Mar 28, 2007
I was compelled to write this post because of the complete lack of coverage on a remarkable event that occurred today in Israel. There was a conference held in Haifa, Israel by an organization called "Asawat". This is an organization representing and supporting Lesbian Palestinians.
For all of the bad press Israel gets around the world for their treatment of Palestinians, I rarely find any news organization citing the freedom Arabs (and everyone else for that matter) enjoy within Israel. It's also difficult to find coverage of incidents where good things happen between Israelis and Arabs. In fact, it was only in Israeli and Jewish Press that I found coverage of the conference.
One must note (as the Jewish Post did) that Israel is the only country in the Arab world where Lesbians can be out of the closet, and not be killed for being honest. Apparently Israeli police were heavily securing the conference as Israeli Arabs threatened the conference's organizers (which means Israel, as a State, was supporting Asawat's right to exist). This is a significant event on so many levels. Consider the fact that Israel is a Jewish state - and in general, Judaism doesn't condone homosexuality; but in this case the State defended democratic principles before supporting religious principles - regardless of who's rights need to be defended (Arab or Israeli). Furthermore, consider that Arabs in and out of Israel were threatening Asawat with violence, and Israel was still willing to put it's own civil servants in danger... and for what? To protect the rights of a small, and persecuted minority. Thankfully, we have the Internet, where events like this can be recorded and reviewed in the future - where the full record of Israel's role in the world can be reviewed, and looked at objectively for what it is.
I'll leave the rhetoric about how insane it is to hate someone because of their sexual orientation to others. I'm sure you can guess my position on this.
Labels: Human, Israel, Lesbian, Palestinian, Rights
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