Communist Party of Israel MP says US-Israeli attack on Iran was based on lies and only citizens standing up for peace can stop it
THE world risks being dragged into “forever war” by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu and only citizens standing up for peace can stop it, an Israeli MP warned today.
Knesset member Ofer Cassif of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) told the Morning Star that the US-Israeli attack on Iran was based on lies — and was already a smokescreen for intensified violence and ethnic cleansing in occupied Palestine.
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“Netanyahu wants forever war in his own interests. He’s interested in doing anything possible to keep himself out of prison, which by definition means staying in power, and he believes as long as the death and destruction in Israel doesn’t rise too high that war will help him in elections.
“Those around him, the coalition, are racist bigots — many of them, the majority are messianic and see this as part of a divine plan, and they’re bloodthirsty all right.
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US aggression has been ramped up globally since the start of the year, and there is nothing defensive about the war in Iran. After all it was Trump himself who tore up the agreement that did exist between Iran and the West on its nuclear programme — which even the chairman of the Israeli Space Agency Isaac Ben-Israel acknowledged Tehran did not deviate from “by one millimetre.”
Last year, both Trump and Netanyahu claimed to have obliterated Iran’s nuclear programme. Eight months later they say it’s a threat again. “They lie.” Indeed, their aggression makes nuclear proliferation more likely: “The majority of experts in Israel, let alone outside it, say the harbinger of an Iranian nuclear bomb is Netanyahu.”
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[T]he CPI was right to warn Israel would use the war to accelerate ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
Even before October 7, Cassif was warning Israel intended to carry out the “decisive plan” identified by its self-proclaimed fascist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, which defines Palestine’s future in three options, “subjugation, expulsion and annihilation.”
Israel’s government plans to “annex all Palestinian territory without granting basic political or civil rights to Palestinians; expel all Palestinians who do not accept that fate; and kill those who try to resist.
“We saw that in Gaza — where the strategy was genocide. We see it in Israel, in fascism and the persecution of anyone who raises a voice against the government.
“And we see it in the West Bank. There is systematic ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and since the war with Iran began, it’s worse. Entire communities are vanishing.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to soldiers at the RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, during his three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Cyprus, December 10, 2024
JEREMY CORBYN’S Bill demanding parliamentary oversight of the use of British bases for foreign countries’ wars is urgent and necessary.
Our craven Prime Minister has already given the United States permission to use British bases in the Middle East for its war of aggression against Iran.
Reversing that is essential to keep Britain out of a war we did not choose and which most British people oppose. It is also the most immediate practical step we can take to limit the escalation of the war we are already seeing across the Middle East.
Donald Trump was emboldened to start war with Iran because no US ally was prepared to stand up to his illegal aggression against Venezuela at the start of the year.
Having kidnapped the leader of one country, he has now killed the leader of another; still our government won’t acknowledge that the Trump White House is the biggest threat to peace and stability worldwide.
War crimes of the worst sort are normalised by the refusal to hold perpetrators to account. Having watched his allies make excuse after excuse for the mass murder he has inflicted on Gaza, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu fears no retaliation for incinerating 150 schoolgirls in Iran.
This impunity is dangerous: it leads the US and Israel to conclude they can do what they like. That means more atrocities and more wars.
Turning our bases into targets by allowing the US to use them to strike Iran increases the risk the war will spread.
And escalation is inherent in this war, started without defined aims or an exit strategy.
So poorly planned, in fact, that Trump himself admits the US didn’t make arrangements to evacuate its embassies in the region because “it happened very quickly” — a poor excuse in a conflict you started yourself. US Senator Elizabeth Warren, after a classified briefing, is blunt: “The Trump administration has no plan in Iran.”
Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of PeaceGenocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAOrcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks to reporters ahead of a congressional briefing about strikes on Iran at the Capitol in Washington, DC on March 2, 2026. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This is the most insane and absurd definition of an ‘imminent threat’ I have ever heard in my life,” said one journalist.
“What the fuck happened to America First?” US Sen. Ruben Gallegoasked on social media Monday in response to a video of Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempting to justify President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Iran.
As the death toll climbed above 550 in Iran, with at least six US service members killed, Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill that “there absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not gonna sit there and absorb a blow before we responded.”
According to Rubio, the US Department of Defense assessed that “if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked… by someone else—Israel attacked them, they hit us first, and we waited for them to hit us—we would suffer more casualties and more deaths. We went proactively, in a defensive way, to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. Had we not done so, there would’ve been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was gonna happen, and we didn’t act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life.”
