Sudanese in Khartoum protest Israeli bombing raid

Sudanese citizens staged protests in the capital Khartoum following the Oct. 24 Israeli Air Force bombing of the Yarmouk weapons factory. Last May, Israel launched a missile attack on an automobile plant in Port Sudan. Similar attacks occurred in April 2011, killing two people, and in January 2009 in the eastern region of the oil-rich central African country.

In August 1998, the U.S. bombed a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan. Then-President Bill Clinton ordered this military action with the pretext that the facility was used to produce chemical weapons — without ever producing evidence that it did.

Sudanese Ambassador to the United Nations Daffa-Alla Elhag Ali Osman characterized the recent air strikes as a “blatant violation” of the U.N. Charter and called for the international body to condemn the state of Israel.

The demonstrations in Khartoum on Oct. 25 accused both Israel and the United States of being culpable in the attacks. (Press TV, Oct. 25)

The Satellite Sentinel Project, through a comparative analysis of Digital Globe imagery, says the photos “show six large craters, each approximately 16 meters across and consistent with impact craters created by air-delivered munitions, centered in a location where, until recently, some 40 shipping containers had been stacked.” (Reuters, Oct. 27) A huge fire erupted at the factory, which took firefighters more than two hours to extinguish.

On Oct. 25, Israeli intelligence officials admitted that the military has been carrying out missions inside Sudan for several years. Israel accuses the Sudanese government of supplying weapons to the Hamas liberation organization in Palestine’s Gaza Strip.

Another Israeli defense official, Amos Gilad, seemed to justify the air strikes by accusing Sudan of being a “dangerous terrorist state” that supplies “Iranian weapons to Hamas.” (france24.com, Oct. 25)

Despite the Oct. 24 bombing, Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party pledges that it will continue its support of the Palestinian people.

Sudan has been under threat by imperialism for many years. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for President Omar al-Bashir and other leading government officials for actions they have taken to defend Sudan’s territorial sovereignty, which was threatened by rebels operating in the western Darfur region. Several of the rebel organizations are supported by Israel and the U.S.

The country, which was Africa’s largest geographic nation-state until it was partitioned in 2011, is an emerging oil-producing country. The failure of South Sudan’s independence process resulted, earlier this year, in the eruption of fighting along its border with the Republic of Sudan in the North.

A mediation process carried out by the African Union has achieved an agreement between the North and the South to reopen oil drilling and shipments between the two states. Nonetheless, many outstanding issues remain.

Racist anti-Sudan demonstrations in Tel Aviv

Meanwhile, inside the Israeli state, a campaign directed against African immigrants, many of whom are from South Sudan, has continued. Several months ago, racist mobs attacked African immigrants and their homes and businesses.

Rightist Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu’s regime has derisively labeled African migrants “infiltrators.” The Israeli government has ordered thousands of Africans detained and deported while commissioning the building of a large prison for the sole purpose of incarcerating them pending expulsion.

On Oct. 28, at least 150 Israeli residents of Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood marched to a government compound carrying a coffin with the names of various subdivisions written on it. During the march Israelis chanted racist slogans such as “Sudanese go back to Sudan.” (Ynetnews.com)

During the action, marchers taunted an African worker outside a local restaurant, and several participants attempted to shatter the windows of the business. The worker had to go inside the restaurant for safety.

Israeli settlers blame African immigrants for destroying their neighborhoods and causing street crime. The demonstrators called for the African migrants to be relocated to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem’s Caesarea and Rehavia neighborhoods.

In the same report, some of the marchers openly admitted their racism, saying they were proud of it. Tel Aviv Council Member Shlomo Maslawi said there were “60,000-70,000 infiltrators already present,” thus inciting more potential racist attacks. n