, denying newborns even the chance to live. For the countless people he starved as he blocked food and humanitarian aid from reaching them. For the gunning down of hundreds of aid workers and journalists.

And just last month, the UN confirmed that Palestinian children continue to be deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli armed forces, more than eight months after the so-called ceasefire. The list goes on and on. All as we, as Americans, pay for the bombs that do the killing. There is a reason the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest. As human beings, we have spent generations building a shared understanding that there are crimes so grave they offend all of humanity. Anyone with their eyes, with their heart, with their conscience, should recognize the devastation he has wrought and understand that he belongs before a court of law.

As I’ve said, I agree with the ICC that Benjamin Netanyahu should be arrested and tried for his crimes, as I do for anyone else charged by the ICC. My administration has reviewed every avenue available under applicable law to determine whether New York City could execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant if Benjamin Netanyahu came here. It is clear that we do not have the independent legal authority to enforce this warrant.

The federal government, however, does— and I call on them to join the ICC and execute this warrant.

And I want to be equally clear: Benjamin Netanyahu is not welcome in New York City, nor is any other war criminal at large. While we cannot end the genocide on our own, we can decide whether our silence will become another weapon, and we can examine every tool we have to defend the humanity and dignity of all people. That is my commitment to you.²

In his typical fashion, Mamdani strategically uses rhetoric that seems progressive and promising while offering no material solutions. Taking Mamdani at his own word, assuming that yes, his legal team (which is definitely not just a collection of starry-eyed 22-year-old NYU Law interns) explored every avenue possible to see if they could arrest Netanyahu, it should be no surprise that the laws of NYC, the largest city in The Most Successful Genocidal Settler Project In Human History does not allow for the arrest of the PM of israel.

It should come as even less of a shock, but with no less disgust, that Mamdani had no problem ordering of the arrest of over 100 protestors by settler Gestapo (NYPD) during Netanyahu’s speeches at the U.N. General Assembly on September 25, 2026.³ Not only did he not arrest Netanyahu, but rather, he stuck the NYPD on Pro-Palestinian protestors who were chanting some of the exact same taglines that Mamdani himself used in his July statement. All while allowing the NYPD to provide elite protection to Netanyahu, and slyly discouraging protesters in NYC.⁴

So that we may be sure just exactly where he stands on the Palestine question, just five days later, Mamdani took to socials again,⁵ unveiling his “new strategy against Antisemitism,”⁶ citing the NYPD that Antisemitism specifically accounts for over half of all “confirmed hate crimes”⁷ (NYPD decides what is and isn’t a hate crime, of course) in New York City. The plan includes increasing “hate crime prevention” funding by $26 million (guess who handles hate crime reporting and statistics – NYPD) and the revitalization of what’s called the “Interagency Security Infrastructure Working Group” which increases partnerships with the NYPD and other city commissions such as the City Commission on Human Rights and NYC Public Schools specifically for the increase of technology surveillance to “identify threats and protect Jewish New Yorkers before a hate crime occurs.”

As a member of the All Empire Workers’ League (AEWL) and an affiliate of USU, my comrades and I are not surprised by Mamdani’s choice not to arrest Netanyahu (among many other campaign promises). This is due to the fact that Mamdani and the DSA are specific and highly visible examples of immense, fundamental issues among the Four Opportunists’ (FO) strategy and tactics, which ultimately lead the masses – and the organizations themselves – nowhere.

Popular liberal attitudes towards Mamdani/DSA’s “new flavor” of zionism

Bourgeois reporting and western journalism has an extensive catalog of genocide denial and sentiment for the Zionist entity of israel, which of course includes liberal news outlets. Since Mamdani’s press release was strictly in video format, I’ve pulled the three most popular (most liked) comments from the videos of the press release that were posted on Youtube by USA Today, The Guardian, and the NYC Mayor’s Office:

