The Palestinian Authority (PA) has banned LGBT activities in the West Bank, launching a search for gay rights activists. The main target of the crackdown is a group called Al-Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society. The leading Palestinian gay rights group was planning to hold a meeting of its members later this month.
“The attack on us is unprecedented,” a member of Al-Qaws told The Jerusalem Post. “They are calling us traitors and corrupt people, and many are calling for our execution. We are afraid for our lives.”
The Palestinian police are urging the public to inform on LGBT activities. The authorities called on people “to contact the police and report any person who has a connection to this [Al-Qaws] organization,” the watchdog Pal Media Watch reported citing Palestinian police sources.
The Palestinian crackdown is a slap in the face of Western LGBT groups supporting a vicious Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. Several LGBT rights activists in Europe and North America have rallied under the banner of “Queers for Palestine” to vilify Israel, the only safe haven for gays in the entire Middle East.
Jerusalem-based newspaper Israel Hayom reported:
The Palestinian Police in the West Bank have banned a Palestinian LGBTQ rights group from organizing any activities, saying such activities go against the “values of Palestinian society.”According to Palestinian media, activists were barred from holding rallies or pride parades and were warned that doing so would result in their arrest.Palestinian Authority Police Spokesman Louay Arzeikat said that such events organized by the group Al Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society “go against and infringe upon the higher principles and values of Palestinian society.” (…)Arzeikat asserted that “suspicious individuals” were trying to “sow discord and undermine Palestinian society’s peaceful state of affairs.” He called on Palestinians to report on any al Qaws activity, promising informers confidentiality, and said that the police would pursue al Qaws’s activists and turn them over to judicial authorities if they are apprehended.The statement followed a Facebook post by al Qaws, saying it planned to hold a gathering in Nablus on Aug. 4 that discussed gender pluralism in the city.
Ironically, under siege in Gaza and the West Bank, the Palestinian gay rights group Al-Qaws is carrying out its activities from offices in East Jerusalem and Haifa, both located in Israel.
Meanwhile, the ‘pro-Palestinian’ LGBT groups in the West are busy hijacking gay events to spread their anti-Israel message. Berlin witnessed a “Queers for Palestine” march in July. According to the organizers, the rally had been called in “solidarity with the Palestinian struggle” and against the “politics of White entitlement.” The German gay rights group described itself as being “firmly committed to anti-oppression, including against all forms of racism, colonialism, ableism, whorephobia, queer- and transphobia.”
The mainstream German LGBT groups have sought to distance themselves from these anti-Israel activists. Earlier this year, the German parliament and leading student groups had declared the BDS Movement as antisemitic. This action severely crippled the campaign’s ability to get access to public funds and venues.
The police crackdown on Palestinian gays once again highlights the hypocrisy of anti-Israel LGBT activists. While they march as “Queers for Palestine,” the Palestinian leadership wages an open war on gay Palestinians. They disregard the fact that the only safe place for Palestinian LGBT groups to operate without fear happens to be Israel. It may be woke to be “Queer for Palestine” in London or Berlin, but being queer in Palestine is a whole different ball game.
A European LGBT activist on gay rights in Israel
[Cover image via YouTube]
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY