Wednesday, April 03, 2024
Elder of Ziyon
The one-way relationship between "Queers for Palestine" and Muslim supporters of Hamas is one of the most bizarre aspects of modern antisemitism.
There is no possible reason for people to support those who want to see them dead - unless they want to see Jews dead even more.
So many people try to contextualize anything bad Palestinians do, while ignoring the antisemitism that underlies Israel-bashing. Context is wonderful when used in only one direction. "There is homophobia everywhere!" Yes, but not enshrined into law, and not subject to the death penalty. Sheesh.
Haaretz today writes about documentation Israel discovered in the tunnels under Khan Younis giving first hand details of the torture and eventual execution of a senior Hamas member, Mahmoud Ishtiwi.
"I went through torture that no one has gone through in Palestine, not by the Palestinian Authority, not even at the hands of the Jews, but by Hamas internal security," Mahmoud Ishtiwi wrote before his execution in February 2016.
The documents collected by IDF soldiers also show that following Ishtiwi's execution, Hamas continued to locate, dismiss, interrogate, and torture any member thought to be gay. A secret internal Hamas document from December 2019 discusses the discovery of "un-Islamic" activity by members, including drug use, prohibited relations with young women, theft, and pedophilia.The file suggests that the organization feared anyone engaging in such activities was exposed to blackmail by Israeli security forces. But it seems that the most severe measures were taken against gay men, who were automatically marked as collaborators with Israel – a capital crime punishable by death.
The papers cite examples from 2018, when five Hamas members were arrested and interrogated for "committing the abomination of lying with a man, having illegal relations by a man with young women, taking sleeping pills, watching pornographic films, illegal relations with a young woman online, relations with young children, adultery, lying with a man, and harassment."
The reflexive response to these kinds of stories from gay Hamas supporters is "shut up!" Or, as with wife beating, it is "They only oppress gays because of the occupation!" Or, "Jews are homophobic too!"
Dr. Sa'ed Atshan, a professor of anthropology and peace and conflict studies at Swarthmore College, wrote a book called Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique. He engages in a couple of these responses:
It's very dangerous to pathologize Palestinian society as uniquely homophobic or that homophobia is endemic to the society without this broader context, as well as without understanding the ways that life under brutal military occupation exacerbates homophobia within Palestinian society as well. In order for us to deal with questions of how queer people are treated in Palestine, we have to address the broader landscape of the denial of freedom to Palestinians more generally speaking.
Really? Why? Is it impossible for Palestinians to work towards solving any problems at all as long as Israel exists?
Because that is the real message being given.
(h/t Yoel)
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