January 20, 2016
NYC QAIA stands with those LGBT community members challenging the pinkwashing of Israeli occupation and apartheid by A Wider Bridge at the Creating Change 2016 conference in Chicago, as expressed in the #cancelpinkwashing statement.
A Wider Bridge's mission is to 'pinkwash' the Israeli occupation of Palestine and generate support for Israel within the LGBT community in the United States. It serves as a front organization for the Israeli government and the Israel lobby that supports it. AWB is trying to mislead the community about the nature of the event that the National LGBTQ Task Force cancelled and then uncancelled. AWB insinuates that those who opposed the reception were targeting the shabbat service scheduled to precede it, and Jerusalem Open House, which is a co-sponsor of the event.
In fact, the anti-apartheid activists who spoke with Creating Change's Sue Hyde made clear that they were not objecting to the shabbat service or to the participation of JOH, but rather to the reception and AWB's use of it to promote the Israeli government and its illegal occupation of Palestine. AWB dishonestly portrayed the #cancelpinkwashing initiative as 'anti-Semitic.' AWB board member Dana Beyer went so far as to write a blog post on HuffingtonPost.com entitled, "National LGBTQ Task Force Censors the Jews" (1.17.16), in which she called the Task Force's initial decision to cancel the AWB event "an act of bigotry against Jewish LGBTQ persons as mean-spirited as any other."
It is well documented that the Israeli government is actively rebranding itself by using "community" organizations, mostly targeting youth and LGBT people, to make the case that Israeli is a hip Middle Eastern hangout rather than an apartheid state. The campaign's much-repeated tactic has been to slip an ostensibly Jewish cultural event onto conference agendas that is in fact intended to build support for the Israeli government -- and to cry discrimination if anyone objects. The Task Force is not the first victim of this ruse, but it has a responsibility to understand the tawdry history it is currently reenacting.
Clearly, the Task Force has not understood it yet. In the Task Force's Jan. 18 statement reversing the cancellation, executive director Rea Carey wrote: "It is our belief that when faced with choices, we should move towards our core value of inclusion and opportunities for constructive dialogue and canceling the reception was a mistake," adding, "We are aware that our original decision made it appear we were taking sides in a complex and long-standing conflict."
In fact, by reversing its original decision and re-scheduling the pinkwashing event, the Task Force is taking sides, providing a platform to build LGBT support for Israeli apartheid and occupation. The reference to 'inclusion' rings especially false as LGBT Palestinians living under the occupation are not included, given that Palestinians need special permission from the Israeli authorities to leave the West Bank, which is rarely granted.
It is not clear what the Task Force is planning when Carey says, “…we will also be creating a facilitated session for dialogue around these issues.” It is hard to imagine how this can happen when the organizers are hosting a group whose mission, again, is to build support for an apartheid state that is specifically using LGBT rights rhetoric -- and Creating Change -- to target Palestinians.
Further, we are upset that Carey felt she needed to call for "peaceful protests" should any be planned at Creating Change. Strong feelings and sharp disagreements should not lead to the assumption that a protest would be anything other than peaceful. In the current climate of Islamophobia in this country, this statement only serves to reinforce stereotypes.
An organization cannot insist that it is on the cutting edge of the pursuit of progressive social and political change when its annual conference legitimizes the pinkwashing of Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Signed,
Naomi Brussel, Leslie Cagan, and Pauline Park
on behalf of NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
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NYC QAIA stands with those LGBT community members challenging the pinkwashing of Israeli occupation and apartheid by A Wider Bridge at the Creating Change 2016 conference in Chicago, as expressed in the #cancelpinkwashing statement.
A Wider Bridge's mission is to 'pinkwash' the Israeli occupation of Palestine and generate support for Israel within the LGBT community in the United States. It serves as a front organization for the Israeli government and the Israel lobby that supports it. AWB is trying to mislead the community about the nature of the event that the National LGBTQ Task Force cancelled and then uncancelled. AWB insinuates that those who opposed the reception were targeting the shabbat service scheduled to precede it, and Jerusalem Open House, which is a co-sponsor of the event.
In fact, the anti-apartheid activists who spoke with Creating Change's Sue Hyde made clear that they were not objecting to the shabbat service or to the participation of JOH, but rather to the reception and AWB's use of it to promote the Israeli government and its illegal occupation of Palestine. AWB dishonestly portrayed the #cancelpinkwashing initiative as 'anti-Semitic.' AWB board member Dana Beyer went so far as to write a blog post on HuffingtonPost.com entitled, "National LGBTQ Task Force Censors the Jews" (1.17.16), in which she called the Task Force's initial decision to cancel the AWB event "an act of bigotry against Jewish LGBTQ persons as mean-spirited as any other."
It is well documented that the Israeli government is actively rebranding itself by using "community" organizations, mostly targeting youth and LGBT people, to make the case that Israeli is a hip Middle Eastern hangout rather than an apartheid state. The campaign's much-repeated tactic has been to slip an ostensibly Jewish cultural event onto conference agendas that is in fact intended to build support for the Israeli government -- and to cry discrimination if anyone objects. The Task Force is not the first victim of this ruse, but it has a responsibility to understand the tawdry history it is currently reenacting.
Clearly, the Task Force has not understood it yet. In the Task Force's Jan. 18 statement reversing the cancellation, executive director Rea Carey wrote: "It is our belief that when faced with choices, we should move towards our core value of inclusion and opportunities for constructive dialogue and canceling the reception was a mistake," adding, "We are aware that our original decision made it appear we were taking sides in a complex and long-standing conflict."
In fact, by reversing its original decision and re-scheduling the pinkwashing event, the Task Force is taking sides, providing a platform to build LGBT support for Israeli apartheid and occupation. The reference to 'inclusion' rings especially false as LGBT Palestinians living under the occupation are not included, given that Palestinians need special permission from the Israeli authorities to leave the West Bank, which is rarely granted.
It is not clear what the Task Force is planning when Carey says, “…we will also be creating a facilitated session for dialogue around these issues.” It is hard to imagine how this can happen when the organizers are hosting a group whose mission, again, is to build support for an apartheid state that is specifically using LGBT rights rhetoric -- and Creating Change -- to target Palestinians.
Further, we are upset that Carey felt she needed to call for "peaceful protests" should any be planned at Creating Change. Strong feelings and sharp disagreements should not lead to the assumption that a protest would be anything other than peaceful. In the current climate of Islamophobia in this country, this statement only serves to reinforce stereotypes.
An organization cannot insist that it is on the cutting edge of the pursuit of progressive social and political change when its annual conference legitimizes the pinkwashing of Israeli occupation and apartheid.
Signed,
Naomi Brussel, Leslie Cagan, and Pauline Park
on behalf of NYC Queers Against Israeli Apartheid
