Against The PINKWASHING of Israel

[Segami]

Why supporting Palestinians is a queer and feminist issue.

Ashley Bohrer

Ashley Bohrer is a queer feminist Jewish activist and academic based in Chicago. She is a founding member of
Jews for Justice in Palestine.




As the latest round of Israeli fire reigns down on Gaza, a problematic discourse has resurfaced in the West. This discourse seeks to convince white Americans and Europeans that supporting Israel is an imperative for women, LGBTQ-identified individuals and their allies. This line of thinking alleges that Israel has enacted legal protections for LGBTQ folks and is therefore a bastion of liberty for queers in the Middle East. The rhetoric of many mainstream feminist outlets has been similar, arguing that because Jewish women enjoy legal equality with Jewish men in Israel, women and feminists are obliged to support the current campaign of terror and destruction in Gaza. Examples of this troubling and misleading argumentation can be read in James Duke Mason's article for The Advocate on July 9, Robert Trestan's article for The Rainbow Times, and any number of articles by arch-conservative Phyllis Chesler, including one published on July 26 at Israel National News. This "pinkwashing" of Israel not only plays on a variety of racist and Islamophobic tropes but also impedes a thorough and nuanced analysis of queer and feminist liberation.


Rights for some, violence for others

Pinkwashing replays a frequent trope in discussions of conflict in the Middle East: that Israel is a democracy committed to human rights. What these discussions continually fail to address is that these human rights apply only to Jews and are consistently, flagrantly disregarded for Palestinians living under Israeli apartheid. The millions of Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank are not enfranchised in this so-called democracy. The millions of displaced Palestinians living in exile or in refugee camps are not enfranchised in this so-called democracy. The thousands of Palestinians caged in Israeli jails are not enfranchised in this so-called democracy. Nor are they protected by the legislation that supposedly supports and protects women and LGBTQ folks. The more than 1,900 Gazan civilians who have been slaughtered in the past four weeks, many of them women and children, were never afforded the protections of basic human rights accords, let alone democratic procedure.



This pinkwashing is thus misleading, purporting to secure rights for women and queers which are routinely violated along racial, ethnic, and religious lines. Just as feminists and LGBTQ activists are obliged to dismantle racial hierarchies in our own communities, so too must we reject them in Israel and Palestine. We must assert unequivocally that anything less than liberation for all is unacceptable. To refuse to do so retrenches the all-too-common neoliberal strategy of divide and conquer. The idea that Israel must be defended regardless of its human rights abuses or racist violence, separates LGBTQ liberation from larger social and structural phenomena. It refuses to acknowledge that Palestinian queers are among those who are harassed, brutalised, displaced, bombed, and incarcerated. Whatever liberties might be extended to Jewish queers in Israel, being queer does not save Palestinians from the constant and brutal assault that forms the conditions of their lives. The Israeli army does not give a "free pass" to queer Palestinians; in fact, its soldiers target LGBTQ Palestinians.



Stories over the past few months have revealed that in fact the Israeli army pressures LGBTQ Palestinians into becoming informants against their friends and families by blackmailing them and threatening to expose their sexualities. This so-called gay-friendly state of Israel preys on the vulnerability of queer Palestinians, a vulnerability that many of us who live in "progressive" "human rights-friendly" countries still face. Israeli LGBT organisation Aguda estimates that around 2,000 Palestinian queers live in Tel-Aviv at any one time, most of them illegally. The dismantling of economic stability and opportunity inside Palestine forces LGBT Palestinians to leave their homes and to live as undocumented, precarious workers in Israel, where they have no protections against harassment, rape, intimidation, or job discrimination, and in which finding safe housing and steady employment are scarce. The options presented to LGBTQ Palestinians are living as stateless, undocumented migrants or braving the constant violence and indignity of living in occupied territories. Neither of these sounds like LGBT liberation to me. Neither does it sound like feminist liberation. An image has been circulating twitter in Israel that at one and the same time justifies the rape of Gazan women and the seige of their communities. The photo, accessible here shows a woman wearing a hijab with the words "Gaza" written on her chest. Her body is splayed in a sexually provocative position, and a message in Hebrew is emblazoned on the top: "Bibi, finish inside this time". It is signed "Citizens for the Invasion."






cont'


http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/08/against-pinkwashing-israel-201489104543430313.html

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Segami.

