"In place of testimonies provided by Palestinians who identify as LGBTQIA+, you’ve relied on your “Israeli interviewees to share their insights on them.” For a journalist to rely on perspectives provided by citizens of an occupying (“oppressor”) force concerning the perceived queerness or homophobia of the occupied (“oppressed”) is fundamentally irresponsible. Further, only interviewing gay Israeli men, the majority of whom are in the IDF, to deliver a well-rounded account of why queer activism in support of Palestine is illogical or contradictory, is unintelligent and careless."
June 6, 2024
To:
Adam Zivo, Journalist, National Post
Rob Roberts, National Post
Dear Adam Zivo and Rob Roberts,
In terms of complying with journalistic standards, this article is certainly lacking. From falsely claiming that Hamas fighters exclaiming “omo, omo, omo” on Oct. 7 was slang for saying “homosexual,” when they were, in fact, yelling get up in Arabic, to making broad-brush generalizations like “Hamas murders gay people,” relaying these types of falsehoods dampens the National Post’s credibility. More importantly, however, this article is a clear case of pinkwashing and excludes, perhaps, the most integral piece of the puzzle: the link between homophobia and Israel’s violent occupation and dispossession of Palestine and its indigenous Palestinians.
In this article, you’ve positioned Israel as a “safe-haven” for members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community living in the Middle East. This is similar to Israel marketing as a safe-haven for Jews and demonizing surrounding countries as antisemitic to justify the existence of Israel and, subsequently, its violent occupation of Palestine. Meanwhile, Israeli police violently beat Orthodox Jews who are protesting against mandatory conscription, as it interrupts their religious studies. Sa’ed Atshan defines pinkwashing as a discourse on “Israeli LGBTQ rights aimed at detracting attention from violations of Palestinian human rights.”[1] Rather than “improve global standing by providing Palestinians with basic human rights,” Israel markets itself as a state that supports LGBTQ communities and slanders Palestine as an innately homophobic entity. Some examples of pinkwashing in your article include the following statements:
- Commentators noted that not only does Hamas murder gay people, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that supports queer rights.
- Still, he said he felt extremely lucky to be Israeli considering the lethal homophobia elsewhere in the Middle East. His own family had fled from Iran, where being gay is lethally punishable by death.
- Rainbow flags hung above the pool and the gym was packed with gay men. As we entered, a trans woman who helped manage the place welcomed us warmly. (Note: did you interview the trans woman and ask about their experience in Israel as a trans person, or are you just tokenizing their identity to further your argument?)
- These murders are tolerated by local authorities and occur in parallel to state-backed violence against sexual minorities.
- Caught between violent relatives and predatory security forces, many gay Palestinians from the West Bank flee to Israel for safety (those in Gaza, where the borders are sealed, escape to Egypt.
Generalizing statements like these alienate queer Palestinians from their homeland and convey queerness in Palestine in a crude, oversimplistic manner. Though I don’t expect this particular testimony written by Sa’ed Atshan to fully represent queerness in Palestine, I encourage you to read it and reflect on the fact that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is the principal restraint of its queer scene:
Although survey data reveals that my society of origin overwhelmingly holds unfavorable views on LGBTQ issues, rendering it impossible for me to live with equality as an openly gay man were I to return to Palestine permanently, my love for my ancestral land and compassion for its people only deepens. My LGBTQ rights activism is naturally an extension of the struggle for Palestinian human rights, to which I am also deeply committed. I truly believe that my people, with increased political freedom and exposure to more knowledge on queer struggles, would largely embrace their queer and trans family members, neighbors, and other LGBTQ individuals and communities.
How does an article titled, ‘So Stupid’: What gay Israelis think about queer activism that glorifies Hamas’” omit addressing the critical role that Israel’s occupation of Palestine has on the dampening of Palestinians’ fundamental rights. In a 12-page article, the following words or phrases associated with Israel’s occupation are not stated once:
Occupation
Pinkwashing
Bombing
Right to live
Blockade
Forced Starvation
Deliberate targeting of civilians
I’d like to point you to a Montreal-based community generated counter-mapping platform for digitally archiving LGBTQ2IA+ experience in relation to physical space called “Queering the Map.” Testimonies of queer Palestinians in Gaza from Queering the Map have revealed how Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and Palestine writ large have been the principal source of distress and mourning in their lives. Queer love stories violently put to and end because of Israel’s genocide.
I am particularly disappointed by the narrow perspectives that have driven your writing of this piece. As a disclaimer, you write the following:
I interviewed four gay Israeli men, each with distinct experiences and perspectives. They were by no means a comprehensive cross-section of Israel’s LGBTQ community, but they opened a window into their world. Amid tight timelines, I was unable to secure interviews with gay Palestinians, who can be notoriously difficult to track down because they fear revealing themselves, so as an imperfect substitute, I asked my Israeli interviewees to share their insights on them.
In place of testimonies provided by Palestinians who identify as LGBTQIA+, you’ve relied on your “Israeli interviewees to share their insights on them.” For a journalist to rely on perspectives provided by citizens of an occupying (“oppressor”) force concerning the perceived queerness or homophobia of the occupied (“oppressed”) is fundamentally irresponsible. Further, only interviewing gay Israeli men, the majority of whom are in the IDF, to deliver a well-rounded account of why queer activism in support of Palestine is illogical or contradictory, is unintelligent and careless. There is an exhaustive record of queer Palestinian theory and its omission from this article was either deliberate or a sign of inadequate research. In either case, it’s poor journalism.
I recognize that any requests to edit this article will be met with passivity. As such, I just ask that you consider points and perspectives provided by queer Palestinian activists when writing future articles about this topic.
Sincerely,
Rose Mardikian,
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
[1] Sa’ed Atshan, Queer Palestine and The Empire of Critique, Stanford University Press, 2020, pp. 3.