As an open and proud gay man who has heavily donated to gay causes and been deeply involved in the fight for gay rights, I speak from personal experience. For me, being gay is an immutable characteristic, just like having brown hair or brown eyes—it’s simply part of who I am, not a choice or something to be hidden or differentiated as “other.”[1]
Pinkwashing refers to the accusation that Israel promotes its progressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights as a deliberate strategy to distract from its policies toward Palestinians. The term was popularized by Sarah Schulman through her influential November 22, 2011, op-ed in The New York Times titled “Israel and ‘Pinkwashing’.”[2] Though some incorrectly attribute its coining to her, the term originated earlier in activist circles and was stolen from its prior use in breast cancer awareness critiques. I find it appalling that anti-Israel activists steal terms from cancer awareness—where it originally criticized companies exploiting pink ribbons for profit—to weaponize anything against Israel. This is a hate movement searching for reasons to spew hate. These are not valid arguments; they seek to accuse, invalidate, and invert anything as a tool to spew hate. They do not care if the arguments are legitimate; they just want a launching point to find accusations, with no value for their own credibility.
The Inversion of Victimhood
The hate movement against Israel systematically weaponizes every historical victimhood suffered by Jews, deliberately inverting Jewish trauma into accusations against the Jewish state. A primary example is the promotion of “Double Genocide” theory—a revisionist effort to equalize or prioritize other narratives to dilute the uniqueness of the Holocaust and cast Jews as the new oppressors.[3] This is a movement built on lies, where those who propagate them attempt to invalidate, negate, and invert the Jewish experience by stealing the language of liberation and survival.
Schulman’s accusation frames Israel’s LGBTQ+ protections—such as recognizing foreign same-sex marriages, allowing adoption, and providing asylum—as mere propaganda.[4] Yet, as an open and proud gay man, this ignores the reality that Israel is the only country in the Middle East where LGBTQ+ individuals can live openly without fear of state-sanctioned execution or torture.[5] Gay Palestinians often escape the West Bank or Gaza, where homosexuality is criminalized and punishable by death under Islamist rule, seeking refuge in Tel Aviv.[6] Israel’s milestones include legalizing same-sex activity in 1988, prohibiting employment discrimination in 1992, and equalizing citizenship applications in 2016.[7] In December 2023, Israel’s High Court unanimously ruled that same-sex couples may adopt children, marking a significant shift in adoption laws.[8] Even advanced European nations like Italy, Poland, and Hungary do not allow same-gender adoption—yet Israel does. And for their progressive human rights, these detractors attack them. They are not human rights supporters; they are bigots. This is shown because they do not oppose other nations for the same things they vilify Israel for, revealing how unfair and targeted the attacks on Israel are.
In February 2024, the Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Palestinians threatened due to their sexual orientation can apply for asylum in Israel under the UN Refugee Convention.[9] Around 2,000 Palestinian homosexuals have lived in Tel Aviv at any given time.[10] A lesbian couple in Tel Aviv stated they feel safer there than in Berlin or London.[11] In stark contrast, the Palestinian Authority officially banned the LGBTQ+ group alQaws in the West Bank in 2019, claiming their work was “contrary to the values of Palestinian society.”[12]
Schulman’s critique exemplifies hypocrisy: she accuses Israel but refuses to travel to Palestinian territories to advocate for LGBTQ+ people there. If her concern were genuine for queer lives under threat, she would confront the regimes that execute gays, such as in Gaza under Hamas. Instead, her focus remains solely on demonizing Israel, suggesting her agenda is rooted in hate rather than advocacy. Based on her public positions, I invite Sarah Schulman to demonstrate her commitment by traveling to Gaza and openly advocating for LGBTQ+ rights there; otherwise, her actions appear disingenuous.
A stark example of such hypocrisy is Mustapha Kharbouch, a queer student of Palestinian descent active in the 2024 Brown University encampments.[13] From the safety of America, he championed a regime that executes gays, advocating for caliphate expansion. Consistency requires that he live under the standards he endorses. With US travel restrictions on Palestinian Authority passports imposed in December 2025 over terror risks, such hypocrisy becomes actionable—he should face the jurisdiction he supports.[14] Based on his public positions, I invite Mustapha Kharbouch to demonstrate his commitment by traveling to Gaza and openly advocating for LGBTQ+ rights there; otherwise, his actions appear disingenuous.
Combatants in an Ideological War
Those who have weaponized pinkwashing into attacks against Israel have become knowing or unknowing combatants in the war against the Jewish state. By contributing to the bigotry directed at Jews, they align themselves with the stated agenda of Hamas—a terrorist organization whose mission is Islamic fundamentalist rule, death, and destruction.[15] In 2016, Hamas executed its own commander, Mahmoud Ishtiwi, after torture, for alleged homosexuality (“moral turpitude”).[16]
Groups like “Queers for Palestine” exemplify this absurdity. They demonstrate for anything anti-Israel, yet not one member has gone to Gaza to protest where their sexuality would likely lead to execution.[17] The 2025 Global Sumud Flotilla saw queer activists rejected by Muslim members, forcing them to hide their identities.[18] Renaldo Gouws’s December 2025 video offered funded Gaza trips for LGBTQ+ advocates to publicly wave pride and Palestinian flags—no takers emerged.[19]
Several other individuals have publicly accused Israel of pinkwashing, prioritizing anti-Israel agendas over genuine advocacy. Based on their public positions, I invite each to demonstrate their commitment by traveling to Gaza; otherwise, their actions appear disingenuous.