[Scootaloo]

2. It's simply exploitation of one group to justify violence against another

It's a common right-wing tactic, as we saw, when there was an effort in 2008 to use prop8 to justify hatred against blacks.

[Segami]

3. "...Colonel Eyal Qarim of the Military Rabbinate..

.....has declared publicly that it is permissible for Israeli soldiers to rape Palestinian women for the purposes of "maintaining morale". These statements merely crystalise what the women of Palestine know very well: that the unjust, racist occupation of Palestine is not only Islamophobic, but misogynistic and heterosexist....."

[sabrina 1]

4. Excellent article, thank you. It nails a growing problem that needs to be exposed, and that is the

USE of Gays' and Womens' issues for political purposes, to draw in the Left to support egregious policies such as Israel's towards the Palestinians. Human rights is not just for some, it is for everyone.

And THIS is thoroughly disgusting:

Stories over the past few months have revealed that in fact the Israeli army pressures LGBTQ Palestinians into becoming informants against their friends and families by blackmailing them and threatening to expose their sexualities. This so-called gay-friendly state of Israel preys on the vulnerability of queer Palestinians, a vulnerability that many of us who live in "progressive" "human rights-friendly" countries still face.

That rises to the level of mental torture. Shameful, and certainly NOT the behavior of anyone who supports Gay Rights.

[malaise]

18. Divide and Rule

RWers are very good at this.

[Laughing Mirror]

5. Thank you for getting the truth out

It has been quite unnerving coming on this forum time and time again reading lies the propagandists continue posting as truth, and mostly accepted as such without further discussion. It has been disheartening to see how the lies have taken hold and how the liars have constantly been getting away with it.

So it is good to read this. The propagandists need to know their lies will be their undoing.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Disgusting divisive crap.

Op-ed: Israel’s Record on LGBT Should Be Celebrated, Not Vilified

Pride month in Israel was welcomed with many celebrations, including Tel Aviv’s pride parade on June 13 which featured 150,000 celebrants, beach parties, dance performances, lectures, rainbow flags and banners, and was embraced by the Israeli military as well as government officials. At the same time, claims of Israeli “pinkwashing,” which essentially conflates LGBT rights with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are obsessively promoted by a small group of anti-Israel activists. An example of this can be found in Keegan O’Brien’s article of June 7, 2014, “There’s No Pride in Apartheid- Stop Pink-Washing Israel’s Crimes,” which uses the banner of advocacy for the legitimate rights of the LGBT community to vilify Israel.

Israel can be rightfully proud of its record regarding its LGBT community, which is entirely separate from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel is unique in the Middle East for its tolerance, legal protections and equality enjoyed by the LGBT community. Tel Aviv has been recognized as the “best gay city” in the world, standing in sharp contrast to other parts of the Middle East. This reality does not diminish or “pinkwash” the Israeli-Palestinian conflict nor does it negate the homophobic attitudes of some in Israeli religious communities. It is simply a fact of Israel’s vibrant democracy.

“Pinkwashing” allegations demonstrate that opposition to Israel is rarely limited to criticism of Israel as it relates to the conflict. By minimizing Israel’s LGBT values and solely judging it within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the “anti-pinkwashing” campaign appears instead to be part of a larger, all-out attempt to discredit and slander all the positive aspects of Israeli society. This is evident in Mr. O’Brien’s vocal support of international campaigns calling for academic, cultural and economic boycotts of Israel.

Willfully ignoring the facts in order to justify and promote attacks against Israel trivializes the work of the LGBT-rights movement in Israel, and distracts from the shared goal of advancing and protecting the equal rights of the LGBT community. It also minimizes the realities of negative, violent, and homophobic elements in the region.

http://www.therainbowtimesmass.com/2014/06/20/op-ed-israels-record-lgbt-celebrated-vilified/

The above, like the "feminist" example, were both responses to other op-eds which were only inspired by "criticism" of Israel. Neither served as examples of people "pinkwashing."

Supporting Palestinians is not a "queer" issue.

[Ken Burch]

7. You're missing the point.

Israel's record on LGBTQ issues does NOT mean that LGBTQ people are obligated to defend the bombing of Gaza, the continued West Bank Occupation, or the settlements.

Supporting the bombing of Palestinians is NOT a queer issue. Everyone who opposes oppression should oppose the oppression of anyone who is being oppressed.