1. USA Today:⁸
   1. Rare to see a politician who actually believes in what he says
   2. I haven’t seen something in the political news cycle that’s given me hope in humanity in so long.
   3. This is how I want my President to act. Is that too much to ask?
2. The Guardian:⁹
   1. Bro better have elite security after this
   2. About as much chance of the Federal Government arresting Netanyahu as the UK police have of arresting Alistair Campbell.
   3. I’m gonna make a prediction: On the back of this, Trump will invite Netanyahu to the US and specifically New York. Just to tick-off Mamdani and the rest of the ICC. Red carpet and all
3. NYC Mayor’s Office (See footnote 2)
   1. Bro hitting the presidential aura than the actual president
   2. Remember this guy isn’t suicidal
   3. That’s not my mayor but THATS MY MAYOR

To reiterate: Mamdani said blatantly that he’s not able to (in fact, not willing to) do genuinely anything about the ongoing genocide. And the popular reaction among the average amerikan viewer any further left than neo-Nazis is to celebrate.

These nine comments are obviously not a large sample size, and as we know, corporate algorithms dictate viewership and interaction. However, these comments generally encapsulate several of the popular “left” and liberal attitudes towards Mamdani in the U.S, and can help us attempt to categorize these left-liberal attitudes so that we can analyze them for the time being. These mainstream attitudes towards Mamdani can be categorized as follows, based on our sample:

1. Mamdani’s actions spur a resurgence of hope that has since been lacking in amerikan values and politics / a desire to return to the Time Before Trump (1A, 1B, 1C, 3A, 3C)
2. Fear for Mamdani’s safety because his statements are “too radical” / implication that the government will assassinate him (2A, 3B)
3. Pessimistic / realist conclusion that within the current system, there is no real avenue for actual change or action (2B, 2C)

Mamdani gives the amerikan liberal (Group 1) a hope that they so desperately need. Since the relations between u.s. politicians and the masses is so backwards and corrupted, Group 1 confuses empty promises with real progress.

Group 2 has no real understanding of what radical politics even consist of. The ideological depth of Mamdani’s statement is a simple surface level analysis, especially not fit for a “leading” figure of the socialist movement, let alone the Marxist left. Mamdani’s statement cannot even be described as ideologically socialist in the abstract, which would require highlighting precisely why he is structurally powerless to oppose imperialism. If Mamdani’s safety is truly at risk, this only further exposes the essence of this entire political system. How could we ever actually win within such a system?

Group 3 has recognized that moralistic yet empty gestures are not the avenue to liberation and the destruction of settler colonial violence and genocide, but there is currently no viable alternative to turn to. Those in Group 3 might theorize that while a DSA win in a big city is a good step in the right direction, more needs to be done. The issue with this line of thinking is that it neglects the fact that any action or policy, especially on such a huge scale as in NYC, that preserves capitalism or imperialism any longer is not revolutionary, and certainly not socialist.

Many in DSA (especially the so-called Marxists) see a Mamdani win as an avenue towards achieving revolutionary struggle. With a mayor promoting himself as socialist doing some things to improve day to day life, more people will ideally turn to towards the ideology and see DSA’s win(s) as popularizing the struggle. The issue is only the middle classes (labor aristocrats, Petite Bourgeoisie, Artists, Intellectuals, etc.) meaningfully benefit from these changes, which in turn means reproducing those classes as the base for “socialist” organizing. This ensures this base as counter-revolutionary so long as they get what they want — they’ll fear the end of their negative peace. (See Triumph for the zionist left by Cde. Winter¹⁰)

These three groupings (#1-3) are not stagnant nor mutually exclusive, and someone can fall into these ideological liberalisms at any time, and so it is something we must constantly combat. Surface-level, metaphysical analysis of current historical circumstances is extremely common among those of us educated by white supremacist liberal institutions in the u.s., and learning to think and act dialectically is a skill that must be practiced. In their article, “Electoralism is the New Opportunism”, author Proletarian Polemics states that rather than a personal or moral failing, even the most well-meaning comrades can fall into reformist errors, and on a large scale this tactic irreparably damages progressive societal movement as a whole:

The opportunist is most dangerous because they appear as dedicated, loyal comrades, and it isn’t their loyalty that we call into question! It is their inconsistent, short-sighted, and unprincipled strategies that sacrifice the long-term project of proletarian revolution by getting lost in reacting to the current moment. While no serious communist would argue against responding to the changing political tide, by Lenin’s own standards this responsiveness is opportunistic if it isn’t grounded in a consistent long-term strategy and vision.

