The cynicism is almost beyond belief. Even the language they use shows that they know that this has nothing to do with reality.Here we reproduce two draft e-mails which have been suggested by the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) coordination team of the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine (ECCP). ECCP is a network of 43 European organisations, NGOs, trade unions and solidarity groups from 18 European countries, dedicated to the struggle of the Palestinian people for freedom, justice and equality.We find that this attempt to link different struggles – to show that Palestinian rights are indivisible from the rights of women and LGBTQI+ people – is an important development in building an international movement to support the Palestinians. We therefore urge you to support the ECI initiative and to send these mails to any relevant organisations with which you are in contact.In particular, the mails ask for support for the ongoing ECI to #StopSettlements and stop EU complicity with the oppression of Palestinians. An ECI is more than just a “normal” petition. If the initiative receives one million validated signatures, the EU Commission is legally obliged to respond to the demand for a ban on illegal trading with the occupied territories.
But they know that they must "link" the "struggles." And, as a result, Palestinian women and gays remain imprisoned by laws that are explicitly against them, because their natural allies in the West are being told to concentrate their efforts against the most liberal, pro-gay, pro-woman state in the Middle East.
The draft letters are even more of a joke. For the pro-women's groups:
As Europeans fighting for gender equality, and against sexism and the patriarchal system in our countries, we bear a responsibility to support our sisters’ fights abroad. Including in Palestine where Palestinian women resists the Israeli apartheid regime and demand the fulfilment of Palestinian rights. Our Palestinian sisters are not only confronted with gender violence, femicide but also Israeli settler colonialism which constitutes a gender violence in itself. Israeli occupation and colonisation add another layer of oppression and contribute to gender-based violence within Palestinian communities.
That last sentence translates to "Palestinian men beat their wives and daughters, and we blame Israel."
For the pro-LGBTQ groups:
The Palestinian struggle is deeply committed to addressing gender violence, feminicide, queerphobia and settler colonialism, which are co-constitutive of each other. The State of Israel and its supporters use Pinkwashing as a strategy to cynically exploit LGBTQIA+ rights in order to project a progressive image of Israel while concealing its occupation and apartheid policies oppressing Palestinians.Awareness that queer and trans-liberation cannot be separated from Palestinian liberation is growing. As Europeans fighting against sexism, patriarchy, queerphobia and all systems of oppression in our countries, we must support Palestinian people in their struggle for their rights and against the Israeli settler colonial system.
If you really support Palestinians and LGBTQ/women's rights, you would protest Palestinian policies, not Israeli policies!
Fully one out of every three married Palestinian women suffer physical violence by their husbands. Initiatives like these tell these women, sorry, you aren't important.
By prioritizing protesting Israel over the Palestinian Authority and Hamas that have laws against gender equality and gay rights, these groups are showing that their hate for Israel takes priority over their love for their fellow LGBTQ and women in the territories!
That is the nature of antisemitism, both new and old - the hate is so powerful, that people are eager to throw their own purported allies under the bus just to have a chance at hurting Jews.
(h/t DL)
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