Adhikaar Aotearoa sends our thoughts, aroha and solidarity to the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, independence, and resistance to the violent forces of settler colonisation.
Like anyone who has humanity, we have been shocked at the videos of hospitals being bombed, essential services like water and food being cut off, and children and civilians being killed, all by Zionist forces. It is easy to believe that this recent iteration of violence is just that, recent. Yet, we ought to remember that this violence did not start only as a response to the events of October the 7th, but rather, this violence has been an enduring feature of the Zionist occupation of Palestine since 1948.
We condemn the Zionist oppression of and genocide against, the people of Palestine.
Before we are asked, of course we condemn Hamas’ actions against Israeli civilians on October the 7th. Violence against civilians anywhere is abhorrent and illegal. Civilians are sacred and must be spared from the violence of warfare. This is a moral imperative, not just a legal one. Yet, what Zionists are asking us to accept is that Hamas’ actions on October the 7th should be paid in the blood of Palestinian children. We will never accept this. No one should.
Again, before we are asked, condemning the Zionist oppression of and genocide against the people of Palestine is not antisemitic. There is a distinction to be drawn between Zionism, a force that subjugates and kills Palestinian civilians, and Judaism, a religion. We condemn antisemitism. It has no place in a pluralistic society.
We wish to make a few comments about the pinkwashing and homonationalism that we have seen Zionists try to use to justify the illegal crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide that have been perpetrated against the Palestinian people. We’ve seen Zionists suggest that the LGBTQI+ movement should support Israel in their killings of Palestinian civilians because the Palestinian authorities are anti-LGBTQI+. We reject this sentiment for many reasons.
What this argument implies is that LGBTQI+ people should support the killing of Palestinian civilians, the bombing of hospitals, and the cutting of essential services because Palestine is anti-LGBTQI+. This is a morally flawed argument and asks us to accept that innocent civilians should be killed because of the policies of their governments. We do not accept this. It is morally repugnant. We can support the Palestinian cause for independence and their right to be free of violence and genocide, while also advocating for the emancipation of our LGBTQI+ brothers, sisters and non-binary siblings in Palestine.
If we are to accept the logic of the above argument, then consistency demands that we bomb Florida – a subnational jurisdiction that is doing its darndest to be anti-LGBTQI+. Yet, we hear no one suggesting this. To be clear, we do not suggest this, we are just pointing out the illogic of this argument.
The above argument also tacitly suggests that only Israel is the bastion of LGBTQI+ people, that LGBTQI+ people are found nowhere else in the Middle East. Yet, we know this is not true. LGBTQI+ people are everywhere. LGBTQI+ Palestinians exist. They are in Gaza. They are in the West Bank. They are being killed by the forces of Zionism, they are being starved by the forces of Zionism and they are being mutilated by the forces of Zionism.
Palestinian civilians have a right to live. They have a right to live on their land. Our LGBTQI+ Palestinian brothers, sisters and non-binary siblings have a right to live. They have a right to live on their land.
Ceasefire. Emancipation. Justice.
Now.
- Adhikaar Aotearoa