In a follow-up post, Gallego (D-Ariz.), an Iraq War veteran, added: “So Netanyahu now decides when we go to war? So much for America First.”
The senator wasn’t alone in ripping Rubio’s remarks. Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.) said that “Secretary Rubio says the quiet part out loud: This is an unnecessary war of choice. Israel forced our hand—there was no imminent threat to the United States. And instead of talking Israel out of going to war, President Trump went along with it and put US lives at risk.”
Stanford University political science professor Michael McFaul said: “Such strange logic. We had to go to war because Israel was going to attack Iran? So Bibi gets a say as to whether the US goes to war but the US Senate and the American people do not?”
Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan declared: “This is the most insane and absurd definition of an ‘imminent threat’ I have ever heard in my life. Our ally and proxy, Israel, that we arm and fund, was about to illegally attack Iran so we joined in the attack because that illegal attack would have led to an attack on us.”
Progressive organizer and attorney Aaron Regunberg also weighed in on social media: “Quite literally—and I’ve used that word too freely in the past, but in this case I mean literally—Rubio is saying they’ve made America into Netanyahu’s bitch. We go where Bibi points, regardless of the American blood it will cost. Trump is an absolute cuck. Pathetic.”
While critics of Trump’s “Operation Epic Fury” have slammed it as illegal and clearly motivated by regime change, Rubio claimed that the Trump administration would welcome a new government in Iran, but the war—which has taken out top Iranians, including the supreme leader, Ayatollan Ali Hosseini Khamenei—is about preventing the Middle Eastern nation from developing a nuclear weapon.
A year ago, a US intelligence report said that “we continue to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei has not reauthorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003, though pressure has probably built on him to do so.” Despite that conclusion, the Trump administration bombed the country’s nuclear facilities a few months later—and, as CNN‘s Aaron Blake pointed out last week, Trump has repeatedly said that his June airstrikes “obliterated” Iran’s program.
There are now mounting calls for the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives to end Trump’s assault on Iran by passing a war powers resolution. Despite the US Constitution giving Congress clear authority to declare war, several presidents have taken military action without any such declaration.
The Constitution does not require the president to notify Congress; it requires the president to get permission from Congress. https://t.co/IyAbNOygTi
Discussing the administration’s interaction with Congress about Iran, Rubio said Monday that “we notified the Gang of Eight,” which is made up of the Senate and House leaders for both major parties, as well as the chairs and ranking members of each chamber’s intelligence panel. Before taking on his current role, the secretary was the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“There’s no law that requires us to do that. The law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We’ve done that,” Rubio said, referring to a requirement in the War Powers Act of 1973. “But we can’t notify 535 members of Congress.”
“If they want to take a war powers vote, they can do that. They’ve done that. They’ve done that a bunch of times,” he added. “There’s no law that requires the president to have done anything with regards to this… No presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional—not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents.”
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) responded: “Dear Secretary Rubio: There is a law. It’s called the frickin’ Constitution of the United States.”
Separately on Monday, the State Department urged Americans to leave a list of Middle Eastern countries.
The @SecRubio@StateDept urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks. Americans who need State Department assistance arranging to depart via commercial means, CALL US 24/7 at +1-202-501-4444 (from… pic.twitter.com/vdplAik2Sq
— Assistant Secretary Mora Namdar (@AsstSecStateCA) March 2, 2026
Lieu responded: “Dear Secretary Rubio: You told Americans to depart now via commercial means when you know many airports/airspace are closed. YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY SCHEDULE US GOVERNMENT EVACUATION FLIGHTS FOR THE STRANDED AMERICANS IN DANGER. Maybe you should have thought of a frickin’ plan first.”
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of PeaceOrcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
US President Donald Trump oversees the military assault on Iran with Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles at Mar-a-Lago on February 28, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Daniel Torok/White House via Getty Images)
“What they posed as the threat they were trying to preempt—an attack by Iran against US forces—is so extremely implausible, it is also laughable,” said one analyst.
Senior Trump administration officials attempted during a briefing with reporters on Saturday to make their case for the joint US-Israeli military assault on Iran that has so far killed hundreds and plunged the Middle East into chaos.
According to experts who listened to the briefing, which was conducted on background, the justification for war was incredibly weak. Daryl Kimball, president of the Arms Control Association, told Laura Rozen of the Diplomatic newsletter that the administration’s argument was “the flimsiest excuse for initiating a major attack on another country without congressional authorization, in violation of the UN Charter, in many decades.”
