Shabbir Rizvi
Al Aqsa Flood exposed the mechanics of a system that had sustained Zionist settler-colonialism in Palestine for seventy-five years while extracting surplus from the entire Global South.
Imperialism, led by and centered within the United States, enabled by European junior partners, and serviced by regional compradors such as the UAE and the recently installed HTS regime in Syria, had operated with a carefully crafted ideological cover. From network television to newspapers to social media influence operations, imperialist actors work to frame Palestinian resistance as irrational, primordial violence. Conversely, Israeli barbarism is framed as legitimate security, which in turn legitimizes the occupation’s multi-billion-dollar annual U.S. subsidy as an investment to maintain “shared values.”
This narrative numbed global opinion of Zionism-Imperialism, silencing outrage towards colonial violence while resource wars in Yemen, Sudan, and across West Asia unfolded under the same imperial design. Each war served a shared purpose: to destroy resistance and bring them closer to imperialism’s most wanted jewel, a subjugated Iran.
On October 7th, 2023, Hamas and the Palestinian Resistance broke that order. Combined, they launched “Al Aqsa Flood,” which tore away the mask of invincibility worn by Western powers and their proxies. Not only did it permanently deface the imperialist cause, but it also exposed its tentacles to the far reaches of the region. In that moment, the operation qualitatively changed the state of the world and humanity itself.
The Israeli regime carried out its crimes against the Palestinian people and against the Arab and Islamic world with almost complete social impunity. For decades, much of the world has been asleep.
The genocide that followed, streamed live to millions, exposed that silence. Led by the United States and Israel, it shifted the global public’s understanding of both Palestine and the meaning of resistance itself. Social media channels that broadcast resistance statements were widely followed. Their words and slogans soon decorated protests attended by the hundreds of thousands across the global North, the very space that had once served as Zionism’s primary base of support outside of the occupation.
The student movement—without a doubt, one of the most powerful forces of resistance within the global North (perhaps second only to the heroic Palestine Action members) — gripped university life with walkouts, teach-ins, and practical demonstrations that exposed how deeply entrenched academic and professional life is in collaborating with the lifeline of imperialist subjugation. Calls to divest and de-platform weapons manufacturers, technology in the service of occupation, and Zionist politicians became the forefront of student political life.
Al Aqsa Flood awakened millions. The operation tore open the myth that imperialism is invincible or inevitable. The resistance did not just breach the occupation walls that surrounded Gaza. It also broke through the ideological walls that surround Western consciousness, exposing the fangs of the United States and its allies worldwide.
This shift in consciousness is now immediately observed with the deteriorating situation in Sudan. Since 2023, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), armed with drones, vehicles, and other weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates, have massacred hundreds of thousands of people, forced millions from their homes, and produced a famine within the country. Resources, such as gold stolen from RSF-occupied mines, are shipped to refineries in the Emirates, strengthening the regime’s investment power.
This is the same United Arab Emirates that signed the 2020 Abraham Accords, openly joining forces with Israel and the United States. They share military bases within their occupation of Yemen’s Socotra, provide and trade intelligence with the Israeli Mossad, and purchase Israeli spy technology. The same money that pays for stealing Palestinian land also funds the massacres in Sudan—both run through the same banks and deals.
The cycle of violence from one end of the region feeds violence at the other. Both regimes were propped up and supported by the United States. The end goal, of course, is destabilization of the region to create the conditions for American capital to subjugate raw resources and hyper-exploit labor.
The breakneck speed of support for the Sudanese cause was, to a considerable degree, propelled by the Palestinian cause. The shift can be noted by observing considerably less strong global anti-UAE sentiment when it was conducting its genocidal bombing of Yemen with Saudi Arabia a few years ago (2015 onwards), versus its support of the RSF in Sudan today. Today, its backing of the RSF faces far greater scrutiny. This awareness did not arise by chance. And, as observed with the Palestinian cause, counter-narratives are created by imperialism to contain, deflect, dilute, or preferably break the anti-imperialist cause.
Imperialism, ever adaptive and constantly evolving, observes this shift in mass consciousness with alarm. During the genocide in Gaza, it recycled the same tactics: demonizing resistance as “Iranian proxies,” exaggerating so-called “Islamic” threats to justify arms sales to collaborators, or co-opting narratives with faux humanitarianism (example: media personalities deployed to “stand with Palestinians” while condemning resistance that secures the national will of Palestinians).
Billions of dollars are spent on influence operations: from AI-generated deepfakes, staged social media campaigns, and imperialist think-tank reports that obscure the line between victim and aggressor. These efforts try to deflect and deny truths that are livestreamed to us by Palestinians suffering through genocide.
The same strategy now operates in Sudan. UAE-linked accounts have pushed their aggressive narratives on social media – some, who were once treading an ideological fence on Gaza, posturing as sympathetic to Palestinians and skeptical of Israel, have now thrown their entire weight of support behind the UAE and RSF. They label Sudanese resistance as “Islamists” or agents of the “Muslim Brotherhood,” a smear meant to reduce moral clarity from another struggle against domination.
Their goal is to distort what is seen and heard, the reality on the ground. The Israeli regime, after decades of crafting a seemingly invincible image of itself, was caught unprepared for the global wave of solidarity that now surrounds the Palestinian struggle. Imperialist actors do not back down. They learn, evolve, and often use popular language to convince the masses to back domination disguised as virtue. Western Feminism was once used to advocate for invading Afghanistan, as it is with ongoing aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today, claims about China’s treatment of Muslims are designed to influence Western audiences sympathetic to Muslims but distrustful of China.
These operations are changing features of imperial power. Imperialism faces resistance not only through armed struggle in Gaza or Sudan but also widespread disdain for its policies from within its own capitals. Public opinion is shifting. To survive, imperialism must win the battle on this front, whether it be within Palestine, Sudan, or any other imperialist target.
For the masses of people calling for justice, vigilance alone is insufficient. Liberation requires studying imperialism—its methods (e.g., economic sanctions, proxy militias), strategies (e.g., divide-and-conquer via sectarianism), and goals (hegemony over markets and control of trade routes) – so humanity can chart a liberated future. Tracing the movement of capital from Wall Street to Dubai exposes how wealth and violence travel together. Building genuine international solidarity with those fighting for sovereignty is one concrete step a newly enlightened people can take to resist being ensnared by ignorance again.
Al Aqsa Flood was not an end but a beginning- a floodgate against oppression. Let us navigate wisely!
Shabbir Rizvi is an editor at Vox Ummah. His work is primarily focused on imperialism, mass movements, and conflict.
