Don’t allow Israel to ‘pinkwash’ genocide

Interestingly, the movement to secure the rights of LGBTQ people is being instrumentalised to cover up its mass killing of Palestinians.

If you are a sceptic when it comes to the efficacy of soft power, watch what Israel is doing. Acutely aware that it is being isolated on the global stage despite its military might, Israel is desperately trying to tidy up its image.

Interestingly, the movement to secure the rights of LGBTQ people is being instrumentalised to cover up its mass killing of Palestinians. ([Photo credit: AFP])

Interestingly, the movement to secure the rights of LGBTQ people is being instrumentalised to cover up its mass killing of Palestinians.

Israel is actively positioning itself as the only LGBTQ-friendly country in West Asia. It hosts delegations of LGBTQ activists from around the world, and this happened again at the recent Tel Aviv Pride. With its credibility on the decline, Israel is banking on activists to boost its status.

Literature festivals in India are no longer ecstatic about partnering with the Embassy of Israel, either because of ideological solidarity with Palestine or because they fear being cancelled by writers who support the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

With the shrinking space for Israel to have its official voice heard in India’s cultural sector, it needs new allies. India’s LGBTQ community presents itself as easy prey to pounce upon.

Indian activists must refuse to be co-opted as ambassadors for Brand Israel, a marketing campaign to promote the country as a tourist destination and safe haven for LGBTQ travellers.

While it is true that homosexuality is legal in Israel, the government subsidises gender-affirming care for transgender people, and that LGBTQ Israelis can serve in the Israel Defence Forces, let us not pretend that homophobia is absent. In Israel, marriage is regulated by Jewish religious law, which does not give its blessing to same-sex unions.

Couples wanting legal recognition are required to get married overseas. It is not uncommon to get married in Canada, Europe and the US. Other couples stay back in Israel but have their wedding officiated in the American state of Utah via video-teleconference. Such weddings are legally recognised in Israel.

Another option is to go to Cyprus, which is close to Israel, but Cyprus recognises civil unions and not same-sex marriages. Due to the influence of the church on Cypriot law, marriage is a sacrament and possible only between one man and one woman. While civil unions do not guarantee respectability, they do assure couples of legal protections and property rights.

It is equally important to understand how Israel exploits LGBTQ people. In 2020, Sa’ed Atshan, a queer Christian, who grew up in Palestine and now lives in the US, lifted the veil of silence with his book Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique. During my interview with him, he spoke about Israel’s “homonationalism”, which involves recruiting queer Palestinians as collaborators and informers to deceive and harm fellow Palestinians.

The existence of homophobia in Palestinian society is an issue that needs to be addressed honestly, but it should not never be used as a justification to dehumanise and kill Palestinians.

A country that is genuinely committed to the well-being of LGBTQ people would never threaten to “out” some of the most vulnerable people in the world to their family. This is a cowardly move.

When LGBTQ rights activists choose to visit Israel during Pride events, it is worrying because they participate in erasing the violence that is perpetrated on Palestinian minds and bodies. Palestinian lives are not expendable.

We cannot afford to overlook the fact that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Indian activists who argue that LGBTQ people, who are already marginalised, should not be burdened with the moral responsibility to speak up for Palestinians too, ought to recall American poet-activist Audre Lorde. In her Black History Month talk at Harvard University in 1982, Lorde said, “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”

Since Israel actively mutes criticism of its policies by Palestinian and pro-Palestinian voices, labelling such criticism as anti-Semitic, it is worth mentioning that there is a worldwide movement called No Pride in Genocide, and that queer Jewish intellectuals and activists such as Judith Butler, Sarah Schulman and Benjamin Moser have also exposed Israel’s pinkwashing.

Israel might be progressive in some respects but United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s reports clearly note that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide.

One is reminded of Lady Macbeth, one of William Shakespeare’s most haunting creations, saying, “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” The same goes for Israel and Netanyahu.

Chintan Girish Modi is a writer and literary critic with a background in peacebuilding. The views expressed are personal