Palestine is a queer issue, and it is our duty to listen and learn from queer Palestinians who are living under Israeli occupation. We are urgently calling upon queer organizations and leaders to speak up, take action, and demand a ceasefire.

Below you will find resources and information on pinkwashing. We aim to help allies learn not only about what pinkwashing is, but how to respond. In this current moment, the most pressing need is for queer organizations and leaders to join the call for a ceasefire and understand that Palestine is a queer issue.  

Pinkwashing at a glance:

“Pinkwashing” is propaganda used by Israel in their ongoing campaign to dehumanize the Palestinian people. They propel a narrative that Israel is “pro-queer,” and reinforce orientalist and racist tropes about Arabs, Muslims, and Middle Eastern (SWANA) people being “backwards.” This propaganda serves to justify Israel’s continued murder, displacement, and occupation of the Palestinian people by appealing to liberal sensibilities and individualism.

Through pinkwashing strategies, Israel intentionally distracts the public from their racist and violent actions by projecting an image of freedom and safety for queer people. Pinkwashing erases the existence of queer Palestinians who have been blackmailed by the IDF, who are living under occupation, who are dying at the hands of Israel. One can not be a safe refuge for LGBTQI+ communities and simultaneously commit genocide, mass displacement and ongoing dispossession of the Palestinian people. Pinkwashing is one of many violent strategies that attacks the sovereignty of Palestine.

Our struggles and our humanity are bound together.

Queer and trans liberation can never come at the expense of the Palestinian people.

“As Israel tarnishes its international image with continued and systematic violence against the Palestinian people, Israel is working hard to do PR damage control. Brand Israel, a campaign by the Israeli foreign ministry, prime minister, and finance ministry—in consultation with U.S. marketing experts—aims to re-brand Israel as progressive and modern instead of militaristic and based on a system of ethno-religious supremacy.
        Pinkwashing is a component of Brand Israel. Pinkwashing refers to Israel’s campaign to distract from its egregious violations of international law and the human, civil, and political rights of Palestinians by shining a bright light on its supposed cultural liberalism and its supposed fun, fabulous, and gay-friendly culture.
        Pinkwashing juxtaposes a falsely progressive image of Israel with a racist portrayal of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim societies as backwards, repressive, and intolerant. This is part of a long-standing colonial logic that uses racist, orientalist portrayals to justify Western colonization as a way of “saving” and “freeing” the colonized, who are too “uncivilized” to rule themselves.”  - US Campaign for Palestinian Rights


Images like these are examples of Israeli pinkwashing in media

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