The damage this produces is often irreversible, once the opportunists have unconsciously guided the party toward short-sighted small wins and reforms, Lenin tells us, it is likely impossible to correct course. Those who would be most likely to aid in the change of course have either left, been worn down, or been gradually shaped by the new revisionist norms.¹¹

DSA tendencies and logical fallacies

When DSA candidates’ catchy slogans inevitably fall short, electoralists breach into the room and say, “Those were campaign pledges, not promises!” They suggest that if their electeds fail on implementing “socialist” policies, it’s because both Democrats and Republicans stand in their way, and is further indicative of the issue that the two party system is corrupt. However, if this is the ideological line of a party or an individual, why participate in elections at all? The solution of the DSA is to apply band-aid solutions to problems without taking into context the material conditions and contradictions surrounding it. This is, in essence, utopian socialism at best, and national socialism at worst. Without addressing many issues including the historical progression of society, class relations, or particularly in the u.s., the land question, this strategy is doomed to failure.

It is somewhat understandable, on a surface level, for an individual or an organization to look at a problem, for example, high cost of living, and think: “Why don’t we make the employers pay their employees more?” or, “Why don’t we just put caps on rent prices?” These “solutions” are misled at best and outright counter-revolutionary and enable fascism at worst. Rent caps and wage increases are surface level solutions demonstrative of the exact trend of “trade union consciousness” that emerges in every acute period of capitalist struggle: these are the sense perceptions, the first impressions of a class that has not yet taught itself to see critically.¹² Most importantly, these solutions ignore the most essential contradictions inherent in u.s. society, particularly that of settler-colonialism.

It is always the most colonized, the most oppressed, who bear the brunt of u.s. imperialism. In this, the DSA’s golden boy has found the perfect solution for a demonstrably counter-revolutionary organization: drop all pretense of materially “standing in solidarity” with Palestine, with just enough “controversial” “leftist” buzzwords for the satisfied liberals to keep cheering. Then, when our money continues to fund the murder of entire family lineages, we can feel a little better about it, because, well, we tried. This is quintessential liberalism. The intersection of DSA and u.s. imperialism in this instance shines a light on glaring issues among the u.s. “left” and it is important that we inspect this image very thoroughly. Palestinian liberation is one of the single most important litmus tests for any Marxist.

The last several years have been one blatant mockery of the so-called rule of law after the other, at home by the right-fascists in Washington, and abroad by the genocide. DSA’s poster child somehow does not have the same powers to break and make their own laws to make actual change. Why is this so? We see almost every other politician doing this. Yet Mamdani and the DSA choose to “go high” in terms of rule-following when it means not resisting the genocidaires who go so far low as to scrape the basement floor of Hell. They choose to act within the bounds of the settler order, while politicians across the country break laws to hunt down immigrants, indigenous peoples, the nationally oppressed, and trans people – all so that they can get another win a few states over and do the same thing all over again: more spoils for the first world.

Even if Mamdani is able to follow through on his other campaign promises such as free bus fare, free childcare, and rent freezes (no mention of defunding or restricting the NYPD by the way – quite the contrary), it would not lead to a revolutionary movement, as there is no revolutionary theory tied to the DSA’s political demands. This is communicated quite succinctly by Lenin, who understood that spontaneous action is not enough:

“[Spontaneous revolts and strikes in Russia in the 1890s] show that the “spontaneous element”, in essence, represents nothing more nor less than consciousness in an embryonic form. Even the primitive revolts expressed the awakening of consciousness to a certain extent. The workers were losing their age-long faith in the permanence of the system which oppressed them and began… I shall not say to understand, but to sense the necessity for collective resistance, definitely abandoning their slavish submission to the authorities. But this was, nevertheless, more in the nature of outbursts of desperation and vengeance than of struggle.”¹³

