On Friday June 8, more than 250, 000 people gathered in Tel Aviv to celebrate the Gay Pride, while a few kilometres away, the massacre in Gaza was still ongoing.
Among those participating in Pride, around 100 protested against the occupation, apartheid and the Pinkwashing the Israeli government is using to cover what is happening in the occupied Palestinian Territories.
Zizo Abul Hawa, one of the organisers of the protest, explained to the Palestine Monitor that Pinkwashing is a “cynical use of the LGBTQ community in Israel by the government to show that Israel is a very democratic and liberal country and they have human rights and they accept LGBTQ community.”
“ [At the same time] they don’t give millions of Palestinian their basic human rights while they occupy them, oppressing them for decades, and they are suffering on a daily basis. It’s not only regarding the Palestinian people, it’s also that the fact in Israel the LGBTQ community doesn’t [have complete] rights.”
Two days before the parade, the Knesset voted against a bill which was proposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Israel. “The people that voted against same-sex marriage are the same ones that show off and say that Israel is a Gay-Friendly country,” Abul Hawa said.
The Anti-Pinkwashing block have been very active for the last three years, according to Abul Hawa, and they plan on continuing to be visible in coming years.
Israeli Police tried to stop them during the parade, but they kept on chanting in Hebrew “Stop the occupation, stop the apartheid” and “Gaza, we don’t forget you” during the protest.
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