Nothing Netanyahu is doing can possibly help gays, in Palestine or in Israel.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. How do you retain the right to make such a claim?

Are you gay? Why are you telling me, as a gay person, that I am missing the point?

Israel's record on LGBTQ issues does NOT mean that LGBTQ people are obligated to defend the bombing of Gaza, the continued West Bank Occupation, or the settlements.

Strawman.

Supporting the bombing of Palestinians is NOT a queer issue. Everyone who opposes oppression should oppose the oppression of anyone who is being oppressed.

Not even remotely said nor claimed.

Nothing Netanyahu is doing can possibly help gays, in Palestine or in Israel.

Who claimed anything of the sort?! Oh, that's right...you!

[Ken Burch]

9. No strawman.

The ONLY reasons Israel's record on LGBTQ issues is even a subject of international awareness is that the Likud government keeps bringing it up as an argument for why that government should be given a pass on what it does to Palestinians and why LGBTQ people and those who are in solidarity with them should feel obligated to defend and support the bombing, the Occupation, and the settlements.

Other than that, nobody would have any reason to mention Israeli LGBTQ policy in any international context.

It's nice that they're better on that issue than say, Alabama, but it's irrelevant in the context of the overall I/P issue.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. Yes, it is a strawman.

The ONLY reason it is even brought up is because ANYTIME something positive comes out of Israel, it becomes an issue. I would ask for you to give some type of proof of your claims, but that's a snipe hunt.

It's nice that they're better on that issue than say, Alabama, but it's irrelevant in the context of the overall I/P issue.

It's nice?! That's the best you can say? Why Alabama? Why not Egypt? Iran? Gaza? I have never seen anyone claim they support "the bombing, the Occupation, and the settlements" because of of LGBT rights in Israel, I have only seen claims like yours.

But, hey, you got something accidently correct, "but it's irrelevant in the context of the overall I/P issue", which is exactly why "Palestine is not a GLBT issue."

[Ken Burch]

11. Anytime some group is oppressed, it is an issue to people who fight oppression.

And there aren't THAT many people who say there's NOTHING good about Israel. I actually admire a lot of things about the place myself(particularly the socialist aspects that both Likud AND Labor are now, tragically, committed to wiping out). For most, the argument is that the good things don't vindicate the bad things(LGBTQ policy and personal liberalism if no longer any vestiges of workers' rights or a commitment to social equality don't mean that the Occupation, the settlements and the bombing
are acceptable).

The reason the Israeli government keeps bringing up the LGBTQ issue is that they are arguing that, if Israel is somewhat better than the Arab world(a place that is deeply repressive and needs a revolution-from-below, as the people of the Arab Spring were valiantly trying to start)on this issue and some other things, this somehow means that what they are doing to the Palestinians either doesn't matter or is, to some degree, justified. The latter point is absurd, of course, because nothing Netanyahu and the IDF are doing is ever even possibly going to have the effect of helping liberate gays in Palestine or anywhere else in the Arab world. Pinkwashing is about trying to use progressive policy in one area to leverage acquiescence about reactionary and oppressive policies in another.

The OP makes a valid point. It is wrong to try to whip the LGBTQ community into support of or silence about what Israeli does to Palestinians just because LGBTQ people in Israel(and I'm not sure this includes LGBTQ Israeli Arabs)have a better deal than they would in Saudi Arabia.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. There is a difference which seems you don't understand.

If gay people, or any other oppressed minority, wishes to fight another form of oppression, that is fine, but it is not their obligation, which you seem to be claiming.

And there aren't THAT many people who say there's NOTHING good about Israel. I actually admire a lot of things about the place myself(particularly the socialist aspects that both Likud AND Labor are now, tragically, committed to wiping out).

For most, the argument is that the good things don't vindicate the bad things(LGBTQ policy and personal liberalism if no longer any vestiges of workers' rights or a commitment to social equality don't mean that the Occupation, the settlements and the bombing
are acceptable).

Strawman. The number of people of actually do anything of the sort are minimal.

The reason the Israeli government keeps bringing up the LGBTQ issue is that they are arguing that, if Israel is somewhat better than the Arab world(a place that is deeply repressive and needs a revolution-from-below, as the people of the Arab Spring were valiantly trying to start)on this issue and some other things, this somehow means that what they are doing to the Palestinians either doesn't matter or is, to some degree, justified.

