Here in the United States, the most prominent consequence of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip is the emergence of a broad-based movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people and in opposition to U.S. support for Israel's massive slaughter of civilians in full view.

The riveting artistic power of “The Battle of Algiers” rendered Algeria the best-known instance of settler colonialism and armed struggle for decolonization and national independence. The black and white newsreel style of the film and its compelling music uncompromisingly impress on the viewer both the structural and the kinetic violence of the French settler colonial regime and the urban terror unleashed by the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) in 1956-57.

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Understanding Israel as a settler-colonial society is not a “moral derangement.” It does not justify violence or imply “the permanent division of the world into innocent people and guilty people.” The term has indeed been used by some who “excused Hamas’s massacre.” In and of itself the term settler colonialism does not explain why they did so. Many who believe the term is appropriate in analyzing the Zionist project and Israeli society are appalled by Hamas's terrorism and atrocities and believe it cannot liberate anyone.

PHOTO: A truck with the faces of Soviet Communist leaders Lenin and Stalin at the labor day parade held in Tel Aviv, May 1st, 1949. Pinn Hans/Israeli Government Press Office.

Some left-wing politicians are reluctant to condemn Russia’s invasion because of deep historic links between the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Israel.

On May 18, all sectors of the Palestinian people united in a general strike: residents of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel and their compatriots in the diaspora. The widely observed “dignity strike” recalled two previous all-Palestinian general strikes to advance national demands in 1936 and 1976.

The strike challenged the divide-and-rule tactics that Israel has deployed to disperse and dominate Palestinians since its establishment in 1948. Equally important, it highlighted the significance of Palestinian citizens of Israel, not only as a force in Israeli politics but as a component of the entire Palestinian people.

The neighbourhood at the heart of recent protests has been targeted for decades by settler groups intent on erasing its Palestinian presence.

From anti-occupation activism to anti-capitalist pedagogy, Reuven Kaminer inspired generations of activists to maintain a lifetime of political engagement.

From class struggles to women's rights to fighting occupation, Israel's 'independent left' was never a cohesive social movement. Yet its impact is being felt to this day.