I am neither an Israeli citizen, nor gay. But I am a Jew and a Zionist, and I also am what's known in LGBTQ parlance as an "ally." In addition to devoting my life's work to understanding Israel in all its complexities and much of my community-engaged research to following LGBTQ issues in Judaism, I sit on the board of a liberal Zionist organization in North America, and am active in a grassroots initiative for Jewish community LGBTQ inclusiveness in Ottawa.
So it is with great fascination that I have been watching the latest round of the "Israel pinkwashing" debate -- a deliberate strategy to conceal the continuing violations of Palestinians' human rights behind an image of modernity signified by Israeli gay life," according to the New York Times -- unfold. And what I see is sadly more expressions of cynicism and distraction from the real issues on all sides.
The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) recently posted a photo on its Facebook page of two male soldiers holding hands. Word soon spread that the photo had been staged. Outrage predictably ensued. A few weeks earlier, Israeli officials had pulled a similar stunt: in honor of Pride, the city of Tel Aviv had painted the bars of a crosswalk rainbow colors for a photo-op before returning them to white a few hours later.
Truth be told, the fact that these efforts were staged was more intriguing to me than disturbing. If the IDF cares that much about promoting its image as a place where LGBTQ soldiers can serve openly that it would ask two servicemen (one of whom, apparently, was gay) to pose in a homoerotic way, I find that, well, kind of touching.
But as the pinkwashing accusers see it, the IDF draws attention to its relative openness to gays and lesbians in order to shore up its self-image as the "most moral army in the world," all the while the IDF conducts a humiliating occupation -- with no end in sight.
Similarly, Israel advocacy groups, especially on college campuses, often partner with student LGBTQ groups to polish Israel's image in the face of heavy criticism of Israel's ethno-national character and its occupation policies.
There is indeed much truth to this analysis.
But the current mudslinging over pinkwashing (visit the Twitter barbs being traded between Ali Abunimah, editor of Electronic Intifada, and Avi Mayer, the social media liaison at the Jewish Agency) obscures what should be the real solutions, solutions that should be based on what is sadly becoming a quaint value in the age of shock talk: the value of fair-mindedness.
Before Prime Minister Stephen Harper gave Canada's public stance in the Middle East its current tone, Canadian diplomats long articulated the principle of fair-mindedness: criticize each side on its own terms, and give credit where credit is due. It was an approach that allowed the country to "punch above its weight" diplomatically, and have a say on some of the thorniest issues. Before the Arab-Israeli multilateral talks dwindled in the mid-1990s, Canada had been a "gavel holder" for the refugee working group.
How would more fair-mindedness help unravel the pinkwashing conundrum?
Instead of obsessing over whether the IDF and Tel Aviv municipalities photos were staged, whether the IDF's openness toward LGBTQ soldiers (a feat that indeed long preceded the repeal of America's "Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell" policy) is undermined by the lack of same-sex marriage (or any civil marriage at all) in Israel, and whether Tel Aviv's globally famous Pride festival hides the realities of the brutal occupation, activists should be fighting for LGBTQ equality as if there was no Israeli occupation, and fighting the occupation whether or not officials use Israel's LGBTQ record as a public relations tactic.
So yes -- Israel's supporters should promote Israel's positive treatment of gays and lesbians, while at the same time decrying the societal homophobia that exists: witness MK Anastassia Michaeli's recent homophobic rant this week and the negative reaction she received from other lawmakers. And Israel's supporters also need to grapple publicly with Israel's serious moral failings, not least of which is the occupation coupled with the various inequalities still plaguing Israel's Arab citizens.
With groups like Breaking the Silence, bringing to light crucial issues surrounding the moral corruption of the occupation, Israel cannot afford to hew to the status quo -- whether or not the soldiers knocking on Palestinian doors in the middle of the night are gay, straight or closeted -- without some serious policy reckoning.
And of course, if activists really want to see an end to pinkwashing, the most obvious solution is to fight for LGBTQ rights everywhere. Then Israel's claims will be that much less remarkable. And humanity -- in all its beautiful sexual diversity -- will be that much better off.
*An earlier version appeared in Haaretz
Follow Mira Sucharov on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sucharov
I keep asking myself how can they so quickly forget and create their own crystal nacht in Tel Aviv last month. Smashing stores and beating people in the streets!
Cheering Israel's treatment of the LGBT community does not mean that it cannot be criticized. It just means that like everything else in the world, nothing is black and white and nothing is either good or evil. That's simplistic, primitive thinking.
The Israeli government (whomever it may be at a given time) does some things right and some things wrong. The Palestinian and broader Arab-Israeli conflict is very complex and can't be reduced to a simple right and wrong. If the Palestinians and Arab countries were democratic, stable societies, then Israel, if it were acting as it is now, would clearly be in the wrong. While I'm against the colonialization of the West Bank and am in favour of taking steps to get to a final settlement of two states with a shared Jerusalem, Israel is right in being cynical about the ability of any non-democratic Arab government to honour its commitments, or agree to live in peace. There is no real peace inside any Arab country absent brutal repression, and there are age-old scores that get settled on both the macro and micro levels. No Arab country has really committed to the two-state solution because they insist that any descendant of any Palestinian has the right to move back into Israel proper, thereby destroying the raison d'etre of Israel.
The Forgive Israel for any Crime Types invited the pink washing program on themselves. They relied on a lazy argument that gained some currency with the press and public at large. It had to be answered.
Just because Israel has an exemplary LGBT record relative not only to the middle east but to the US and much of the EU doesn't excuse the occupation. The two issues are separate.
And as for the occupation, let's remember that while Israel has taken few positive steps toward ending it and making peace, it does not have any reliable, democratically elected, legitimate partners in the region with whom it can rationally make an eternal deal. Look at Egypt and the risk that the decades-long peace agreement may be put to an end by populist, Islamist sentiments! Yes, Israel ought to be more forward thinking and strategize how to work with the Palestinians for their mutual benefit, but the issues are complex and there is a big clash of cultures, including the internal Palestinian one between the secular types and the Islamists. The internal schisms exist in every Arab country and have been there long before any Western "colonization". There is no solution to be had to simplify the situation and make one party "bad" and one party "good", especially when there is amnesia about terrible things that both sides did to each other not that long ago.
What I can't stand is how willfully blind most critics of Israel are to its enemies in the Middle East. These people have one very high set of standards for Israel, and seemingly no standards at all for those who lob missiles and rockets into it.
And if all the marchers in the gay pride parade had been magically transported to Gaza or the West Bank and deposited on a main thoroughfare, they would quickly find out what oppression is all about.
It's a constant source of amusement to me to hear from those who think that the Palestinians can do no wrong, and the Israelis can do no right. Go and visit the rabble.ca website, for example. One day last year when Hamas or Fatah was had murdered some political opponent, maybe it was the day that Salafist radicals murdered Vittorio Arrigoni, the headline on rabble.ca was that the Israeli government was reducing funding to a group protesting government policies, and this was seen as a horrible newsworthy attack on human rights, but the assassination of peaceful political opponents by Palestinians was not worthy of a mention.
The Inuit slaughtered the Dene and moved into their territory; and most aboriginal tribes tortured and/or enslaved their enemies, and fought wars for territory. There was no thought of 'colonization', but rather subjugation or assimilation or elimination. African tribes likewise fought and enslaved each other. The Monguls, lead by Genghis Khan, swept out of the Steppes on horseback razing cities and the countryside, raping and pillaging as they went, and finally creating a huge empire.The West may have perfected bad behaviour, but they didn't invent it.