Somewhat better? Do you know any-fucking-thing about LGBT issues in Israel versus the Arab world? Do you have any, and I mean any proof of this claim: "this somehow means that what they are doing to the Palestinians either doesn't matter or is, to some degree, justified"? Something that is actually factual.

Pinkwashing is about trying to use progressive policy in one area to leverage acquiescence about reactionary and oppressive policies in another.

no, that isn't what it is, it is what you and those like you claim.

The OP makes a valid point. It is wrong to try to whip the LGBTQ community into support of or silence about what Israeli does to Palestinians just because LGBTQ people in Israel(and I'm not sure this includes LGBTQ Israeli Arabs)have a better deal than they would in Saudi Arabia.

It is also bullshit to "try to whip the LGBTQ community into support of or silence about" the conflict between Israel and Palestine. LGBT have a "better deal" in Israel than Saudi Arabia? Are you fucking for real?! Homophobia may exist in Israel, but in SA one can be EXECUTED (that means KILLED) for being LGBT! Your entire post, as well as the others, demonstrates the casual use of OUR rights. You aren't gay, so why do you keep trying to tell me "I don't get it!"? I know when my rights are being used as a political football and I don't like it when it is done to make people cheer one way or the other of something which isn't even about us, especially when straight people do it!

[Ken Burch]

13. Why are you laughing at that first point?

It's tragic that all the largest parties in Israeli politics are right-wing on economics and social spending...and it's tragic that a lot of the kibbutzes are being turned into conventional, soulless corporate-type farms. Why doesn't that bother you?

and less, life is horrible for gays in the Arab world, but that is irrelevant to the I/P issue. The Occupation doesn't help Palestinian gays, or do anything to support the LGBTQ cause in the Arab/Muslim world. Nor would ending the Occupation and the bombing of Gaza endanger Israeli gays.

And I'm speaking here because you're attacking the OP for daring to disagree with you.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. You don't get it?

Shocker.

and less, life is horrible for gays in the Arab world, but that is irrelevant to the I/P issue. The Occupation doesn't help Palestinian gays, or do anything to support the LGBTQ cause in the Arab/Muslim world. Nor would ending the Occupation and the bombing of Gaza endanger Israeli gays.

It is irrelevant? Apparently, not to you or the author, which is why there is a need for your continuing strawman remarks. "Less horrible?" Hmmm...homophobic remarks, even attacks from citizens or death from the state. Yeah, "less horrible."

So you are "speaking" to me because I don't really understand what it is to be gay?

[joshcryer]

17. "Pinkwashing" is almost exclusively used to refer to Israel.

And it almost invariably comes under the tone of "LGBT in the Arab world should not seek agency because by doing so and embracing western norms you are ushering in neo-imperialist multiculturalism and hurting the cause."

There are several good documentaries on Palestinians fleeing the West Bank (which is by no means as bad as Gaza) to Israel to escape the anti-gay aspects of the culture. These documentaries are vilified as Jewish Israel state propaganda, of course. Those Palestinians? They are deemed "refugees of the Israeli state," because, in a nice twist of logic, if there was no Israeli state, they wouldn't be refugees!

Nevermind, of course, as I've been saying again and again, simply being a decendent of a Palestinian male makes you a refugee and confers that status to you wherever you live, which is why there are over a million Palestinian "refugees" in other Arab countries living in refugee camps specifically made for them. Jordan recently revoked citizenship to make Palestinians living there because they have a "right to return" to Israel.

It's just Orwellian to the core.

[joshcryer]

16. It is actually quite relevant to the I/P issue.

Social issues, inherently, are economic and political issues. Because Israel is the most progressive nation in that area of the world one should give them credit for at least believing that if Hamas stops lobbing rockets the raids will stop, for instance.

Of course, instead, people want us to 1) completely ignore Israel's progressive nature on social issues and 2) make us believe that somehow Israel is this evil inflicting evils upon an entire peoples for no reason except that they're evil. Like Nazi's.

Nevermind that of course the Arab view on Palestinian right of return means that every single Palestinian born is designated refugee status and are put in refugee camps, even if they are not even born in Palestine.

[Spider Jerusalem]

19. "Israel's progressive nature on social issues"?