DSA’s strategy is not, nor will it ever be, paired with the genuine study, understanding, and comprehension of the underlying principles and concepts that drive revolution. “Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.”¹⁴

When DSA members finds out their candidate can’t send Hitler 2 to the Hague, they are not heartbroken – on the contrary, they are filled with ecstatic hope and joy. They can’t be bothered with the fact that there will be no reprieve for families in Gaza and the West Bank. Those in Group 1 will applaud the release of hot air because it’s the same rhetoric as their own; rather than shaken from the dream, it’s clear now more than ever that this is their representative. Those in Group 2 will project their conspiratorial “awareness” that if Mamdani keeps this up, the powers that be will destroy him, as they use the victims of empire’s ruthlessness as camouflage for their own cowardice. They can both feel good about things now, now that nothing has been done, the right words were said by the right guy, and now everything’s going to be OK. This was a tiny win and maybe in four more years we might get another.

Left-wing zionism

This tendency of ideological underdevelopment leads to many “leftist” types ultimately holding a political analysis which masks itself as progressivism, but is in fact zionism. Left-wing zionism, or feel-good zionism, is propelled by moral reasoning only, not material solutions. As a result, these zionists have general contempt for most capital-D Democratic politicians, especially those who accept money from AIPAC, and are vehemently “pro-Palestine,” even owning symbols to mark themselves like flags, keffiyehs, and buttons. They know that “the system is corrupt,” and they have read or maybe even written articles, papers, or even entire books on how laws outset and perpetuate inequity and how societal systems keep the poor and colonized sick and miserable. Yet they still can’t see that the entire thing needs to be done away with.

Being “Pro-Palestine” has unfortunately become almost meaningless, and even worse, it is being conflated with anti-zionism. We must be very clear: these two things are not the same. Feeling empathy and sorrow for a population being genocided is a natural and moral reaction, AND as Marxists we know that morality alone will not bring one to correct ideas or solutions. Correct ideas arise through struggle and material historical analysis. Rinse and repeat. The moral, sentimental stance toward israel and Palestine is of indignant fury for such atrocious violence. However, this will not change the situation in Palestine. The struggle in Palestine, that of a settler-colonized land and people, is resolved by violent resistance and overthrow of the Zionist entity and its rabid army. That is why anti-Zionism has emerged as the ideology and practice in which the Palestinians achieve liberation. Palestinians fighting for their own liberation don’t hold rallies or leave voicemails for their elected representatives. They build weapons and underground bunkers; they name their children after their martyrs; they give their family members the gun. They study the enemy in order to destroy them. They tactfully analyze the political situation and are unwavering in who their enemies and who their allies are.

Feel-good Zionism wants a peaceful resolution to one of the largest acts of violence history has seen. This also means that when the amerikan left-wing zionists get a little bit more treats waved in their face, they are thrilled to watch the state do absolutely nothing to materially change the conditions for the Palestinian people. They have their cool mayor who watches the Knicks with them and froze their rent for a year. We get to keep more of our imperial spoils, isn’t that great? Who cares what we are doing abroad, because we are making things right at home. That’s what amerika is all about.

Conclusion: kill the zionist in your head

As demonstrated, extreme miseducation among almost all populations of the u.s., particularly as a result of settler schools (primary and secondary) leads to a general deficit in intellectual capacity to understand politics, history, and particularly dialectics. It sadly remains true that the u.s. left has a real problem: most of them fail to recognize that they are in fact zionists, this is not a rare occurrence, but the default amongst the swath of described “leftists”. It is imperative that any individual or organization that claims or strives to be scientific, decolonial, socialist, and materialist not fall into this trap. It is the easy and intellectually lazy solution to see the shallow routine of the Mamdani administration and paint this as genuine wins for the Left, let alone for colonized and oppressed populations worldwide. Settlers of all stripes have a vested interest in maintaining these systems, even if it “sickens” them. They can say that israel is wrong in its actions, but to struggle against it would require that they also struggle against themselves.

