“Israel presents itself as an LGBT haven in the region, but for Palestinians it offers neither refuge nor solidarity”
Several times now, I have seen pro-Israelis say to people who are queer that they shouldn’t support Palestinians, because if they were in charge, they would oppress queer people. But I would say being queer and oppressed would be a hell of a lot better than being queer and dead and I would also say that most queer people care a lot more about the genocide of anyone than they do whether or not queer people in the area where the genocide is occurring would be treated well by the people being murdered if they were in charge.
I’m gay. I wouldn’t step foot in either country if you paid me. But I don’t want any of them dead.
I think it’s sick when people exploit LGBT for their own gain. Don’t crash my parade with your protest.
It’s not as if the Jewish view of homosexuality is significantly different from Islam’s. If the only proof they have of anti queer sentiment comes from there fact that there are radical Islamists among them then that same brush could be used to paint Israel just as easily.
It comes from the idea that neighboring Muslim countries have made homosexuality a capital crime. But that doesn’t mean that an independent Palestine will do the same, and even if it does, there has to be a Palestine for that to be an issue.
It comes from the idea that neighboring Muslim countries have made homosexuality a capital crime
As vile as trying to pinkwash Israeli genocide is, concerns about Palestinian persecution of LGBT people are rooted primarily in current behaviors of Palestinian society at large towards LGBT people.
That is not usually what I hear when I hear this argument being made. I hear, “look at Saudi Arabia. How do you think a gay person would be treated in a free Palestine?”
Okay, that may be, but that is not why those people are making that argument because I do not believe they are aware of that. And one murder, tragic as it may be, does not indicate that a free Palestine would make being queer an official capital crime.
And one murder, tragic as it may be, does not indicate that a free Palestine would make being queer an official capital crime.
There’s a UN report on LGBT persecution in occupied Palestine. It’s not pretty. I’m about to head out, but if you want it when I get back, I can dig it up for you.
Again, occupying (and genociding) Palestine is not the answer, of course. But one should have a clear view of what kind of treatment LGBT people will receive in a free Palestine. That is to say, largely the treatment they are receiving now, in occupied Palestine.
That’s a more coherent argument I suppose but it’s a pretty racist one. There’s no shortage of Christian majority nations where homosexuality is criminalized. Would the people making that argument feel the same way about Ukraine for example?
I agree. I don’t mean to suggest it’s a valid argument.
Apologies I didn’t mean to imply you were supporting the argument. I could have phrased it better to make that clearer.
I didn’t think you were, I just wanted to clarify. We’re good.
Homosexuality is not criminalized in Ukraine
It’s a Christian majority though, which is in line with the argument as presented.
It’s far more friendly to LGBT people than other Christian countries like Serbia or Russia
The argument is “Muslim majority countries tend to criminalize homosexuality so you shouldn’t support Palestine because it’s likely to do the same”. The current state of gay rights there isn’t relevant to the argument and not what I’m trying to draw a parallel to with the comparison.
Of course they would
Cool. Let’s maybe not kill every Palestinian and find out if that’s true for sure rather than make assumptions?
Let’s not pretend those are the only choices.
While Israel is trying to kill every Palestinian, I’d say those are, in fact, the only choices.
They are not, in fact, trying to kill every Palestinian
I can’t change peoples’ minds when they’re dead. At least living queerphobes can be reasoned with.
There is a long, well-documented record of the Israeli security services exploiting the sexuality of LGBTQ+ Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, with devastating and sometimes fatal results.
“During my training course in preparation for my service in this assigned role, we actually learned to memorise and filter different words for ‘gay’ in Arabic,” a member of Israel’s intelligence corps testified a decade ago.
“If you’re homosexual and know someone who knows a wanted person, and we need to know about it, Israel will make your life miserable.”
Last year, a Palestinian from Nablus was publicly executed. He had confessed collaboration with Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, saying they used a video of him having sex with another man to blackmail him into informing.
