Last November, Israel’s official social media accounts shared a photo of a smiling Israeli soldier proudly holding a rainbow flag amid the rubble in Gaza, where over 10,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – had been killed in the weeks following October 7.
Written upon the multi-coloured flag – an iconic, decades-old symbol of LGBTQ+ pride – in English, Arabic and Hebrew, were the words “In The Name Of Love.”
The image quickly went viral. The soldier, a 31-year-old gay man, explained to the media that the Israeli military was “the only army in the Middle East that protects democratic values… it is the only army that allows LGBT people the freedom to be who they are, and therefore I fully believe in our goal.”
Meanwhile, on Instagram, Israel’s account described the image as an “attempt to raise the first pride flag in Gaza as a call for peace and freedom.”
But for many LGBTQ+ activists, and those struggling for Palestinian liberation, the incident represented an almost perfect example of “pinkwashing” – a term that refers to a state or organization’s attempts to use LGBTQ+ rights and symbols to distract or deflect attention from its harmful practices.
I don’t know who that guy is but blackmailing LBTQ Palestinians into spying on their friends and family is really not a great achievement next to genociding them along with every other Palestinian.
But if we’re doing quotes I’d like to quote the queer Jews who got kicked out of the White House pride party recently:
As queer Jews with close LGBTQ family and friends in Israel, we know how precarious their rights are, too. There is no civil marriage, trans rights are consistently attacked and undermined by high-ranking government officials, and Israeli ministers actively spew hate against pride parades, leading to physical violence. LGBTQ Palestinians aren’t being ‘saved’ by Israel. Their identities and their personal lives are exploited by Israeli security services to force them into being informants on their families and communities, putting them at risk.
Imagine for a moment that you’re one of the many wonderful colours in the LGBT rainbow. You’re also a soldier and you’re fighting people who hate you for both your religion and your sexuality. You’re in a place where traditionally folks with your sexuality/gender identity would be systematically executed. Would you not also wear a rainbow pin and take a photo or two to commemorate that moment? To me it feels significant enough
Yeah I’d be raising the rainbow flag over the bunch of kids I just executed for creating some new Zionist Lebensraum. Maybe let’s do a pride parade on the Netzarim corridor.
This whole post is exactly about what you’re trying to do with your pink washing and genocide denial.
Like I implied, obviously not everything is well in Israel. But generally, the term “pink washing” is not useful. Also the war in gaza is not a genocide, but that’s a different topic, I guess.
Edit: Andrei S. Markovits https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Markovits
Edit 2: This is no appeal to authority, the argument is good.
If we’re at genocide denial I don’t know what else to talk about.
Edit: I can look the guy up, my point is just because someone said something it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily relevant let alone true.
Words are cheap nowadays. Read the Israeli answer to the South African claim in The Hague. The intent, which is important in the definition of genocide, is completly lacking. There are some war crimes, but not genocide, at least not at the moment.
Just one more thing: The IDF warns civilians before bombing. Which other army in the world does that? (To be fair: according to the BBC there are some mistakes in the information.)
