The document discusses how Israel uses propaganda tactics known as "pinkwashing" to portray itself as progressive and supportive of LGBTQ rights, in order to distract from its violations of Palestinian human rights under the apartheid system. It provides examples of how Israeli government organizations and non-profits promote Israel's LGBTQ-friendly image abroad, without acknowledging the oppression of Palestinians. It also highlights Palestinian LGBTQ groups advocating for boycotts against Israel to oppose the apartheid policies.

1. apartheid the Israeli government controls
most of the roads in the West Bank and
around it, as well as most of Gaza strip's
connections with the outer world – in the air,
land and sea. In addition, Israel controls
most of the 'legitimate' money and goods
transfer junctions in the West Bank and
Gaza. Thus, the entire population residing
between the Jordan River and the
Mediterranean Sea are under the direct
control of the Israeli government. The Arab
population are subject to constant
humiliation through the checkpoint system,
military occupation of their towns, home
demolitions, frequent arrests, administrative
detention, settlement expansion, racism, and
physical and mental abuse from settlers. Half
of the inhabitants of this territory are
Palestinians, when four million of those
Palestinians are denied any civil rights, they
are not considered citizens.
pinkwashing stands for the various
actions made by actors who have an interest
in promoting the state of Israel as a
“Western-liberal-democracy” in an effort to
distract from the apartheid policies of the
state and Israel’s many recorded human
rights violations. These activities include
various tourism campaigns directed at
international audiences promoting Tel Aviv
as the "Gay capital of the Middle East". The
actors might include the Israeli Army
Spokesperson office, the Israeli Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, American Zionist NGOs,
Israeli Zionist NGOs, journalists and pretty
much any other individual who sees value in
promoting Israel's "Western-liberal
democratic" representation.
STOP
PINKWASHING
APARTHEID
More information...
Aswat: www.aswatgroup.org/en
alQaws: www.alqaws.org/q/en
Palestinian Queers for BDS: www.pqbds.com
Israeli Laundry: www.israelilaundry.org
Pinkwatching Israel: www.pinkwatchingisrael.com
Rationalizing Pinkwashing: How Do Israeli Gay Activists
Promote the Apartheid Regime?: academia.edu/3372038/
The World’s Fattest Rainbow: www.thestar.com/opinion/
commentary/2013/06/28/the_worlds_fattest_rainbow.html
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights
at Western University
We are a human rights club that is dedicated to nonviolent
forms of protest and resistance. SPHR aims to educate people
about the daily struggles of the Palestinians and we try to
educate others by drawing parallels between the historical and
recent struggles of other humans around the globe.
We wish to raise awareness about the plight of the Palestinian
diaspora that live scattered across the world. We also seek to
inform about the system of Apartheid that Israel is building in
the West Bank and Gaza, as well as in Israel proper.
We advocate the use of peaceful, non-violent resistance to
apply pressure on Israel to comply with international law. We
formally endorse the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
initiative, as well as the Canadian Boat to Gaza and the
Freedom Flotilla 2.
www.facebook.com/SPHRATUWO
@SPHRUWestern
sphratuwo@gmail.com
Pinkwashing is a common propaganda device utilized by the state
of Israel in an attempt to gain LGBTQ support for the Israeli state by
painting Israel as a safe-haven for gays against the backdrop of a
“backward” Middle-East. Israel’s mythologized acceptance of gays
has been used on the international stage to take the focus away its
ongoing and brutal oppression of Palestinians and the apartheid
policies of the state.

2. IDF’s Gay Pride Facebook photo goes viral
The Times of Israel, June 12, 2012.
In 2012, Israel’s army obligingly posted to
its Facebook page a photo of two male
Israeli soldiers sauntering down the street,
hand in hand. The insinuation: Israel’s
army is a warm-hearted institution
welcoming gay couples. It even lets them
hold hands in front of civilians; surely such
a tolerant army can’t be conducting a
brutal, racist occupation!
However, the photo was staged: the two
soldiers in the photo are not a couple, only
one of them is gay, and both work in the
army spokesperson’s office.
