A friend sent this mural from the West Village in New York; snapped it while running. It looks like some alumni of Birthright put it up–
Who would you want at your wedding? Photo by Michael Ratner
And it’s a pinkwashing appeal, stating that gays have much more freedom in Israel than they do in neighboring countries– including Gaza, which by the way is Israeli occupied territory. Sarah Schulman of course exposed this argument in her famous pinkwashing op-ed in the Times of a year ago, in which she said that Israel used an “image of modernity” — gay freedom — to cover up its denial of human rights to Palestinians. Israel advertises these freedoms in order to justify what it does. As does birthright!
I look on Schulman as a teacher; and still this gay rights argument resonates in the U.S. –as would a women’s rights mural with a similar message. I know liberal Americans who are swayed by it. Quick answers: Palestinian culture being traditional doesn’t justify apartheid and human rights violations; political freedom for Gazans is bound to generate freedom in other realms; fundamentalist Christians and Jews are hardly tolerant of gays. And it’s not like the United States is there either, by the way…
Whoops. They put it up on a wall in Little Rock. Support for Israel plummets.
“including Gaza, which by the way is Israeli occupied territory”
well……… reality is that, “Gaza was captured by Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, but in 1993, the city was transferred to the Palestinian National Authority.”
Some questions :
1.If you were an openly gay person, where would you rather be, Tel Aviv or Gaza?
2.Phil’s caption is “brought to you by Birthright”. Yet in the text it says “looks like” something put out by an alumni of Birthright. So what is it? Does Birthright have anything to do with the mural?
3. How can Gaza be under the control of the PA or under Israeli occupation, when in reality it’s under effective Hamas rule?
” stating that gays have much more freedom in Israel than they do in neighboring countries”
Facts are hard things to deal with, Phil. Sorry.
Israel retains the right to block access to and from Gaza. She decides what goods go in, and what goods go out. She kills whomever she pleases there, whenever she pleases.
She continues to rule Gaza. I’d say asserting the right to put people to death at will is a good measure of sovereignty.