Anti-zionism, real anti-zionism, makes or breaks your ideology. There are no half measures. You support the Palestinian resistance or you are not a part of the movement. As amerikans, the decolonial question is of utmost importance, here and abroad. The single most important thing you can do for Palestinians aside from giving direct funds when you are able is to support the Axis of Resistance and do your part – meaning everything you possibly can – to bring the empire to its knees. As demonstrated by their decades of inaction and meaningless “wins,” it is clear that the Four Opportunist parties will not bring us there.

Endnotes

1. Campbell, Lucy. 2026. “‘He’s a War Criminal’: Mamdani Exploring Whether He Can Arrest Netanyahu If He Visits New York.” The Guardian, The Guardian, July 19. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/19/mamdani-netanyahu. ︎
2. NYC Mayor’s Office. 2026. Benjamin Netanyahu Is a War Criminal. YouTube. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZuV5L0QL04. ︎
3. Bauman, Ali, and Christina Fan. 2026. “More Than 100 Arrests at NYC Demonstrations as Netanyahu Appeared at U.N. General Assembly.” CBS News, CBS New York, September 24. https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/protests-nyc-benjamin-netanyahu-israel-united-nations-speech/. ︎
4. Jacobson, Roni. 2026. “NYC Braces for Multiple Daily Protests as World Leaders Arrive for UN General Assembly.” New York Daily News, September 17. https://www.nydailynews.com/2026/09/17/nyc-braces-for-multiple-daily-protests-as-world-leaders-arrive-for-un-general-assembly/. ︎
5. Mamdani, Mayor Zohran Kwame. 2026. “The Talmud Teaches That Anyone Who Sustains One Soul, Has Sustained an Entire World. For Generations, Jewish New Yorkers Have.” X, September 29. Post. https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2104949847421796398. ︎
6. Office of The Mayor of New York City. 2026. Tackling Hate: The Mamdani Administration’s Strategy to Combat Antisemitism. https://www.nyc.gov/content/dam/nycgov/mayors-office/downloads/pdf/press-releases/2026/2026-09-25-moca-report-interactive-5.pdf. ︎
7. New York City Police Department (NYPD). 2026. “Power BI Report.” Powerbigov.Us. https://app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrIjoiNTAwY2MzZWUtZTFjMy00YjQ3LTk1YWEtZGE0MDhkN2UzYTRhIiwidCI6IjJiOWY1N2ViLTc4ZDEtNDZmYi1iZTgzLWEyYWZkZDdjNjA0MyJ9. ︎
8. USA TODAY. 2026. Mamdani Calls Netanyahu a “War Criminal and Architect of Horrific Genocide” in Palestine. YouTube. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip_zLWJLbxk. ︎
9. Guardian News. 2026. Mamdani Urges US Government to Arrest Netanyahu If He Visits US. YouTube. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6UiRNi8-6k. ︎
10. Cde. Winter, 2025. “Triumph for the Zionist Left – The Red Clarion.” Unity-Struggle-Unity.Org. 2019. https://clarion.unity-struggle-unity.org/2025-12-17-triumph-for-the-zionist-left/ ︎
11. Proletarian Polemics. 2019. “Electoralism Is the New Opportunism – the Red Clarion.” Unity-Struggle-Unity.Org, Unity Struggle Unity Press. https://clarion.unity-struggle-unity.org/2026-7-8-electoralism-is-the-new-opportunism/. ︎
12. Vladimir Ilyich, Lenin. 1902. “Lenin: What Is to Be Done?” www.Marxists.Org, March. https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1901/witbd/ii.htm ︎
13. Ibid. ︎
14. Ibid. ︎

Up to half of this “aid” has been in the form of shrouds for Palestinian dead, and the remainder has not been distributed. No food or supplies have reached the population since the 2nd of March. Almost everyone inside Gaza is suffering from severe malnutrition, with disease rampant and medical services overwhelmed and under constant bombardment. Over 3,000 people have died in the past two months. Ninety-eight people were killed on Tuesday this week.

They aren’t sending aid.

They’re sending tanks.

