[News] Queer Israelis back suspension of pro-Gaza war group from LGBTQ+ federation

[Anti-Imperialist News]

middleeasteye.net
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-queer-back-suspension-gaza-war-lgbtq>
Queer Israelis back suspension of pro-Gaza war group from LGBTQ+ federation
By Lubna Masarwa and Dania Akkad
November 4, 2024
------------------------------

Over 100 queer <https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/lgbt> Israeli
<https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel> activists have thrown
their support <https://queersagainstgenocideil.wordpress.com/> behind the
suspension of Israeli organisation The Aguda from a major global LGBTQ+
advocacy group.

In an open letter, the activists have called on the International Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, known as ILGA World
<https://ilga.org/>, to "immediately expel organisations complicit in
apartheid and genocide from its membership".

The letter <https://queersagainstgenocideil.wordpress.com/>, which
welcomed ILGA World's recent decision to remove The Aguda’s bid to host its
next conference in Tel Aviv, is signed by activists calling themselves
"Queers Against Genocide". The signatories said they had withheld their
identities because of safety concerns.

"As bi, trans, queer, lesbian and gay activists, it's our obligation to
stand shoulder to shoulder with our Palestinian comrades, fight alongside
them for decolonisation, life and liberation, and against any form of
oppression," they write.

"Many of us have marched in the past decades under the banner 'No Pride in
Occupation', and now continue to shout out: No Pride in Genocide!"
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Last week, ILGA World announced it had suspended the membership of The Aguda
<https://www.lgbt.org.il/english-new>, an umbrella organisation for
Israel’s LGBTQ+ community, and dropped the Israeli group's proposal to hold
the next ILGA World conference in Tel Aviv.

“We've been calling to boycott Israeli LGBTQ+ organisations for years now,
begging international organisations to help us hold them accountable for
their part in pinkwashing and participating in Zionist war crimes. Finally,
and only when things have gotten to genocidal proportions, we see small
action in the right direction," Yosef(a) Mekyton, who signed the letter,
told Middle East Eye.

'The ugliest most revolting thing a minority group can do is build its
assimilation project on murdering other oppressed people. Shame on the
Aguda'

- *Yosef(a) Mekyton, signatory to letter*

"We are pleased with the steps ILGA took, but it is too little and for so
many Palestinians - also too late. The ugliest most revolting thing a
minority group can do is build its assimilation project on murdering other
oppressed people. Shame on the Aguda, and we hope ILGA will remove them
permanently, together with every Jewish-supremacist group.”

Another activist who signed the letter, but preferred to remain anonymous,
told MEE: “As a Jewish Israeli lesbian, I'm outraged at The Aguda claiming
to speak for LGBTQI movements or be the 'liberal voice', while pinkwashing
Israeli apartheid and genocide. They are discredited by their complete
alignment with the military and state establishment, in this time of the
most despicable crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people."

"Queer politics are about crossing-border solidarity and defying
nationalism and racism. It is about resisting oppression, not pinkwashing
it. ILGA must respect the queer activists worldwide leading the fight
against colonialism and for liberation, and its own human rights values,
and proceed to expel The Aguda from membership,” the signatory to the
letter said.

ILGA World's move to suspend The Aguda came after pressure from Palestinian
LGBTQ+ organisations, which raised major concerns
<https://alqaws.org/articles/URGENT-APPEAL-to-ILGA-World-Reject-Israeli-LGBT-Groups-Bid-Cancel-their-Membership?category_id=0>
about how Israeli LGBTQ+ groups have historically helped “pinkwash” and
divert attention from Israel’s crimes against Palestinians.
Bearing witness

The Palestinian <https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/palestine> groups
called for ILGA World to expel all Israeli LGBTQ+ groups "immediately and
with no further review or a need to collect evidence".

The Israeli activists on Monday said they were "dismayed" that ILGA World
had demanded that Palestinian LGBTQ+ activists present evidence of their
own oppression.

"It is our responsibility to bear witness and testify to the oppression and
violence endemic to the society we come from and the apartheid regime we
exist in, and are, unfortunately, complicit in," they wrote.

<https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/lgbtq-palestinian-israeli-suspend-boycott>

Major LGBTQ+ federation suspends Israeli group, drops bid for Tel Aviv event


"We make ourselves readily available to produce evidence as necessary and
provide several brief examples in this letter."

MEE has approached ILGA World for comment.

The Israeli activists also raised concerns in the letter about the Aguda,
which they said has actively participated "in the practice of pinkwashing
the genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity" perpetrated by the
state of Israel and its military.

They pointed to "a quasi-military ceremony" which they said was organised
by the Aguda during Pride Month in June. This saw 13 gay, lesbian and trans
individuals honoured for their contributions and heroism during the Gaza
war.

The Aguda has said
<https://www.instagram.com/the_aguda/p/DBv8UNBN4E9/?img_index=3> it was
"deeply disappointed" with ILGA World's decision.

"The Israeli LGBTQ+ identity embraces both service and contribution to the
state as citizens, while continuing to fight for the values of democracy
and human rights in the society in which we live," it said.

"As a community, we should not bear responsibility for government policy,
and we expect the international community to support liberal voices rather
than boycott them."
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