We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the threats against Myriam Bregman, a socialist congresswoman in Argentina and the presidential candidate of the socialist Left. She has been attacked for defending the right of the Palestinian people to resist against the colonial oppression and apartheid regime imposed by the state of Israel.

In response to Hamas’s attack on October 7 that killed more than 1,000 civilians, the state of Israel has launched a brutal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. More than two million Palestinians have been deprived of electricity, fuel, and food; they are subject to airstrikes and evacuation orders, while the Israeli army is now preparing for a ground invasion. More than 8,300 Palestinian civilians have already been killed by Israel, including 3,457 children, 2,136 women, and 480 seniors.¹These numbers are from last week.

During the second Argentinian presidential debate on October 8, the other four candidates unconditionally aligned themselves with Israel’s declaration of war against the Palestinian people. In contrast, the candidate of the Workers Left Front — Unity (FIT-U), while expressing pain at the civilian deaths, condemned the colonial oppression and apartheid regime suffered by the Palestinian people.

Since then, Bregman and other representatives of the FIT-U have been subject to all manner of threats. Many of them come from the same right-wing sectors — like far-right presidential candidate Javier Milei and his vice-presidential candidate Victoria Villarruel — who defend the military dictatorship in Argentina that viciously tortured detainees, especially those who were Jewish. Other threats come from supporters of the Juntos por el Cambio candidate Patricia Bullrich, who launched a fake news operation against Bregman, accusing her of having objected to a minute of silence for civilians who were killed.

The attacks against Bregman and the Argentinian Left are part of an international campaign spearheaded by the mainstream media and the governments of the imperialist powers, such as the United States and the European Union, who are unconditional allies of the oppressive Israeli state. 

In France, the Macron government banned mobilizations of solidarity with the Palestinian people and threatened to prosecute left-wing parties and deputies who defend the right to resist colonialism. In the United States, student organizations in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle are persecuted, as are congresspeople such as Rashida Tlaib who denounced the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel. In Brazil, the Bolsonarist Right attacked Luciana Genro, state deputy of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL).

Despite these threats, we will not be silenced. We will continue to denounce the crimes against the Palestinian people.

A Selection of International Signatories

Richard Boyd Barrett, member of the Irish parliament, People before Profit, Ireland

Sebastian Budgen, editorial director of Verso, France

Alex Callinicos, retired professor of European Studies at King’s College London, UK

Luciana Genro, member of the state parliament of Rio Grande do Sul, PSOL, Brazil

Adèle Haenel, actress, France

Liliana Kaczerginski Cordova, cofounder of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)

Warren Montag, professor of English at Occidental College, U.S.

Ilan Pappé, Israeli historian, author of numerous books including The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter, UK

Éric Toussaint, economist, Belgium

Miguel Urbán, member of the European Parliament, Anticapitalistas, Spanish State

For the complete list of hundreds of signatories, see La Izquierda Diario.