A comprehensive invasion is currently ethnically cleansing the strip from north to south. The zionists have established increasingly shrinking “humanitarian zones,” outside of which Palestinians are killed on sight, and have forced the nearly 2 million surviving Palestinians in Gaza into highly concentrated “refugee camps” in the south. The zionist state regularly bombs these refugee camps, resulting in horrific casualties. Since the 15th of May, the 77th anniversary of the 1948 Nakba, israel’s bombardment of the surviving population of Gaza has intensified to unprecedented levels. Around 100 people are being killed every day by the relentless bombings. 

Every leading scholar on genocide worldwide is calling this what it is, but the mainstream media refuses to report accurately on conditions in Gaza. They refuse to admit that this is an intentionally targeted genocide, being waged with our tax dollars, our “defense” industry, and our complicity. Instead they are under standing orders to continue to run PR for the genocidal zionist occupation of Palestine. The world’s governments continue to make symbolic gestures, denouncing the occupation’s actions in words while continuing to support it in practice..

The United States is the primary beneficiary and driver of this zionist atrocity; all pressure must be exerted on the United States government to cease. This genocide is U.S.-backed, U.S.-funded, and is being carried out with tactical direction from U.S. soldiers.

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY IN THE ZIONIST HOLOCAUST.

Immediate action is desperately needed on all fronts:

Arms shipments to the zionist occupation of Palestine must be stopped immediately. Visit workersinpalestine.org/who-arms-israel for a list of weapons companies involved in materially enabling the genocide.

Relief is desperately needed for the hundreds of thousands of people starving under intense bombardment. Visit gazafunds.org to contribute to relief funds, every donation helps the people of Palestine resist genocide, every donation is a potential life saved.

Visit chuffed.org/project/crips-for-esims-for-gaza to help provide e-sims to keep Palestinians in Gaza in contact with their families and the outside world.

Visit bdsmovement.net/Guide-to-BDS-Boycott for information on which companies are investing in, or directly involved in the occupation. 

Spread this message everywhere you can. This Holocaust is being systematically covered up through mainstream media silence and social media censorship. Visit clarion.unity-struggle-unity.org/2025-05-23-emergency-bulletin-zionists-begin-last-stage-of-genocide for the web version of this article, or unity-struggle-unity.org/palestine-emergency-bulletin-tri-fold for a printable PDF copy. Get this message into as many hands as possible! With every hour that passes more innocent men, women, children, and babies are being murdered. U.S. bombs dropped by U.S. warplanes, built with parts from Canada, the E.U., targeted by surveillance drones from the U.K. 

SILENCE IS COMPLICITY. 

INACTION IS COMPLICITY. 

THIS HOLOCAUST IS BEING CARRIED OUT IN OUR NAME.

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENDING IT.

The feda’i (resistance) operations are capable of creating victory in this battle.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine salutes the heroes of the resistance operation in the “Ra’anana” area in our land occupied in 1948, which resulted in several zionist deaths and injuries using the simplest means, armed with the will and mentality of the Palestinian fighter who has always devised new ways to strike the occupation.

The Front calls for the escalation of all forms of resistance against the zionist enemy in the occupied West Bank and our land occupied in 1948, emphasizing that the resistance of our people in the occupied West Bank will make a difference in this crucial battle with the zionist enemy.

That the national duty today calls for every Palestinian to confront the comprehensive genocide war waged by the enemy against our people. The enemy’s attempt to single out Palestinian communities successively must be met with an uprising and comprehensive resistance with all its tools.

The Front mourns the martyrs of our people who fell in the occupied West Bank and steadfast Gaza, confirming that the resistance of our people continues, and that our people’s patience will be longer than that of the occupier who will pay the price for his delusions about prolonging the war.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Central Media Department

January 15, 2024

توجهت الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين بالتحية الى أبطال العملية الفدائية في منطقة رعنانا في أرضنا المحتلة عام ١٩٤٨، والتي اسقطت مجموعة من القتلى والجرحى الصهاينة باستخدام ابسط الوسائل و متسلحة بإرادة وعقلية الفدائي الفلسطيني الذي طالما ابدع طرقا جديدة لضرب الاحتلال.

