Subject: [SocialistWorker.org] Doubling down on slander
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http://socialistworker.org/2011/06/29/doubling-down-on-slander
Column: Sherry Wolf
======== DOUBLING DOWN ON SLANDER ============================================
Sherry Wolf looks at the latest wave of lies coming from those who support
Israel--at a time when more and more people are standing in solidarity with
Palestine.
June 29, 2011
BLINKERED DEFENDERS of Israel have run out of credible arguments. To defend
their ongoing repression of Palestinians, they have decided to double down on
crazy and are resorting to a policy of throwing enough shit at their
opponents in the hopes that something--anything--will stick.
These days, defending the rights of Palestinians virtually guarantees that
you will be called a supporter of Hamas, the elected leadership of the Gaza
Strip. One of many examples is the recent publication of a hit piece on
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid in /Gay City News/ [1], where its
pro-Palestine contingent in NYC's Gay Pride parade was slandered for its
non-existent "alliance" with Hamas. The same is being written about the
courageous Gaza Flotilla 2, which is attempting to bring humanitarian aid to
Gaza this week.
No doubt it would come as a great surprise to Hamas that, according to
Zionists, they have bands of queer supporters in cities all over the world,
some of whom--like myself--are Jewish Marxists.
What the argument lacks in facts, it attempts to make up for in rhetorical
flourish. After all, what could be more politically titillating than the
suggestion that Jewish queers are marching in the streets calling for our own
"destruction"?
Westerners who know little of the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict
and even less about Hamas are supposed to wince and run in response to the
charge of this stealth alliance. In the media, Hamas is depicted as crazed
Islamists who oppose all modernity, aim to destroy Israel, and are
misogynistic and homophobic to the core.
The David Project, a pro-Israel propaganda group, trains students in the art
of deflecting pro-Palestine arguments by counseling: "don't focus on the
substantive arguments they make." [2] Defenders of Israel are told to "name
and blame" supporters of Palestinian rights, charge them with anti-Semitism,
or attempt to smear activists as supporters of Hamas, which supposedly calls
for "killing Jews."
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WHILE I am not now, nor have I ever been, a supporter of Hamas, it is worth
asserting a few facts about this political party that came to office by
winning the elections of the Palestinian Legislative Council in January 2006.
The most basic reality for anyone who supports the right of
self-determination is that, unlike George W. Bush in 2000, Hamas won a free
and fair election. This is not disputed by independent observers--it is
simply a fact to be avoided by those who aim to discredit all things
Palestinian.
In the same vein, it is also worth noting what Palestinian queers themselves
say. In a statement written last year [3] in response to another pro-Israel
propaganda campaign, queer Palestinians argue:
>While Stand With Us is quick to point out the oppression of queer
>Palestinians under the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, it conveniently
>forgets that those same queers are not immune to the bombs, blockades,
>apartheid and destruction wrought upon them daily by the Israeli government,
>and that Israel's multi-tiered oppression hardly makes a distinction between
>straight and gay Palestinians.
>
Since its founding in 1987 at the start of the First Intifada, Hamas has
combined the aspirations of a national liberation movement with those of
modern Islamism. It holds positions that are homophobic and sexist, as do
orthodox Jewish and evangelical Christian groups--though unlike evangelical
Christians, it is not anti-science.
From most reliable accounts, Hamas' socially reactionary positions are not
the basis of much of their support among a large swath of Palestinians. This
is not to ignore those positions, but to place them in the broader context of
a society fighting occupation, joblessness and brutality at the hands of
Israel.
In the wake of the failures of the secular nationalists, led by the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO), Hamas came to represent defiance to occupation
and dispossession. In addition, Hamas provides extensive health, food and
housing charity, all the more crucial as Palestinian society is strangled by
the occupation and siege.
Historian Khaled Hroub explains, "Many Palestinians support the
nationalist/liberationist and social work of Hamas, but not its religious
ideal...Christians and secular people voted for Hamas side by side with Hamas
members and exponents in all constituencies."
Hamas' 1988 charter, rarely cited by them, conflates anti-Jewish and
anti-Zionist stances, which is anti-Semitic and cannot be supported by any
pro-Palestine progressives. Period.
However, since 1990, historians of Hamas attest--along with anyone who can
Google--that the party has made a clear distinction between Zionism and
Judaism. "Being Jewish, Zionist or Israeli is irrelevant--what is relevant
for me," one Hamas leader explained to Hroub, "is the notion of occupation
and aggression."
Today's Zionists conveniently ignore their own history of support for Hamas.
Middle East expert Anthony Cordesman explains Israel's reasoning for direct
aid to Hamas' earlier incarnation [4] in the late 1970s: "The Israelis wanted
to use it as a counterbalance to the PLO." One ex-CIA official argued that
Israel's support for Hamas "was a direct attempt to divide and dilute support
for a strong, secular PLO by using a competing religious alternative."
For socialists, there are many contradictory elements of Hamas, including its
mixed class composition and world view, which limit its ability to act as an
effective liberation force for Palestinians. The best hope for Palestine
liberation lies in the revolutionary struggles of ordinary people of the Arab
world taking place right now.
It is clear that, like the charge of anti-Semitism, which I have taken up
elsewhere [5], this latest ruse is just another attempt by racists to deny
the obvious. Of course, you can stand up for the social, political and
economic rights of Palestinians without being tied to any political entity.
It is a testament to the diminishing support for Israel's apartheid and
growth of Palestine solidarity that Zionists must resort to such vacuous
lies.
/First published at Sherry Talks Back [6]/.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Columnist: Sherry Wolf
Sherry Wolf is the author of /Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics and
Theory of LGBT Liberation/ [7] and an associate editor of the /International
Socialist Review/ [8]. Her writing has also appeared in the /Nation/ [9],
CounterPunch [10] and
/New Politics/
. She is a public speaker and blogs at Sherry Talks Back [11].
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Featured at Socialism
Hear *Sherry Wolf* at Socialism 2011 [12] in Chicago, speaking on "The myths
of Zionism." Check out the Socialism 2011 [13] website for more details.
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[1] http://www.gaycitynews.com/articles/2011/06/25/gay_city_news/perspectives/analysis/doc4e0680a4e82c1612512516.txt
[2] http://electronicintifada.net/blog/ali-abunimah/israel-lobby-group-outlines-dirty-tricks-against-campus-palestine-activists
[3] http://www.pinkwatchingisrael.com/arab-queers-say-no-to-pinkwashing-at-the-ussf/
[4] http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10456.htm
[5] http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/is-boycotting-israel-anti-semitic/
[6] http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/jewish-queers-for-hamas/
[7] http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Sexuality-and-Socialism
[8] http://isreview.org/
[9] http://www.thenation.com/
[10] http://counterpunch.org/
[11] http://sherrytalksback.wordpress.com/
[12] http://socialismconference.org/
[13] http://socialismconference.org/