But even had the two been a genuine
couple, there’s a larger, inconvenient truth:
accepting gays into its army and
welcoming tourists to gay-friendly party-hardy
Tel Aviv don’t diminish one iota
Israel’s ongoing massive violations of both
international law and Palestinians’
fundamental human rights.
Queer Women of Color Still Face Racism
During Pride, Among Other Things
Spectra Speaks, June 9 2011.
Palestinian Queers for BDS (PQBDS) is
a group of Palestinian queer activists who
live in the Palestinian Occupied Territory
and inside Israel, who came together to
promote and stand for the Palestinian civil
society call for Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions against Israel, that was
launched in July 2005.
Aswat is a group of lesbian, bisexual,
transgender, intersex, questioning and
queer Palestinian women who came
together in 2002 and established a home
for Palestinian LBTQI women to allow safe,
supportive and empowering spaces to
express and address personal, social and
political struggles as a national indigenous
minority living inside Israel; as women in a
patriarchal society; and as LBTQI women
in a wider hetronormative culture.
al Qaws is a group of LGBTQ Palestinian
activists who work collaboratively to break
down gendered and heteronormative
barriers. Today a growing number of
Palestinians claim their sexual orientation
and gender identity and identify
themselves as LGBTQ persons. Although
it is growing fast, the LGBTQ Palestinian
community is still in its early stages.
Understanding of this crucial stage in the
development of their community shapes
the daily work, long-term planning and
overall vision.
Student leaders against Israeli Apartheid
Maclean’s on Campus, July 5 2010.
In 2010, then again in 2013 after the
Toronto Pride festival refused to ban
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA)
from its parade, City Council attempted to
deny funding for the event.
Councillors from the Israel lobby have tried
desperately to exclude the group, even
proposing a “diversity bonus” to Pride if it
agrees to remove QuAIA from the parade.
But in a 32–3 vote, the Council agreed to
fund Pride in full, even raising its funding a
$16,000 increase from the previous year.
Mayor Rob Ford was one of the only three
to give a dissenting vote.
Where in the Middle East Can Gay Officers
Serve Their Country?
BlueStar PR
BlueStar PR, "The Jewish Ink Tank", is a
San Francisco-based nonprofit
organization which produces "visual media
that strengthens existing efforts to gain
popular support and interest for Israel and
Judaism." Blue Star creates and distributes
pro-Israel posters, rally signs, postcards,
and brochures. BlueStar has been known
to target high school and college students.
During the long struggle against apartheid
South Africa, many of the same arguments
were used in its defense: it was an island
in a sea of “backwardness”, it was the only
“democracy” in the region; it protected
liberal rights — even the status of gays in
South Africa was invoked. Because of its
special circumstances, it was argued,
South Africa needed its apartheid system
to protect those freedoms for the favoured
race. One day, the argument that Israel
needs to practice apartheid and
colonialism to protect the freedoms of a
favoured race will seem equally hollow.
Silencing of Palestinian
Queer voices
Pinkwashing seeks to silence
and delegitimize the voices,
struggle and hard work of
Palestinian queer activists and
organizations such as
Palestinian Queers for BDS,
Aswat (Palestinian Gay
Women) and al Qaws (Sexual &
Gender Diversity in Palestinian
Silencing discussion of Israel/
Palestine within queer
communities
The term pinkwashing generally
refers to the use of Israel’s “gay-friendly”
image to distract from
human rights abuses in Palestine,
but it can also describe the
censoring of Israel/Palestine
discussions within queer
communities, claiming the issue is
too divisive or overly political.
(re)Brand Israel
Propaganda campaigns have
been designed to make people
living in liberal democracies like
Canada feel an affinity for
Israel. The implication is that
Israel needs to practice
apartheid, colonialism, and
violence in order to preserve the
liberal freedoms it enjoys.
Israel’s LGBTQ propaganda
Here in Canada, some of the most
vocal defenders of apartheid Israel,
like B’nai Brith and the Canadian
Jewish Congress, are keen to use
gay rights to their advantage. Yet
B’nai Brith Canada has closely
aligned itself with homophobic
Christian fundamentalist leaders.
The organization actively decided
not to support extending protection
from hate speech to gays and
lesbians in order not to offend its
evangelical Christian allies.