"Israel is promoting its gay rights advances internationally to make it seem modern, veiling its violations of Palestinians’ human rights."
Sculman tells us of "a nefarious phenomenon: the co-opting of white gay people by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim political forces in Western Europe and Israel." A "nefarious phenomenon"? Given the title of Schulman's op-ed, I would have expected more details in her op-ed concerning Israel's violation of Palestinians' human rights, but try as I might, I could barely find them.
Schulman complains of Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank, but fails to observe that during Netanyahu's current term as prime minister, their number has been reduced over the past three years from 41 to 15, through which traffic flows freely.
Schulman speaks of "The growing global gay movement against the Israeli occupation," but nowhere mentions that Gaza was entirely evacuated by Israel, leading to more than 10,000 missiles, rockets and mortar shells being fired from Gaza at civilian targets in southern Israel. Needless to say, no mention of this "nefarious phenomenon" by Schulman.
Also, on the subject of "occupation," Schulman makes no mention of the offers by Israeli prime ministers Barak and Olmert to evacuate the West Bank with land swaps, and, in the instance of Olmert, with sharing of the holy sites in Jerusalem, which were refused by Arafat and later by Abbas.
Schulman writes:
"Pinkwashing not only manipulates the hard-won gains of Israel’s gay community, but it also ignores the existence of Palestinian gay-rights organizations. Homosexuality has been decriminalized in the West Bank since the 1950s, when anti-sodomy laws imposed under British colonial influence were removed from the Jordanian penal code, which Palestinians follow."
Fascinating. However, Schulman apparently does not understand that although homosexuality may have been decriminalized under the Jordanian penal code, this does not mean that gays are safe in either the West Bank or Gaza. As stated by Kathleen Peratis in an article entitled "For Gay Palestinians, Tel Aviv Is Mecca" (http://www.forward.com/articles/1125/), which is still highly relevant:
"Arab human rights organizations sometimes advocate for gay rights, but they do so sotto voce. In fact, the only country in the Middle East in which gay people may safely leave the closet is Israel. Which is why, for gay Palestinians, Tel Aviv is Mecca.
Gay Palestinian men flee to Israel because they are not safe in the West Bank and Gaza. They also have no place else to go.
'Israel is close and far at the same time,' says Haneen Maikey, a gay rights activist with Jerusalem Open House, one of the principal gay rights organizations in Israel. If the sexuality of a gay man in Palestine is exposed, his family might torture or kill him and the police will turn a blind eye."
Stranger still, Schulman entirely avoids the issue of "honor killings" directed against Palestinian women (see: http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/10/honor-killing-mere-mile-away.html).
Moreover, Schulman doesn't even attempt to distinguish among the situations existing for gay Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel.
My advice to Schulman, who I'm certain is an expert concerning matters pertaining to the gay communities in the US, but obviously has limited information concerning Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is that she should stick to writing about things that she knows. Quite honestly, I'm a bit surprised that even Andy Rosenthal and friends would publish Schulman's highly politicized twaddle, but I suppose it's just another sign of the Times.
