Israel presents itself as an LGBT haven in the region, but for Palestinians it offers neither refuge nor solidarity
One of two images of Israeli soldier Yoav Atzmoni that was posted on Instagram by the Israeli government in November 2023 with the caption: “The first ever pride flag raised in Gaza”.One of two images of Israeli soldier Yoav Atzmoni that was posted on Instagram by the Israeli government in November 2023 with the caption: “The first ever pride flag raised in Gaza”.in the old port city of Jaffa, a historic centre of Palestinian culture, he was overcome by a wave of revulsion.
“That cognitive disconnect of seeing what else is in the image – rubble that was people’s homes – then seeing the flag being displayed in a celebratory way. It is a massive violation to people who have fought for their rights under this flag.”because they say it aims to bolster the Israeli state by linking it with queerness, presenting it as an explicit counterpart to a Palestinian identity depicted as exclusively and violently homophobic.
The scale of death and destruction in Gaza has made the struggle for queer rights less urgent for many LGBTQ+ Palestinians. “For me now, the Palestinian flag should be raised, not the Pride flag,” Daoud said. “The Israeli rhetoric just makes it even harder for LGBTQ Palestinians, because it reinforces the idea that queerness exists nowhere else … It erases the fact that there are Palestinian activists, queer Palestinians.”Despite Covid, thousands marched during the 2020 Pride in Tel Aviv, home to the Middle East’s biggest Pride parade.Even for the Jewish majority in the LGBTQ+ community, Israel’s track record on equal rights is outpaced by its official propaganda.
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 “I thought: ‘What do I have in common with gays whose entire struggle is to be able to have their partners from Germany or Spain come to live with them here when I am not even allowed to bring my relative for a visit ?’” he said. “It’s not even the same universe.”
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