If the media still mentions the war on Gaza, it's only in the navel-gazing context of British elections. Commentators say Labour's stance on Palestine could cost it seats - due to what they call the "Muslim vote", since apparently, one has to be a Muslim to be shocked by the bloodbath in Gaza!

    The polls show that Labour lost a fifth of their votes in the local elections in May over the "Palestinian issue". So yes, Starmer back-tracked on his full-blooded support for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, but his shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy can't help criticising the students' "violence and rioting" on university campuses.

    Never mind that talking about "violence and rioting" hardly describes the few tents pitched on British university grass lawns by students politicised by the slaughter in Gaza. In fact, a large section of the Israeli population has taken to the streets against Netanyahu's government, and not "peacefully"! This weekend, 150,000 protesters rallied in Tel-Aviv, against Netanyahu and "all the rats in the Knesset"!

    Netanyahu knows his days are numbered, but is determined to remain in position (and out of jail) as long as possible - and that depends on his far-right cabinet allies. So he is escalating the IDF attack on what remains of Gaza, sticking to his pledge to "annihilate Hamas". The Rafah crossing is burnt; on Sunday a UN aid facility was hit killing 8; on Monday the IDF hit a clinic in Gaza city, killing medical staff: so, "destroying Hamas"?

    On the West Bank, where 505 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October, homes are being bulldozed as self-proclaimed "fascist" finance minister Smotrich accelerates new Zionist settlements. Just this week, after being shot twice and beaten up, a Palestinian, Mujahed Abadi, was tied to the bonnet of an Israeli military Jeep as it drove through Jenin.

    Sure, most politicians here call for a ceasefire, now that the damage is already done, and a "2-state solution" (Galloway's "Workers'" Party proposes a single, secular state). But not a single one offers the only viable perspective: for Israeli and Palestinian working classes and poor to come together against all nationalist/religious divisions. Yes, to build a collective future in the region across the artificial borders created and maintained by the imperialists - on the basis of the socialism that the best among them have always fought for.