It's fundamentally dishonest to compare Israel to other non-progressive Middle Eastern nations. The actual point of comparison for Israel, as a self-proclaimed, Western-style liberal democracy, is other Western liberal democracies. On that score? it fares quite poorly.

Israel is, very possibly, the most racist country in the developed world. This doesn't come as much of a surprise when one considers that Israel alone among Western democracies is founded on the basis of a specifically ethnic nationalism. I invite you to imagine, if you would, what would happen if the director of the OMB or another relevant US Federal agency stood up in a press conference to announce that cuts to child welfare benefits had been successful, because they saw a reduction in the black, or Hispanic, birthrate. What do you think the reaction would be, in the US? There'd be an outcry, no? Yet that's precisely what Netanhayu boasted about, only with Arabs as the relevant minority, when Likud were in opposition. And what do you think would happen if a significant number of evangelical Christian leaders in the USA stood up and said that Americans should refuse to rent houses or apartments to Hispanics? Do you think that a poll would show that over half the public agreed with them? Because that's what happened in Israel when a group of rabbis called for a ban on renting to Arabs. How would you feel about a government-sponsored advertising campaign in the USA designed to discourage people from marrying outside their religious or ethnic group? Because Israel had those, too, until people got offended.

[joshcryer]

20. There is no comparison being made.

This is about questioning their merits on actions which we'd support, such as stopping raids.

Your links are quaint, though, for instance, the rent ban? Oh golly gee 57% wouldn't be bothered by having an Arab neighbor and there was a protest against the Rabi's ruling. The no-mixing propaganda campaign, likewise, was cancelled.

Yet we know for a damn fucking fact that in other parts of the Arab world that anyone not practicing a given variant of Islam can be executed (far be it to be fucking rented to), and we know for a damn fact that in parts of the Arab world people are regularly stoned for "marrying out of their tribe." So, that falls on deaf ears, really, since you exaggerate the extent to which it happens.

But, I've fallen for your pathetic trap. I wasn't making the comparison, you were.

I was only saying that their views on social issues could indicate where they could stand on other issues. What you want me to believe is that 1) their racist tendencies matter 2) their LGBT tendencies don't.

[Spider Jerusalem]

21. And?

You apparently want to believe that the racism of Israeli society doesn't matter. And I'm not talking about the Arab world, I'm talking about the Western world, of which Israel is considered a part. If you want to extol Israel for its relatively liberal values in one specific area, that's fine, but don't pretend it cancels out the very real and very pervasive bigotry that exists throughout Israeli society in other areas.

[joshcryer]

23. I do think it matters.

But damn sure not as much as Hamas' fucking rockets and doctrine that Israel shouldn't exist.

Israeli racism is going up, not down, and there's a reason for that. And it's not because at some deep root of their culture they're racists genetically. They feel a lot of pressure from the outside world. This sort of thing also causes nationalism, as well. Especially when people are armchair warrioring about how they can't extol their LGBT virtues.

That being said, still a majority of Israeli-Arabs don't feel persecuted. You won't get that statistic of Arab-LGBT, that's for damn sure.

Oh, I should say one last thing, ethnic and racial bigotry is going up on that side of the planet, like, crazy, throughout EU, Russia, it's on the rise. Same with nationalism. Why, I can't pin down a reason, but it's going up. It's not just relegated to the "evil Jewish state."

[Spider Jerusalem]

25. I don't know, I rather suspect...

that the racism of Israeli society is inseparable from the ethnic-nationalist character of the Israeli state. When it's a matter of government policy that their country is the nation-state of one specific ethnic group, when there are government departments that have a particular focus on demographics with an aim to maintaining an ethnic majority, when government policy extends to enforcing transfer of undesirable citizens (ie Israeli Arabs) to a future Palestinian state? When non-Jews are regarded as an alien "other" and described as a "cancer on the body of the nation" (as one member of the Knesset said of African refugees)? It's kind of hard not to conclude that you can't have an ethnic-nationalist state that isn't racist, pretty much by definition.

And your whataboutery is noted; I'm aware of what's happening in the EU, and in Russia, but we're not talking about them, we're talking about Israel. And why being LGBT-friendly doesn't make Israel a beacon of progresssivism.

[joshcryer]

30. That's absurd.

You're making an absolutist statement about Israeli's as a whole.

