New head of Palestinian gay rights group lives in Haifa

June is Pride Month, and anti-Israel activists are trying to use gay rights to attack Israel as a "pinkwasher."

As usual, they aren't saying a word about gay rights under PA or Hamas rule.

In 2016, Hamas executed a leader Mahmoud Ishtiwi for being gay.

In 2019 the PA announced that LGBTQ groups may not meet in the West Bank  because they are "harmful to the higher values and ideals of Palestinian society".

The PA police blackmails gay men to be spies.

The main organization that fights for gay rights in the West Bank is AlQaws. Their annual report is obsessed with - Israel. Here was one of their online events last year.

They were also very upset when a Palestinian food manufacturer Al Arz Tahin made a substantial donation to an Israeli LGBT organization to establish a support hotline for LGBT Palestinians. Yes, they were against this, saying "The Al Arz donation controversy offered a unique opportunity to foreground our critique of capitalism and its intersections with colonialism and patriarchy."

Oh, of course. 

The new director of AlQaws is Haneen Sader. You might think it is surprising that she reveals her name, given how anti-gay Palestinian society is, but she is an Israeli Arab who lives in Haifa.

Yes, the main person attacking Israel for its supposed persecution of Palestinian gays is living a free and openly gay life in Israel.

And she works for Apple.  Her anti-capitalist stance does not extend to her refusing to work for a multi-billion dollar international company. 

There is no doubt that  AlQaws actually does quietly fight t help gay people in the West Bank, a thankless task given how anti-gay Palestinian society is. Nevertheless, their public stances tend to criticize Israel and not the political leaders of the Palestinians, because any and every Palestinian organization and platform knows the rules - they must be united in their stance that Israel is the worst country on Earth.

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