- Judith Butler: Frames Israel’s progress as “homonationalism” to deflect from injustices.[20]
- Medea Benjamin: Wore “you can’t pinkwash genocide” shirt at 2025 Pride.[21]
- Ashley Bohrer: Accuses Israel of portraying itself as a queer rights protector while violating Palestinian rights.[22]
- Talia Jane (Talia Ben-Ora): Claims Israel weaponizes queer rights to justify occupation.[23]
- Einat Gerlitz: Draft refuser who protests Pride but not Palestinian homophobia.[24]
- Yahli Agai: Calls the Israeli army the “biggest pinkwasher” for extorting queer Palestinians.[25]
- Maya Bedarshi Kirshen: Protests pinkwashing at Tel Aviv Pride, claiming it whitewashes injustices.[26]
- Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP): Criticized “Brand Israel” in 2016. JVP is influenced by figures like Hatem Bazian and has been involved in chants supporting genocide of Jews.[27][28]
The Hijacking of Queer Spaces
LGBTQ+ activist blogs expose how anti-Israel activism hijacks queer spaces, betraying the solidarity Jews provided.[29] Critiques highlight San Francisco Pride’s 2024 Gaza statement for its untruths and the 2016 National LGBTQ Task Force ban on a Jewish event at Creating Change. In 2025, calls to boycott Johannesburg Pride diverted from African homophobia. San Diego Pride honored intifada-inciting figures, while the board hid for “safety” yet promoted violence. The “Accordion of Extremes” describes how far-right and far-left squeeze moderate Jews.[30]
Jews like Harvey Milk and Magnus Hirschfeld pioneered LGBTQ+ liberation.[31] Israel is the only regional power where transgender individuals serve openly in the military, with the IDF funding gender-reassignment surgery—a fact critics ignore.[32] Yet, after gaining these rights, segments of the community have turned on us, banning Jewish symbols and platforming anti-Zionist hate. From the 2017 Chicago Dyke March to the 2019 DC Dyke March, the betrayal is total. When queer people had no rights, Jews stood with them. Now that they have rights, they use them to attack the only sanctuary for queer lives in the Middle East.[33][34][35]
Shaul Ganon of Aguda rightly observed: “The truth is the only one who gets screwed by this is the Palestinian gays.”[36]
In conclusion, parts of the gay rights movement have morphed into a hate crusade. Its leaders should be brought to the attention of the USA Administration as purveyors of hate and added to watch lists. Israel must add these names to a list of people forever banned from entering as possible sources of risk.
The accusation of pinkwashing is a contemptible, malicious lie—a cynical smear designed to delegitimize the Jewish state while shielding the real persecutors of queer people. Those who deploy it reveal themselves as moral frauds, willing to sacrifice LGBTQ+ lives on the altar of their obsessive hatred for Israel. They are apologists for barbarism and betrayers of everything the gay rights movement once stood for.
Footnotes
[1] Personal statement on sexual orientation as immutable.
[2] Sarah Schulman, “Israel and ‘Pinkwashing’,” New York Times, Nov 22, 2011.
[3] Analyses of Double Genocide theory.
[4] Law Library of Congress reports on Israeli LGBTQ+ laws.
[5] ILGA World / Human Rights Watch reports on Middle East LGBTQ+ rights.
[6] Reports on Palestinian LGBTQ+ refugees in Israel.
[7] Israeli LGBTQ+ milestones (ILGA World).
[8] “High Court rules same-sex couples eligible to adopt children,” The Jerusalem Post, Dec 28, 2023.
[9] “LGBTQ+ Palestinians can request asylum in Israel, court rules,” The Jerusalem Post, Feb 5, 2024.
[10] Aguda 2013 estimate on Palestinian LGBTQ+ residents.
[11] Published testimony of Tel Aviv lesbian couple on regional safety.
[12] “Palestinian Authority bans LGBTQ group alQaws,” BBC News/Times of Israel, Aug 19, 2019.
[13] Brown University encampment coverage and Mustapha Kharbouch profile.
[14] December 2025 U.S. travel restrictions on PA passports.
[15] Hamas Charter and mission statement.
[16] “Hamas Execution of Commander Mahmoud Ishtiwi,” The Tower, March 1, 2016.
[17] Documentation of “Queers for Palestine” inaction in Gaza.
[18] 2025 Global Sumud Flotilla internal reports and resignations.
[19] Gouws, R. “A Generous Offer to Show Solidarity,” Backabuddy, Dec 2025.
[20] Butler, J. Parting Ways: Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism.
[21] 2025 Pride march reports.
[22] Bohrer, A. Public statements on queer protection.
[23] Talia Jane journalism archives.
[24] Einat Gerlitz interviews and draft refusal.
[25] Yahli Agai public statements.
[26] Maya Bedarshi Kirshen protest documentation.
[27] JVP 2016 open letter to National LGBTQ Task Force.
[28] ADL / NGO Monitor reports on JVP leadership and Bazian links.
[29] Melanie Nathan, “Oblogdee” blogs on hijacking queer spaces.
[30] “The Accordion of Extremes” and related Melanie Nathan posts.
[31] Historical biographies of Harvey Milk and Magnus Hirschfeld.
[32] IDF medical policy on transgender surgery and inclusion.
[33] 2017 Chicago Dyke March reports.
[34] 2019 DC Dyke March reports.
[35] 2024–2025 Pride disruptions and NYC Dyke March Zionism ban.
[36] Shaul Ganon (Aguda) public assessment of pinkwashing.
The execution of Mahmoud Ishtiwi provides a hauntingly clear example of the brutal reality LGBTQ+ individuals face under the very Hamas-governed territories that pinkwashing critics refuse to hold accountable.