Jewish Socialists Oppose War with Iran

international | anti-war / imperialism | press release Monday June 02, 2008 20:32 by Szmul - Jewish Socialists' Group

Resolution adopted by Jewish Socialists' Group national conference, June 1st, 2008.

This conference of the Jewish Socialists' Group is alarmed at the growing threat of war against Iran, expressed by Western politicians
and in the media, and unabated by reports that the Iranian regime has neither nuclear weapons nor plans to acquire them. We are concerned that despite the disastrous results of war in Iraq and unending bloodshed in Afghanistan, attempts are being made to accustom the public to these conflicts and make another, even more destructive war, seem inevitable.

We are also concerned that such efforts as the British and US
governments purportedly make to revive the Middle East peace process
may have the limited aim of making it easier for the Saudi and other
Arab governments to support war on Iran; and that secure in this
knowledge, the Israeli government can persist in aggressive policies
towards the Palestinians and Lebanon, pretending its war is with Iran,
regardless of the risks entailed for the Israeli people if this became
so.

Our opposition to war, and the death and destruction this would
inflict on the Iranian people in no way removes our duty to denounce
Iranian president Ahmadinajad, whose irresponsible demagogy plays on
the external threat, and who has disgraced his country by hosting
racists and Holocaust deniers. Our Solidarity with the Iranian people
requires opposition to the repressive Islamicist regime, with its
reactionary treatment of women, gays and minorities, as well as the
Workers' movement. Such policies can only undermine the Iranian
people's ability to withstand imperialist attack, and defence of the
regime can only weaken and discredit the peace movement.

The Jewish Socialists' Group declares its Solidarity with the Iranian
people against imperialist war, and with the working people, women,
students, gays and minorities in their struggle for social justice and
democratic rights.

We demand that the British government which claims to uphold democratic
freedoms stops deporting people to face persecution in Iran.

We call for a nuclear weapon-free Middle East, as urged by Mordechai
Vanunu, and a ban on all weapons of mass destruction in the area, as a
step to removing them from the world.

We demand an end to Israeli occupation in Palestine, and the withdrawal
of all imperialist forces from the Middle East.

Conference notes that this is broadly the position as Hands off the
People of Iran (HOPI), and that this campaign has facilitated
democratic participation by varied Iranian and other left-wing
activists and groups. Conference therefore instructs the national
committee to affiliate the JSG with Hands Off the People of Iran
(HOPI), and to seek ways in which the JSG can work with Iranians and
others to advance these policies among Jewish people, and in the wider
labour and anti-war movement.