Opinion

After Palestinian LGBTQ Ban, Israel Extends Helping Hand

Daniel Pomerantz Contributor
Font Size:

In the wake of a Palestinian Authority police ban on organized activities by LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) groups, Israel has offered a helping hand to those affected, two American Congresswomen have weighed in, and a local Palestinian advocacy group has shifted attention to “the occupation.” Who will be the winners, who will be the losers, and what will happen next?

The most immediate impact of this police crackdown has been on Al-Qaws, a Palestinian organization that advocates on LGBTQ issues in Palestinian society. Al Qaws has always faced an uphill battle, as Palestinian society overwhelmingly rejects homosexuality. The Palestinian government technically keeps a 1936 British Mandate law on the books that criminalizes homosexuality with a punishment of ten years in prison, but in practice, the result for LGBTQ Palestinians is more frequently arrest, torture, blackmail and sometimes even execution. (RELATED: Chicago LGBT March Flies Palestinian Liberation Organization Flags After Kicking Out Jewish Marchers In 2017)

Since the police announcement, members of Al Qaws have received hundreds of threats and hate messages from Palestinians, especially through Facebook. One member of Al Qaws told the Jerusalem Post, “The attack on us is unprecedented … they are calling us traitors and corrupt people and many are calling for our execution. We are afraid for our lives.”

In response, Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem tweeted, “I would like to officially invite the LGBTQ group from the West Bank to hold their event in #jerusalem or closer to home in one of the Jewish community centers in Judea and Samaria. This should not be happening to you and Israel stands with you #LGBTQ.”

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – AUGUST 01: Israelis and members of the gay community attend an anti-homophobia rally on August 1, 2015 in Jerusalem, Israel. Thousands of people took part in rallies across Israel to protest Thursday’s stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade and the West Bank arson attack in which an 18-month-old Palestinian infant was killed. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

There has been some minor pushback against the deputy mayor’s statement from more conservative voices in Israel, including one critic with a small twitter following who replied that Hassan-Nahoum should “be careful” as the Al-Qaws group supports BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, an anti-Israel movement). In fact, Al Qaws does support BDS and its efforts to boycott Israel, yet paradoxically, the organization originally formed as part of Open House, an Israeli LGBTQ advocacy organization, and continues to maintain active locations in Israeli cities, such as Haifa and Tel Aviv.

In an exclusive interview with the Daily Caller, the deputy mayor responded to the various criticisms, saying “we have to be above that,” and that while she has no direct connection to Al Qaws, “if they came to me I’d certainly help them to find a meeting space.” Nahoum-Hassan adds that despite the group’s support for the BDS movement, Israel should nonetheless try to help because, “We’re not solving the conflict by alienating people.”

Open House, a prominent Israeli LGBTQ organization, expressed a similar offer. CEO Ofir Erez told the Daily Caller, “We will continue to give services to all who need.” Erez added that an exercise of police power is especially disturbing because it sets an example to society at large. “If the [Palestinian] police act that way, it may encourage people on the street to act that way as well…it is important not to close our eyes to what is happening.”

Israel is often a destination for LGBTQ Palestinians fleeing from their government. The status of Palestinian LGBTQ asylum seekers is the subject of much debate and litigation in Israel. Nonetheless, Tel Aviv annually hosts one of the larger gay pride parades in the world, and is recognized by Culture Trip as one of the world’s most gay friendly cities.

Al Qaws issued a statement on Twitter stating, “The police claimed [Al Qaws] goes against ‘traditional Palestinian values’ accusing us as ‘foreign agents.’” The statement continued, “We believe that the police and Palestinian society at large should focus on combatting the occupation…instead of prosecuting activists.” U.S. Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib weighed in on Twitter as well, with Omar, tweeting that this issue should not be allowed to serve as a “distraction” from the “occupation,” a charge sometimes called, “pinkwashing.” It is not clear whether Al Qaws and Omar were referring to the official Palestinian definition of “occupation,” which refers to all of Israel. (RELATED: Al Jazeera Falsely Claims A Palestinian Four-Year-Old Was Questioned By Israeli Authorities)

The Israeli LGBTQ organization Open House is no stranger to the charge of “pinkwashing,” but states firmly, that the group is not engaged in deflecting from or toward any issue beyond their specific mission. According to CEO Ofir Erez, Open House does not engage in “hasbara” (public diplomacy on behalf of Israel) nor does it work with the government on issues unrelated to its mandate. “There are a lot of social and political issues in Israel, and there are plenty of other organizations that deal with them,” says Erez, but he adds, “there are [LGBTQ] people in need right here and now. We give services to the community and our interest is only what is best for the people in the community.”

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – AUGUST 01: Israelis and members of the gay community attend an anti-homophobia rally on August 1, 2015 in Jerusalem, Israel. Thousands of people took part in rallies across Israel to protest Thursday’s stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade and the West Bank arson attack in which an 18-month-old Palestinian infant was killed. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

This week, under pressure from Members of the UK Parlaiement, senior Palestinian diplomat to the UK Husam Zomlot stated, “Palestine honours and respects the dignity of all Palestinians and does not discriminate or tolerate any form of discrimination.” He elaborated that Palestinian Authority police spokesman Louay Arzeikat’s statement reflected only his personal views and was “removed at the instructions of the government.”

As of publication time, HonestReporting’s Arabic language research division has not been able to find any mention of this decision by Palestinian press or government, which calls into question whether Zomlot’s statement reflects a real policy change, or merely a toothless statement made for the benefit of UK lawmakers.

It seems the Al Qaws organization is not taking any chances: it has not scheduled public events, published original content, or released updates to its web site since the police ban.

The unasked question by all parties and much of the media is: why are we talking about Israel at all? Beyond Jersulem’s official and private offers to provide a safe space, Israel is essentially powerless to impact this issue directly: despite charges of “occupation,” Israel’s level of control in the disputed territories is primarily limited to security matters, whereas the Palestinian residents are citizens of the Palestinian Authority government, and subject to its laws.

One explanation for this non-sequitur may be that by invoking the essentially unrelated issue of Israel, the activists attempt to refute the claim that they stand against “traditional Palestinian values.” Indeed, invoking Israel even gained Al Qaws support from U.S. Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar.

Al Qaws urged the Palestinian police to focus on combatting Israel, yet could not even bring itself to demand that the police protect their own members in the face of death threats from Palestinians. This is to say nothing of the Palestinian police’s frequent arrest, torture and execution of LGBTQ people.

As of publication, the Palestinian anti-LGBTQ police order remains in effect, the death threats are ongoing, and Al Qaws appears to have ceased organizing public events. The organization continues to enjoy open offers from Israeli government officials and private organizations for safe spaces, logistical help and community support. So far, the Palestinian group has not accepted such assistance.

The real losers in this tragic debate are turning out to be LGBTQ Palestinians. To treat the legal and physical oppression of LGBTQ Palestinians as a “distraction” (in the words of Rep. Ilhan Omar), or as something secondary to fighting against Israel (as described in the Al Qaws statement), all but ensures that Palestinian LGBTQ issues will fail to gain the kind of serious support necessary for real change.

Daniel Pomerantz is executive director of HonestReporting, a nonprofit defending Israel from media bias.

Tags : israel
Daniel Pomerantz

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel