Communists in Iran and Israel strongly condemn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Iran and President Donald Trump’s backing for it. In a common statement issued Tuesday, June 17, the Tudeh Party of Iran and the Communist Party of Israel said “The crimes committed by the right wing reactionary government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza and the West bank with the support of US Imperialism, the UK and allies in the EU has not only resulted in more than 55,000 Palestinians losing their lives and over 18,000 children being killed but has also given the Israeli government a green light for further aggression against countries of the region, with the aim of redrawing the map of the Middle East in accordance with the strategic goals of US imperialism. This is a government whose leaders have rightly been accused of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.”
“While we are witnessing war and destruction in Iran and Israel, we also warn against the exploitation of the situation to intensify and continue the inhumane suffering and oppression of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. We call upon the international community to take real and concrete actions to prevent further disaster to the Palestinian people and to the peoples of the region.
“Recognize a Palestinian state now! End the genocide in Gaza. Only imperialism, its client forces, reactionaries, and the ruling dictatorship benefit from tensions and war.
“Israel and the US – after Iraq, Libya and Syria – are now determined to undermine Iranian sovereignty and will not stop until all regimes in the region are coerced under the same project of imperialism and hegemony in the Middle East that aims at subjugating the people’s will and their right to self-determination.
“We express our fundamental opposition to all nuclear armament programs in the Middle East and worldwide. The road to stop the nuclear race in the Middle East does not pass through an aggressive war on Iran but rather goes via demilitarization of the entire region of nuclear weapons, and the signing up of all its countries, including Israel, to a non-proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty.
“We call upon on all progressive and freedom-loving forces in Israel, Iran, and the world to unite in condemning this blatant and brutal violation of international law and to focus all efforts on prevention of a far-reaching, destructive military conflict and the establishment of peace in the Middle East.
“The global public must go beyond mere concern expressed by the UN Secretary-General over Israel’s attack on Iran. All international mechanisms available through the United Nations and its Security Council must be used to stop the region from plunging into a catastrophic far-reaching war.”