The ongoing, highly disciplined and organized ‘Al-Aqsa Flood’ operation initiated jointly by Palestinian resistance factions has taken the world by surprise and ushered new strategic and military calculus across the region. More than anything else, the high level of organization and discipline demonstrated by the resistance forces has shaken to its core the image cultivated over decades of the unparalleled military and intelligence capacities of the Israeli regime. In response, Israel has acted with unparalleled brutality, imposing a complete siege on Gaza.
Israel has long functioned as a beachhead for Western imperialism in the Eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia—evidenced by the unconditional support the Zionist project has garnered from the United States for decades across economic, ideological, political, military, intelligence, and technological fields. Annual ‘aid’ provided to Israel by the US has reached $3.8 billion. In more candid moments in US foreign policy circles it has often been said that the geopolitical importance of Israel to US imperialism is like that of a stationary aircraft carrier—that is a platform for power projection, intelligence operations, and, if needed, a base from which to quickly deploy military assets in the region.
With confidence in Israel’s continued capacity to serve this role shattered, the US has deployed an immense amount of military assets to the Eastern Mediterranean. As of October 10, a carrier strike group is stationed in the Eastern Mediterranean to, according to US Central Command General Michael Kurilla, send “a strong signal of deterrence should any actor hostile to Israel consider trying to take advantage of this situation.”
A carrier strike group is one of the most extreme formations of imperialist power projection, and this CSG has at its core the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford with a complement of over 70 attack and support aircraft, one guided missile cruiser, four guided missile destroyers, and a combined crew of nearly 7,500 sailors, airmen, and marines. That the United States feels the need to deploy human and material resources at this scale as an act of ‘deterrence’ tells us just how deeply Israel’s capacity has been shaken by the resistance operations.
The deployment is also a message directly to regional forces allied with the Palestinian resistance—Hezbollah in Lebanon, Syria, and ultimately, Iran—that the US does not think Israel can handle direct confrontation with the whole of the so-called Resistance Axis alone. While it is unclear if, when, or how various forces will ascend the escalation ladder, imperialism continues to function above the human and material costs of war.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the stock market where over the last five days military contractor stocks have skyrocketed, breaking even the records set in the days immediately following Russia’s escalation of the war in Ukraine in 2022. Raytheon is up 3.94%, Boeing 6.09%, BAE Systems 8.33%, Lockheed Martin 8.42%, General Dynamics 9.21%, and Northrop Grumman 11.38%. These industries have many reasons to hope and work toward escalation as demonstrated by their bottom line. However, despite intensely coordinated propaganda campaigns across all forms of legacy and new media platforms, popular support around the world for Palestine is high. Marches and other actions of solidarity with the Palestinian people’s resistance have been continuous across the world since the onset of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation.
