In a stark and deliberate act of alignment, a consortium of Marxist-leaning international trade unions has joined forces with Islamist groups in a concerted effort to delegitimize Israel on the global stage. This alliance was brazenly unveiled when a coalition of these unions filed a complaint with the International Labor Organization (ILO), attacking Israel’s treatment of Palestinian workers since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict. This move is not merely a labor dispute; it is a strategic maneuver in the broader campaign to vilify and isolate the Jewish state.
On Friday, a group of 10 global trade unions, whose influence spans multiple continents, lodged a complaint against Israel with the ILO. The unions allege that Israel's treatment of Palestinian workers during the ongoing conflict violates international treaties, specifically targeting the exclusion of approximately 200,000 Palestinian migrant workers from Israel on security grounds. This complaint, however, is less about labor rights and more about perpetuating an anti-Israel narrative that has gained traction within the progressive, left-leaning spheres these unions inhabit.
"Why are people taking to the streets to support an organization—Hamas—which has just committed the biggest murder of Jews since the gas chambers?"@Gundisalvus and @GorkaKatie, authors of "Next Gen Marxism," trace the unsettling connection to Marxism. pic.twitter.com/YRslbpxLmt
— EpochTV (@EpochTV) September 25, 2024
The Decline of Unions and the Rise of Ideological Manipulation
Once pillars of worker solidarity and fair labor practices, unions in the West have seen a sharp decline in both membership and influence. This decline is largely attributed to the perception that they have strayed far from their original mandate of advocating for workers’ rights. Instead, many have morphed into politicized entities, driven by radical agendas that often align more closely with Marxist ideology than with the practical concerns of the working class. The leadership of these unions frequently identifies as avowed Marxists, individuals who see Israel not as a beacon of democracy in a troubled region, but as a convenient scapegoat for broader anti-capitalist and anti-Western sentiment.
A Preemptive Strike in the Court of Public Opinion
The unions’ complaint, summarized in a statement released to the media even before it was officially filed, reeks of a premeditated attempt to smear Israel. By publicizing their grievance in advance, these unions revealed their true objective: to ensure that Israel is condemned in the court of public opinion, regardless of the legitimacy or outcome of the formal process. The complaint centers on claims of unpaid wages and compensation that the unions say could amount to billions of dollars—a figure likely exaggerated to maximize the impact of their narrative.
Stephen Cotton, General Secretary of the London-based International Transport Workers' Federation, one of the unions involved, lamented, "The sudden unemployment of Palestinians working in Israel has left hundreds of thousands destitute." What Cotton and his colleagues conveniently omit is the context: Israel's decision to restrict Palestinian workers was a direct response to the October 7th Hamas-led attack, where the terror group exploited the very Palestinian workers now being championed by these unions to infiltrate and devastate Israeli communities.
Ten global unions have filed a complaint today at the @ilo calling for justice for over 200,000 Palestinian workers in Israel who have had their wages withheld.https://t.co/1QoiOwsEj8 pic.twitter.com/83bZpMaP05
— UNI Global Union (@uniglobalunion) September 27, 2024
The Unacknowledged Reality: Palestinian Complicity and Terror
The unions’ complaint is conspicuously silent on the role of Palestinian workers in aiding Hamas's barbaric assault on Israel. It was these workers, employed in the agricultural Kibbutzim and communities near Gaza, who helped Hamas map out the area, enabling the terrorists to launch their brutal, coordinated attack. The October 7th invasion, which left over 1,200 Israelis dead, thousands wounded, and more than 250 kidnapped, was not just an act of war—it was a heinous crime against humanity, involving rape, torture, and the slaughter of innocent civilians.
Israel’s decision to shutter its borders to Palestinian workers is a matter of national security, not labor discrimination. The unions’ complaint, which demands that Israel immediately pay wages to these workers, absurdly shifts the responsibility for Palestinian employment onto Israel while ignoring the role of the Palestinian Authority. The PA, ostensibly the governing body responsible for the welfare of the Palestinian people, has consistently funneled international aid into incentivizing terror rather than creating job opportunities or improving living conditions.
Anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, Leftist, Marxist brainwashing starts in kindergarten.
— Marissa Streit (@marissastreit) July 8, 2024
You can thank the teachers unions for that... pic.twitter.com/3mEcDy4BF3
A Campaign of Hypocrisy and Double Standards
Israel’s actions are framed by these unions as violations of international law, specifically the 1949 Protection of Wages Convention, to which Israel is a signatory. The unions, representing over 207 million workers across 160 countries, have cleverly positioned their complaint as a defense of labor rights. Yet, this is a thin veneer masking a far more insidious agenda. The unions’ selective outrage—aimed exclusively at Israel while ignoring far more egregious human rights abuses by Palestinian leadership—reveals a disturbing double standard.
The ILO, based in Geneva and long a venue for anti-Israel sentiment, now finds itself at the center of this controversy. Should the organization choose to act on the unions’ complaint, it could establish a tripartite committee to investigate Israel’s alleged violations, potentially leading to sanctions. This process, while ostensibly about labor rights, is likely to become yet another weapon in the ongoing diplomatic and ideological war against Israel, reminiscent of the sanctions imposed on Myanmar in the 1990s.
Conclusion: The Real Target—Israel’s Legitimacy
This latest maneuver by international trade unions is not about justice for Palestinian workers. It is a calculated attempt to further isolate Israel, leveraging the language of labor rights to advance a broader, more dangerous political agenda. The Marxist-Islamist alliance, emboldened by the support of these unions, continues its relentless campaign to delegitimize the Jewish state, using every available tool—economic, political, and now, labor-related—to achieve its ends. The world must recognize this for what it is: not a defense of workers' rights, but an assault on Israel’s very right to exist.