The government policy is a reaction to Arab doctrine that Israel should not exist. Israel has existed as a state since 1948. It doesn't matter how it fucking got there. It's there. Thus it must be recognized as something that exists. The entire Arab world treats Palestinians the same way Israel does. Israel believes that it must, otherwise that's where they would migrate to, weakening the Israeli state and installing a caliphate or whatever. That's how they view it. The Arab world assigns refugee status to every person born from a Palestinian male (mind you most of Jordan was originally Palestinian during the exodus, the designation is literally conferred by birth certificates and arbitrary passports).

The refugee camps in Syria and Jordon and Lebanon house over a million "refugees." Mind you the vast majority of these Palestinian people are descendants of the original exodus, they were born in Syria, Jordon, Lebanon, but they have lesser rights conferred to them as they are "refugees" who "must return" to Israel. Mind you, if they have never ever set foot on that land, they "must return."

FYI you're the one who started the whataboutism with your comparisons when I was not originally even making any. I shouldn't have even bothered. It was just quaint. I mean, the biggest propaganda outlet against "pinkwashing," who "supports Palestinian gays," has its monthly Queer Party in none other than Tel Aviv. Talk about hypocrites.

[Spider Jerusalem]

31. I'm not talking about Palestinian refugees, whatever their status or the legitimacy of their claims.

I'm talking about Arab citizens of Israel, so defined as being resident within Israeli areas of control within the original partition lines, and their Israeli Arab descendants. I'm not sure how you can justify racism against Israeli Arab citizens on the basis of the claims of Palestinian refugees.

[joshcryer]

32. They are almost certainly Palestinian "refugees."

They have had citizenship offered to them but they refuse because they refuse to accept that Israel exists as a state. They do not of course get citizenship rights because they refuse citizenship, not because Israel denies it to them. There are many Christian Arabs who have accepted citizenship. Arab Israeli's who accept citizenship will be marginalized within their communities, but it happens, and they make up some 20% of the vote. There is a law preventing Palestinian men from marrying Israeli women (citizens) unless they pledge an oath to recognize the state of Israel. And of course, naturally, it affects those who don't recognize Israel as a state.

The complexities are incredible.

[Spider Jerusalem]

33. You seem to be very confused.

I am talking about Israeli Arab citizens. Who represent a significant ethnic minority within Israel (20% of the population) and are the target of much of the racism I am talking about. You seek to confuse the issue by talking about Palestinian refugees, for some reason. (The treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories is another and quite separate matter.)

[joshcryer]

34. Read the self-identification at the citation.

The majority consider themselves Palestinian.

You seem to fail to understand as long as they don't accept Israeli citizenship they get the "benefits" of being a Palestinian "refugee." Except, well, in Jordan at least, they got their citizenship revoked for being too cozy with the Israeli's...

[Spider Jerusalem]

35. You're still very confused.

The link I provided is about Israeli Arab citizens. Whether they identify themselves as "Palestinian", in terms of ethnicity, or not, they're still Israeli citizens. All this talk about refugees indicates that you may suffer from a rather severe reading comprehension problem.

[joshcryer]

36. You're right, a little confused.

I confused Palestinians who have Jordanian citizenship with non-citizen residents of Israel when I should've said they worked in the West Bank. Still, Jordan took their citizenship, just like that. Don't want to set a precedent, and all. Can't have the hundreds of thousands of Syrian Palestinian refugees applying for citizenship...

Abdullah has his own motivations, as does Israel. It seems, no one wants the Palestinians, and they are destined to be relegated to refugee status by all countries.

[Spider Jerusalem]

41. Okay, you're not confused, you're an idiot.

That's the only thing I can conclude. Since I have been talking this whole time about racism directed at Arab israeli citizens. I have provided links and relevant contexts which makes it exceedingly clear that I am talking about Arab Israeli citizens. You somehow gloss right over that and conclude that I can't possibly be talking about Arab Israeli citizens, or that somehow despite the relevant context and information provided these Israeli citizens must be Jordanian, or Palestinian refugees.

[DanTex]

38. Speaking of marriage...

My understanding is that marriage outside of one's religion is illegal in Israel. That seems pretty backwards to me.

I knew one American Jewish man who met an Israeli woman and they wanted to get married but couldn't do so in Israel because the man was deemed not sufficiently Jewish, because one of his parents was a converted Jew. Is this not obvious state-sponsored racism?

