‘Pinkwashing’ and Israel: How to Work against Your Own Best Interests
by Denis MacEoin, Gatestone Institute:
Early in April, the British gay newspaper Pink News ran a headline: “LGBT performers to boycott Eurovision in Israel with online broadcast”. The broadcast, known as Globalvision, will be part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which tries hard to delegitimize Israel economically and politically.
Referring to a letter which activists had written to the pop star Madonna, Pink News reported:
“We feel we must write to you to express our deep concern at the political use of the Eurovision that is being made by Israel this year, and to highlight in particular the issue of ‘Pinkwashing,'” the letter said.
The letter said that ‘pinkwashing’ is a “PR tactic used by Israel which cynically exploits support for LGBTQIA people to whitewash its oppression of the Palestinian people.”
The open letter argues that Israel is attempting to ingratiate itself with LGBT+ people in an attempt to distract from its “colonial and apartheid reality.”
Before commenting on the situation of Israel, it might help to turn our attention to the conditions of LGBT people in countries that are sworn enemies of Israel, but which no-one swears to boycott, divest from, or sanction.
It is hard to know where to start when it comes to the mistreatment of LGBTQ people, especially male homosexuals, across the Muslim world. It is a scandal that has been little exposed in the mainstream media, although even there it has begun to attract unfavorable comment.
The Iranian case is the worst. According to a Wikileaks report published by Britain’s Telegraph newspaper:
“Human rights activists and opponents of the Iranian regime claim between 4,000 and 6,000 gay men and lesbians have been executed in Iran for crimes related to their sexual preference since 1979.”
That report was published in 2011, a full eight years ago. On April 12, 2018, Radio Farda wrote about an Amnesty International report released the same day:
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