ودعت الجبهة الى تصعيد كل اشكال المقاومة في وجه العدو الصهيوني في الضفة المحتلة وارضنا المحتلة عام ١٩٤٨، مشددة أن مقاومة أبناء شعبنا في الضفة المحتلة ستصنع الفارق في هذه المعركة المفصلية مع العدو الصهيوني.

وأكدت الجبهة أن الواجب الوطني اليوم يدعو كل فلسطيني للتصدي لحرب الابادة الشاملة التي يشنها العدو ضد شعبنا، وأن محاولة العدو للتفرد بالتجمعات الفلسطينية تباعا، يجب أن تواجه بالانتفاضة والمقاومة الشاملة بكل أدواتها.

ونعت الجبهة شهداء شعبنا الذين سقطوا على أرض الضفة المحتلة وغزة الصامدة، مؤكدة ان مقاومة شعبنا مستمرة، وأن نفس شعبنا سيكون أطول من نفس المحتل الذي سيدفع ثمن أوهامه حول اطالة امد الحرب.

الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين

دائرة الاعلام المركزي

١٥ يناير ٢٠٢٤

History and Background
Blood libel is an antisemitic canard that accuses Jewish people of ritual murder and blood sacrifice, specifically that we kill Christians to use their blood for various rituals. Many of the historic accusations of blood libel suggest that Jews use the blood of Christians to bake Passover matzah. Primarily, though, the accusations of blood libel sprang up when a Christian child (often a young boy) went missing or was killed in a town. The local Jewish community would be blamed, often by the actual perpetrators (if a crime had taken place at all), and Jews would be brutally tortured until a confession was given. Sometimes, the specifics of these accusations tied into deicide, another antisemitic trope blaming all Jews throughout all of time for the crucifixion of Jesus. Jews are frequently used as scapegoats for countless disasters throughout history, and the death of young children is no exception.

Though the first documented occurrence of blood libel dates back to 40 BCE, the examples we usually see originate from Europe in the Middle Ages, where it was an incredibly dangerous time and place to be Jewish. Blood libel was used alongside various other antisemitic canards to justify the mass-murder and expulsion of Jewish people, especially from Central and Western Europe, like modern-day England, France, and Germany (who is always at the scene of the crime).

In 1144, Jews in Norwich, England were accused of blood libel after a young boy named William was found to have been stabbed to death on Good Friday. A monk named Thomas of Monmouth wrote The Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich about the murder of the boy and the alleged miracles occurring near his burial site. It’s his fabrication that solidified the rumors of blood libel stirring in Norwich. William was treated as a Christian martyr (someone killed for being Christian/professing love for Jesus) and even canonized as a saint. A cult began to form around him not long after that.

After several more instances of blood libel popped up in England in the following decades, the pogroms started. Jewish communities across the country were raided and their people massacred. A few decades after the death of Hugh of Lincoln, another young boy who was killed in 1255, England expelled its entire Jewish population in 1290 and they were not allowed to return until 1657, four hundred years later.

Another notable case of blood libel – perhaps the most famous – occurred after the death of a two-year-old boy in modern-day Italy, Simon of Trent. Simon was killed in 1475 and like a majority of other children used in blood libel accusations, was venerated as a saint. His cult spread throughout Europe and to this day, I’ve still seen him referenced by antisemitic Christians.

Blood libels have persisted throughout time since then, including being published in Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer. Though their more modern iterations haven’t really resulted in the mass-murder or expulsion of Jews, like all antisemitic tropes, they’re still extremely dangerous and we absolutely should take great lengths to avoid them.

Modern Applications
Now with the background on blood libel accusations of the past, we can see what they look like today. The most common example I can think of is the adrenochrome conspiracy theory, a popular one amongst the QAnon crowd. The adrenochrome conspiracy posits that “Hollywood elites” participate in child-trafficking rings to harvest their blood for adrenochrome, which would allegedly make them immortal somehow. Of course, the usage of “elites” makes it easier for the promoters of these antisemitic conspiracy theories to deny that they’re talking about Jews, but dogwhistles are very common with contemporary antisemitism (which we’ll discuss more in depth another time).

