Back in November 2023, an Israeli soldier had posted a photo of himself holding a rainbow flag as he stood atop the rubble of a neighbourhood he took part in destroying in Gaza. The banner read “In the name of love” in both Hebrew and Arabic. If there was ever a perfect example of pinkwashing, this was it.

Pinkwashing is a term used to describe Israel’s cynical weaponization LGBTQ rights to distract from its ongoing oppression of the Palestinians. It is a well funded public relations strategy – sponsored by none other than the Israeli government itself. Long before the past 19 months, pinkwashing was employed aggressively to justify Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Now, it is being used to justify Israel’s genocide.

Pinkwashing often works because it uses entrenched racist prejudices and misconceptions in the West against Arab and Muslim cultures, often painting them all as a stereotypical monolith. It uses old colonial tropes by portraying Arab cultures and societies as backward or “savage” and Israel as a “villa in a jungle.” In this way, Israel is cast as the “white saviour” on a civilizing mission. A liberal bastion in the midst of terror and cruelty.

But it is nothing more than a clever marketing ploy that highlights certain liberal enclaves within Israel while ignoring the deep homophobia within Israeli society itself. It glosses over violent hate crimes, orthodox religious extremism, and rampant homophobia, even from officials at the highest level of Israel’s government. It also robs queer Palestinians of their agency by either ignoring their existence or using them as pawns to justify continued colonial violence and oppression.

But queer Palestinians do exist. And they have agency. One such way they have expressed it is through a project called “Queering the Map.” This is a community-based online mapping platform where users can submit their personal experiences at specific locations to one collective map. In this way, queer people know that they’re not alone. Since its inception, users have contributed over 80,000 submissions in 23 languages.

On Queering the Map, several LGBTQ+ Palestinians have flagged spots where they’ve had romantic encounters in the Gaza Strip. Others have mourned their lost loved ones, while some have called for the liberation of the Palestinian people.

I have often thought about that Israeli soldier holding a rainbow flag while standing on a graveyard. Did he really think that queer people in Gaza would welcome the endless bombings, burnings, shooting of children, rape, mass starvation, and total destruction of every city, of universities, of libraries, of bakeries? That they would be happy that their families were slaughtered? Or their partners?

But I choose to end this with the voices of queer Palestinians themselves. These are a few messages from that interactive map. One message was to a secret love who was tragically killed in an Israeli airstrike:

“I’ve always imagined you and me sitting out in the sun, hand and hand, free at last. We spoke of all the places we would go if we could. Yet you are gone now. If I had known that bombs raining down on us would take you from me, I would have gladly told the world how I adored you more than anything. I’m sorry I was a coward.”

Another read:

“Pls know despite what the media says there are gay Palestinians. We are here, we are queer. Free Palestine.”

And this one broke my heart:

“Idk how long I will live so I just want this to be my memory before I die. I am not going to leave my home, come what may. My biggest regret is not kissing this one guy. He died two days back. We had told how much we like each other and I was too shy to kiss last time. He died in the bombing. I think a big part of me died too. And soon I will be dead. To younus, i will kiss you in heaven.”

Kenn Orphan, May 2025

*Photo is of queer Palestinian activists from the occupied West Bank demanding an end to Israeli occupation, displacement and apartheid. This was prior to the genocide. Under the Palestinian Authority, homosexuality is legal in the West Bank.