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Surprise final blog post: Queer as a tool of colonial oppression/FUCK Israel’s gay rights PR

All right, that was going to be my last blog post until life in SF’s Castro hit a brick wall for me today in the form of Israeli gay rights propaganda.

I recently read the essay, “Queer” As A Tool Of Colonial Oppression: The Case Of Israel/palestine, by Blair Kuntz. Please read it!

FIRST AND FOREMOST, to preface my thoughts which are manically listed out below, Israel is not gay friendly! The city of Tel Aviv has a couple gay clubs. Israel is much larger than Tel Aviv. And even those clubs are only open at night. So what Israel should be saying is that it is a gay oasis at night, and if you’re saying it’s okay to be out and about at night, you might as well be saying it’s okay to be out and about in a closet.

1) Palestine is not queer-friendly: “You sexual identity develops at the expense of you Palestinian identity.”
http://youtu.be/3BwjQr8v2FY

2) Tel Aviv is spending millions marketing itself as queer-friendly: “Tel Aviv has always been known as a gay-friendly place”
Israel’s gay PR campaign

3) Gay Palestinians fear Islam and believe they must escape their culture: “Islam denounces homosexuality as a sin, and many Palestinians deny it exists in their midst. Israel, which decriminalized sodomy in 1987, is considered among the more liberal of societies when it comes to gay rights.”
http://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/world/palestine/psnews003.htm
‎”At the bath houses of Tel Aviv, “Rani” finds anonymity and sometimes a free buffet. And there is always the chance of meeting an Israeli or a rich tourist who will offer his hotel room for a few nights, no questions asked.”

4) Queers who do not support Israel are antagonized by the Queer community:
http://www.queerty.com/if-youre-gay-and-support-palestine-you-also-hate-jews-20090929/
And yes, I am insinuating that porn stars delineate the one-track mind of the Israeli queer-dom, since for the majority of Arab queers, internet porn is the key that unlocks their sexuality. Queer Arabs must learn how to be gay alongside Israeli propaganda, a fault that can be attributed to, if not undermines, Islam’s homophobia.

4.5) That said, even though queers may attempt to denounce Israel, that doesn’t change that it is on their own terms, and not coming from the Palestinian community, which only furthers disregard for Palestinians appreciation of their queer brethren, whether or not it is sincere. http://www.queerty.com/wait-so-palestine-is-gay-friendlier-than-israel-now-20091012/

5) To reiterate (2) from an individual pro-Israel perspective: “In Israel, gays live openly and happily in a free and liberal society.” Yes, so the marketing works.
http://zombietime.com/sf_rally_september_24_2005/queers_for_palestine/

6) Queers still stand in solidarity with Palestine, independent of religious affiliations: http://queersagainstapartheid.org/who/
Video: http://youtu.be/wNV6QkRtj3A (This was previously posted on my blog)

7) Israel has the queer world in an iron cage full of self-righteous rationalizations to overlook Palestinian suffering because we are supposed to be gay-hating savages. However, the walls that Israel put up did not count on a population of Palestinians that are also queer. Queer Palestinians exist. So please take one step back from supporting Israel on the grounds of “Israel is a gay oasis in a sea of ignorance.”

So my gay-pali-comic-nerd-food-art blog is over, but PLEASE do not stop researching Palestinian rights!

On that note, good bye! =^.^=

“70,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites to be re-classified as West Bank citizens”“

This is a terrible precedent to start the New Year. In short, East Jerusalem has been internationally recognized as a Palestinian territory since 1948 that was illegally annexed/occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. This illegal military occupation of the Palestinian’s East Jerusalem has been ignored by the international community for so long that today, Mayor Nir Barakat takes the occupation a step further by lobbying to “unify” East and West Jerusalem under the guise of bringing peace to the land. This “peace” will legalize Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Taking away the identification of 70,000 Palestinians will have unfortunate repercussions, that could still be avoided if the international community breaks its silence.