And then there's the fact that anyone Jewish in the world can move to Israel, despite the fact that their only link to the nation is through the old testament and possibly a shaky millenia old lineage to people who once lived in that general area. Whereas Palestinians who actually physically lived in today's Israel during their lifetime are not allowed to return to their homes. Can you imagine if the US passed a law saying that white Christians are welcome in America but displaced Native Americans can't come back?

[joshcryer]

39. Can you imagine passing a law saying Native Americans can't leave their reservation?

Because that's what the situation of the Palestinians is.

[DanTex]

40. Yeah, but nobody's talk about bout how progressive a nation that Syria is.

Last edited Mon Aug 11, 2014, 07:48 PM - Edit history (1)

[m-lekktor]

22. what a steaming pile

the only people with rights in right wing, racist Israel are Jews.

[oberliner]

26. "the only people with rights in right wing, racist Israel are Jews."

I wonder how many people actually believe this.

[Douglas Carpenter]

15. k nr

[m-lekktor]

24. one of the best pieces of i have seen on pinkwashing!

interesting links to other things. Anyway, Israel truly is disgusting. I don't know how any true progressive can support its vile treatment of non-Jews and sleep at night.

[oberliner]

27. "Israel truly is disgusting"

Mission accomplished it seems.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. I wonder if anyone in this thread knows any Palestinian gay people personally, any Israeli gay

people personally. Are there any names and human faces to go along with your rhetoric?

My other question involves the terminology chosen. Does anyone know the origin and actual meaning of 'Pinkwashing'? The word really bothers me when used by Straights (who cut triangles out of pink fabric and sewed them to our death camp uniforms) and Straights who do not want to sound like bigots might want to use specific language rather than a loaded term, particularly considering the Straights in the US have yet to yield full equality to their LGBT neighbors, folks who still hold to open discrimination are not really holding license to make use of language that even implies that it agrees with the injustices imposed by Straights onto LGBT people in the US.
The term originated around Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbons. The term 'Pinkwashing' described the use, by Corporations, of that important issue to distract from their other negative practices. It describes the exploitation of a valid issue by powers with an agenda of their own not related to the valid issue.
When activists spoke of Breast Cancer awareness, they were not 'Pinkwashing'. Breast Cancer was not an invalid issue because it was misused by some entities. A company that said 'Look at how we put pink stuff on our packages, forget the pollution we do' was engaged in 'Pinkwashing' their company.
So, in this case, the government entity could attempt to exploit their better actions to distract from their worst actions and the term would apply. The term does not apply to people who are simply advocating the very valid issues. To say 'Gay rights are human rights' is not 'Pinkwashing'. It is speaking the truth. To support the Israeli LGBT community as gay people is not Pinkwashing just as supporting LGBT Palestinian people is not supporting Hamas.
The term 'Pinkwashing' applies to the entity attempting to cover up misdeeds with good acts. It does not apply to human beings speaking out for other human beings. People who advocated for Breast Cancer research were not doing so to cover up the misdeeds of some company, but that company might have been using the issue for that reason. This does not invalidate the message of the activists nor does it mean breast cancer is some bogus issue that should never be spoken of.

To be a Palestinian LGBT person is a very difficult life. Exploiting them either in the positive or in the negative is not something I am willing to do. Speak truth about individuals, speak about human lives and loves. This is difficult for those who have nothing but verbiage due to lack of human connections with those cultures.

And so, do you know any gay Palestinians? If not, why not? Any gay Israelis? Any gay people? Any Palestinians? Any Israelis?
Because if you don't, I'd be tempted to accuse you Straight Americans of using LGBT issues in that region as a distraction from what Straights are doing to LGBT right now in the US. That is, of using the suffering of distant peoples to distract from the lack of protection in employment and housing that you straights still impose on LGBT people in America. Pinkwashing.

And in closing, not fond of the use of the word 'Pink' to mean 'gay' by Straight folks. I think if they had decent motives, they'd find another word. 'Oh, gay men are like women, so pink, like the Nazis did for them'. Yuck. The folks who toss that term AT gay people instead of seeing it as

[oberliner]

37. Thank you for posing this message

It was very thought-provoking.

[Capt. Obvious]

29. Plenty of pinkwashing happening on DU too

[mwrguy]

42. K&R!!!