Reporter: Tashon Daley
Editors: Natalie Michie and Manuela Vega
The political motive behind the Israeli government’s promotion of LGBTQ rights
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) Ryerson hosted an event on Nov. 25 at the Ryerson Student Centre to address the Israeli government’s LGBTQ campaign.
The small gathering featured a presentation on “pinkwashing.” The term is often used to define campaigns that target the LGBTQ community through marketing and political strategies with the overall goal to appear progressive and accepting.
It is no question that the issue of Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine is polarizing. What makes discussing the matter difficult is the fact that crtitics who denounce the Israeli government face accusations of anti-semitism.
SJP said they hoped the intimate setting of the event would allow attendees to feel open to discussing the controversial topic without facing such backlash.
The event also included questionnaires, which were created with the goal of encouraging members to engage with one another and come to an understanding on the issue of pinkwashing.
Attempts to aid the LGBTQ community in Israel included the move to increase the number of gay MPs in parliament last April.
While this progressive step appears to be about queer liberation, SJP said the government’s overall focus in pinkwashing is to cover up its human rights abuses in Palestine.
“Pinkwashing and homonationalism are two sides of the same coin,” said an SJP spokesperson.
Homonationalism, said the spokesperson, is when a country promotes queer liberation not as a way to serve the LGBTQ community, but as a strategic tactic to bring positive attention to the nation as a whole.
Termed by Women and Gender studies professor Jasbir Puar, homonationalism refers to encouraging nationalistic values on members of the LGBTQ community.
The New York Times has defined pinkwashing as an effort by the Israeli government to use the country’s generally positive record on LGBTQ rights to take away from the human rights abuses in Palestine.
Evident cases that show Israel’s use of pinkwashing include the government’s treatment towards queer Palestinians.
The spokesperson referred to Israeli Intelligence Corps testimonies, where it was revealed that queer Palestinians, among many other Palestinians, were being blackmailed into acting as informants.
“They threatened to out them to their families,” the spokesperson said. “It’s an act of oppression, but no less oppressive than blackmailing others.” By this, the spokesperson referred to the Israeli Intelligence Corps using Palestinians’ health problems and other issues unrelated to sexuality as a means to blackmail them.
The Israeli government also uses pinkwashing to appear more progressive than other Middle Eastern nations, according to SJP.
“Since 2005 onward, the Israeli government has tried to brand Israel, to show itself as progressive and queer-friendly,” said SJP’s spokesperson. “The result of this is positioning Palestinians and Arabs as homophobic,” they said.
Strategies include using phrases like “Israel is the only safe place for gay people in the Middle East,” or “Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East,” said SJP at the event.
(Courtesy of Blue Star PR)
“The whole issue on pinkwashing has been something important to me,” said the SJP spokesperson. “It’s something that has been going on for a long time.”
As a member of the LGBTQ community, the spokesperson said the event was meant to protect the rights of all LGBTQ members, including Palestinians who SJP say are suffering the most due to pinkwashing and human rights abuses.
SJP will be hosting their next event during Israel Apartheid Week in 2020.
To find out more about SJP Ryerson, follow them on Facebook.