Two Years On from October 7th – Resistance Cannot Be Extinguished

London – Two years on from October 7th, Palestinians continue to endure Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and its escalating attacks across the West Bank and Jerusalem. What the world has witnessed since that day is not the beginning of violence, but the continuation of over a century of colonisation, occupation, and dispossession.

This anniversary also coincides with the start of the so-called “War on Terror” in 2001 - now marked as the International Day for Victims of the War on Terror. Both recognised genocides - the one unleashed without restraint on Muslims worldwide, and the one still ongoing in Gaza - share a common underlying driver: the industrial-scale dehumanisation of Muslims.The same logic that justified invasions, torture sites, and drone strikes now excuses Israel’s assault on a trapped population. Decades on, the lessons remain unlearned, and those responsible continue to evade accountability. 

The conditions that gave rise to resistance in Palestine remain unchanged: an apartheid regime that controls every aspect of Palestinian life, an illegal siege on Gaza nearing two decades, the expansion of settlements, the repeated assault on Al-Aqsa Mosque and Christian holy sites, and the imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians for daring to resist. International bodies, despite overwhelming evidence, continue to grant Israel impunity while punishing those who stand against oppression.

Israel continues to invoke a false “right to self-defence,” yet no occupier can claim such a right against the people it holds captive. Under international law, it is the Palestinians who possess the right to resist foreign domination and fight for their liberation. What Israel calls “security” is in truth the systematic destruction of a people through starvation, mass killing, and forced displacement.

Two years of continuous bombardment and siege have laid bare Israel’s intentions: a second Nakba, a project of ethnic cleansing designed to erase Palestinians entirely. Over 67,000 people have been killed in Gaza, more than 2,700 families erased from the civil registry, and tens of thousands imprisoned or disappeared. From the rubble of Gaza to the prisons scattered across the occupation, the will to resist endures. The Palestinian people have demonstrated to the world that even in the face of genocide, they cannot be extinguished.

At the heart of this struggle are the prisoners - men, women, and children - whose bodies and spirits bear the cost of resisting colonisation. Their captivity is a reflection of Israel’s fear of a people who refuse to submit. Their freedom is bound to the freedom of Palestine itself.

Any prospect of peace requires not negotiation with apartheid, but its dismantling. True peace demands the end of the Zionist settler-colonial project, the dismantling of the apartheid regime, and the recognition of the Palestinian right to self-determination and return.

Across the world, people have risen in solidarity. Acts of direct action, mass protest, and civil disobedience have disrupted the machinery of complicity - from arms factories to government offices. These actions represent the growing global understanding that Israel’s system of domination cannot be reformed; it must be dismantled. As Israel becomes increasingly isolated on the international stage, our task is clear: we must continue to escalate our disruptions until the apartheid system is no more and Palestine is free.

Global attempts to undermine Palestinian political agency have also extended into Britain. The UK’s proscription of Hamas is part of a wider campaign to criminalise Palestinian political expression and erase the right to resist. CAGE International’s ongoing legal application to deproscribe Hamas challenges this authoritarian tool - one used to silence debate, suppress solidarity, and obstruct the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.

Two years on, the message remains unwavering: Palestinians have the right to resist until liberation, justice, and return are achieved - until Palestine is free.

Image courtesy of Wasfi Akab on Flikr