During his early Saturday remarks announcing the attacks, President Donald Trump claimed that “imminent threats from the Iranian regime” against “the American people” drove him to act. But Kimball said that administration officials “provided absolutely no evidence” to back that assertion during the briefing.
“What they posed as the threat they were trying to preempt—an attack by Iran against US forces—is so extremely implausible, it is also laughable,” said Kimball.
Following the start of Saturday’s assault, which Trump explicitly characterized as a war aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government, unnamed administration officials began leaking the claim that Trump feared an Iranian attack on the massive US military buildup in the Middle East, prompting him to greenlight the bombing campaign in coordination with Israel and with a nudge from Saudi Arabia.
Kimball, in a social media post, took members of the US media to task for echoing the administration’s narrative. “Reporters need to do more than stenography,” he wrote in response to Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman.
“The American people were lied to about Iraq. The American people are being lied to again today—and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price.”
Trump and top administration officials also repeated the longstanding claim from US warhawks that Iran is bent on developing a nuclear weapon, something Iranian leaders have publicly denied—including during recent diplomatic talks. Neither US intelligence assessments nor international nuclear watchdogs have produced evidence indicating that Iran is moving rapidly in the direction of nukes, as claimed by the administration.
Rozen noted that some remarks from administration officials during Saturday’s briefing “suggested Trump’s negotiators”—a team that included Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff—“may not have had the expertise or experience to understand the Iranian proposal to curb its nuclear program.” Rozen reported that one administration official kept misstating the acronym for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
Trump administration officials, according to Rozen, seemed astonished that Iranian negotiators would not accept the US offer to provide free nuclear fuel “forever” for Iran’s peaceful energy development, viewing the rejection as a suspicious indication that Iran was opposed to a diplomatic resolution—even though, according to Oman’s foreign minister, Iran had already made concessions that went well beyond the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord that Trump abandoned during his first stint in the White House.
Experts said it should be obvious—particularly given Trump’s decision to ditch the previous nuclear accord—why Iran would not trust the US to stick by such a commitment.
The administration’s inability to provide a coherent justification for war tracks with the rapidly shifting narrative preceding Saturday’s strikes—an indication, according to some observers, that Trump had made the decision to attack Iran even in the face of diplomatic progress and left officials to try to cobble together a rationale after the fact.
In a lengthy social media post, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted war was necessary because Iran “refused to make a deal” and because the Iranian government “has targeted and killed Americans,” hardly the claim of an imminent threat push by the president and other administration officials.
Brian Finucane, a senior adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group, noted in response that the Trump administration has “sidelined anyone who could articulate… a coherent argument, partly because expertise is deep state and woke and partly because they just don’t care.”
The result is another potentially catastrophic war that runs roughshod over US and international law, puts countless civilians at risk, and threatens to spark a region-wide conflict.
“President Trump, along with his right-wing extremist Israeli ally Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun an illegal, premeditated, and unconstitutional war,” US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement on Saturday. “Tragically, Trump is gambling with American lives and treasure to fulfill Netanyahu’s decades-long ambition of dragging the United States into armed conflict with Iran.”
“The American people were lied to about Vietnam. The American people were lied to about Iraq,” Sanders added. “The American people are being lied to again today—and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price.”
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
Activists, MPs, trade unionists and artists protest in support of Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal and Stop the War Coalition vice-chair Chris Nineham at Westminster magistrates’ court, February 23, 2026
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Speaking outside the court, Stop the War convener Lindsey German said: “The people who should be in the dock are [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu, Keir Starmer and David Lammy.
“They have facilitated and allowed a genocide. We are the people standing up to it. And we will not stop. We will not stop organising.
“We have had 43 national demonstrations. Every single one of them has had restrictions put upon them by the Metropolitan Police.
“What is the aim of that? The aim is to stop people from protesting.
“There is no justification to do so. Our demonstrations have included people from every community, and they have been there to stand up for the Palestinian people.”
Her sentiment was echoed by Stop the War colleague Alex Kenny, who along with CND general secretary Sophie Bolt, will face a trial starting on March 10 facing similar charges.
“Criticising genocide is not only legitimate, it is necessary,” he said.
“We will not stop because a world that tolerates genocide is a world that can tolerate any atrocity, any crime, any violation of rights.
“Those who protest it should be thanked, not put on trial.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Israeli MK Ofer Cassif
