Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema reports that there is no ban on carrying the Israeli flag during the Pride Walk organized by Queer Amsterdam on July 20. “The Pride Walk is a manifestation that falls under the right to demonstrate. However, freedom to demonstrate does not give the right to impose censorship on demonstrators. An organization can, therefore, not forbid people who want to participate to express themselves. It is unacceptable that people who want to carry a flag should not be allowed to do so,” said the mayor.
The foundation Queer Amsterdam announced on Instagram on Thursday that Israeli flags are not “allowed” at the Pride Walk through the center of Amsterdam. In response to questions about the flag ban, a spokesperson for the foundation referred AT5 to the website, which states that “no form of Zionism is tolerated.” VVD councilor Daan Wijnants has indicated that he wants to ask council questions in response to the call.
ahh yes israel, which famously bans gay marriage. perfect for a pride parade
Killing and torturing gay and trans Palestinians is more likely the reason why Israel isn’t very popular in the queer community.
gay and trans Palestinians
Hot take: I don’t believe Gaza is progressive enough to have a large population of openly gay or trans people.
Not sure why you’re making this a LGBTQ thing anyways, mistreating POWs and seemingly intentionally maximizing civilian losses should be bad enough by themselves.
[Edit: formatting]
Three points:
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Palestine is not as backwards as Westerners think and just assuming that gay people do not exist there openly without any actual proof is orientalist. I personally know openly queer Palestinians from Gaza.
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The fact that not all queer people are out openly does not mean they don’t exist and it does not mean that they aren’t being targeted by Israel. IDF soldiers are targeting queer Palestinians and torturing them in heinous ways because they are queer.
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The point of Israel killing and targeting queer people in their war is made to connect it to the queer struggle as it’s a clear example of intersectionality. Pride is for the queers worldwide, that includes Palestinian queers who are currently struggling the hardest.
Being gay or trans is not dependent on being out or not.
And focusing on the LGBTQ aspect of Israels current onslaught is relevant to the extent that Israel actively propagandizes “spreading” gay rights in Gaza, while at the same time murdering LGBTQ individuals indiscriminately. The fact that pink washing is a strategy used to justify genocide makes it that much more important to reject this during pride.
And Israel takes it a step further by blackmailing gay Palestinians into becoming their spies:
Gay Palestinians Are Being Blackmailed Into Working As Informants
The Israeli flag is a symbol of hate. Somewhere in between the confederate battle flag and a swastika.
Israel pinkwashes their apartheid on a regular basis.
