NEW YORK CITY QUEERS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID
Who Are We?
New York City Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (NYC-QAIA) is a group of queer activists who support Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and challenge Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as the military blockade of Gaza. We endorse Palestinian civil society’s call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, and the call by Palestinian queer groups to end the occupation as a critical step for securing Palestinian human rights as well as furthering the movement for Palestinian queer rights.*
NYC-QAIA also calls for an immediate end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and the collective punishment of its people, which are clear and widely recognized violations of international law. NYC-QAIA opposes the continued construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the demolition of Palestinian homes. NYC-QAIA calls for the release of all political prisoners in Israeli jails. Lastly, given that Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians depends so heavily upon our own government’s support, NYC-QAIA demands an end to U.S. military and financial aid to Israel.
PALESTINE IS A QUEER ISSUE.
As queers, NYC-QAIA recognizes the myriad ways in which various forms of oppression—including colonialism, racism, homophobia and transgenderphobia—are deeply entwined. As queers, we refuse to accept state violence against ourselves or others. As gay rights gain support in the US and Israel, the Israeli government and its defenders have increasingly co-opted the rhetoric of gay rights to veil Israel’s racist, colonialist state violence—and this pinkwashing we also adamantly refuse to accept.
To those who claim Israel is a haven for queers, NYC-QAIA replies: queer rights in Israel have not been granted by a benevolent government—they were demanded, fought for, and to some extent, won. Because Apartheid Israel applies different rules and laws to Jews, non-Jews and particularly Palestinians, those minimal rights do not universally apply to queer Palestinians, nor to queer Israelis of any ethnic group who build families with Palestinians, nor to queers who support BDS and oppose Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, nor to many others. The presence or absence of the same minimal rights in Palestine is not comparable; apartheid and occupation strip Palestinian queers of the basic human rights that have permitted queers in Israel to make their small gains. Apartheid is the issue.
NYC-QAIA does not speak on behalf of Palestinians—we stand in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle. NYC-QAIA does not support any formal political entity and we do not all necessarily stand behind a one- or two-state solution. We reject outright all systems of domination and hate, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Despite what our detractors claim, we are not self-hating queers. And the many Jewish members of NYC-QAIA are not self-loathing Jews but rather Jews who refuse to support an apartheid state.
*The BDS document and its original signers are posted at
www.bdsmovement.net. For more information, see the websites of Palestinian Queers for BDS, Aswat, and al-Qaws.
Read more »
NEW YORK CITY QUEERS AGAINST ISRAELI APARTHEID
Who Are We?
New York City Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (NYC-QAIA) is a group of queer activists who support Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and challenge Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as the military blockade of Gaza. We endorse Palestinian civil society’s call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, and the call by Palestinian queer groups to end the occupation as a critical step for securing Palestinian human rights as well as furthering the movement for Palestinian queer rights.*
NYC-QAIA also calls for an immediate end to Israel’s siege of Gaza and the collective punishment of its people, which are clear and widely recognized violations of international law. NYC-QAIA opposes the continued construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the demolition of Palestinian homes. NYC-QAIA calls for the release of all political prisoners in Israeli jails. Lastly, given that Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians depends so heavily upon our own government’s support, NYC-QAIA demands an end to U.S. military and financial aid to Israel.
PALESTINE IS A QUEER ISSUE.
As queers, NYC-QAIA recognizes the myriad ways in which various forms of oppression—including colonialism, racism, homophobia and transgenderphobia—are deeply entwined. As queers, we refuse to accept state violence against ourselves or others. As gay rights gain support in the US and Israel, the Israeli government and its defenders have increasingly co-opted the rhetoric of gay rights to veil Israel’s racist, colonialist state violence—and this pinkwashing we also adamantly refuse to accept.
To those who claim Israel is a haven for queers, NYC-QAIA replies: queer rights in Israel have not been granted by a benevolent government—they were demanded, fought for, and to some extent, won. Because Apartheid Israel applies different rules and laws to Jews, non-Jews and particularly Palestinians, those minimal rights do not universally apply to queer Palestinians, nor to queer Israelis of any ethnic group who build families with Palestinians, nor to queers who support BDS and oppose Israel’s crimes against Palestinians, nor to many others. The presence or absence of the same minimal rights in Palestine is not comparable; apartheid and occupation strip Palestinian queers of the basic human rights that have permitted queers in Israel to make their small gains. Apartheid is the issue.
NYC-QAIA does not speak on behalf of Palestinians—we stand in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle. NYC-QAIA does not support any formal political entity and we do not all necessarily stand behind a one- or two-state solution. We reject outright all systems of domination and hate, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Despite what our detractors claim, we are not self-hating queers. And the many Jewish members of NYC-QAIA are not self-loathing Jews but rather Jews who refuse to support an apartheid state.
*The BDS document and its original signers are posted at
www.bdsmovement.net. For more information, see the websites of Palestinian Queers for BDS, Aswat, and al-Qaws.
Read more »