The trope has also “accidentally” been regurgitated by modern media plenty of times. I think this may sometimes be unintended, because of how antisemitic tropes have worked their way into acceptable public consciousness, but it’s still negligence on the part of the creators. A good example would be Inside Job on Netflix (see this article about why). Or perhaps Roald Dahl’s The Witches (but this one’s not really hard to put together considering Dahl was a raging antisemite). Disney’s Tangled suffers enormously from the Jewish-coding of Mother Gothel, in appearance and behavior and using her blonde-haired, stolen child’s powers to keep herself young. 

It can also sometimes be applied to vampire media in particular, and it’s definitely not uncommon for there to be a connection between vampire imagery and antisemitism, but that’s something I’ll cover another time. 

What Blood Libel is Not
Blood libel absolutely is a trope that still exists today in the media we consume, but that doesn’t mean the label of “blood libel” can be ascribed to something that doesn’t fit in with the libel itself. Today, Israel has leveled the accusation of blood libel against South Africa for describing the attacks on Gaza as “genocide” as South Africa attempts to hold Israel accountable at the International Court of Justice. The same accusations are regularly directed towards anyone else being vocally pro-Palestine.

Accusing supporters of Palestine of blood libel for pointing out that Israel is committing genocide is a blatant attempt to take legitimacy away from these statements. None of these discussions bring up ritual murder or consumption of blood, which are very key parts of categorizing a claim as blood libel. Zionists also pretend any “blood libel accusation” against Israel is the same as one being made against Jews in general; it’s not. Israel is a militaristic, apartheid state that commits atrocities in the name of the Jewish people, but it is not “us”.

Most importantly, the genocide of Palestinians is actually happening. There is an overwhelming amount of photo and video evidence documenting the atrocities being committed against Palestinians, along with testimonies from the people involved, including admissions from the perpetrators themselves.

Another consequence of unjustly accusing people of antisemitism is that antisemitism is taken less seriously, or legitimate accusations of antisemitism are met with denial or indifference. I would argue that this is intentional, because Israel relies heavily on the lack of safety of Jews in diaspora to legitimize itself.

By combatting antisemitism in all its forms worldwide, we make sure that Israel can no longer claim to be the only safe place in the world for us. We will thrive where we are, and education about antisemitism is imperative to that goal.

Sources
Passover and Blood Libels | My Jewish Learning
The Adrenochrome Conspiracy Theory—Pushed By ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Star—Explained (forbes.com)
Does Netflix’s ‘Inside Job’ encourage antisemitic conspiracy theorists? – The Forward
Israel-Hamas war: List of key events, day 85 | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

Republished from the author’s blog, Doikayt Delivered.

This statement was released on October 7 by the PFLP.

This is the day when the nature of the struggle and the dignity of the Arab nation are reclaimed.

Steadfast mountains from the ranks of the resistance have united in response to the call of Palestine, the call of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa, during which the essence of the conflict is reclaimed and the honor of the Arab nation is restored. They are determined to achieve a strategic victory over this enemy in a battle that will open the door to return and redefine the history of Palestine and the region.

The Popular Front urges our heroic people across Palestine to actively participate in the Al-Aqsa Flood battle. Everyone from their respective positions and with the tools they possess, should attack the enemy’s army and its settlers, cut off its supply routes, sabotage its vital facilities, and pursue the terrified Zionist invaders in the face of resistance strikes, striking at them on every inch of Palestinian soil.

The Front emphasizes its call for everyone who bears arms, especially members of the [PA] Security Forces, to engage in the battle of the Palestinian people against their enemy and to take the natural position of every free Palestinian fighting for salvation from occupation, achieving the goals and rights of all our people.

The timing of the battle, coinciding with the glorious October War, is a call for the sons of the Arab nation and the peoples of the region to recognize their position in the overall conflict with the Zionist enemy and in this particular battle. They should carry out their duties alongside their fighting brothers in revolt in occupied Palestine.

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Central Media Office