Most immediately, this campaign is designed to cover up the ugly fact that Palestinians,with few exceptions, are effectively barred from living on 93 % of land in 1948 Palestine("Israel"). That 93% is land controlled by the Israel Land Authority – a government bodyin turn controlled by a council on which the JNF holds just under half of the seats.The JNF's LGBT committee is also part of a well-orchestrated campaign to deflectgrowing international outrage over Israel's six decade-long occupation of Palestine,including its continued denial of basic human rights to the indigenous population, thebrutal siege of Gaza, and the recent massacre of humanitarian aid activists on the GazaFreedom flotilla.

This campaign is the latest addition to the Israeli state’s concerted efforts to portray Israelas a gay tourist destination based on its tolerance for diversity – despite the entire Israelisocial fabric being woven to exclude and erase Palestinian culture, livelihood and lives.This includes the culture and history of LGBT Palestinians – who often face increasedharassment at checkpoints from Israeli soldiers, due to their sexual identity. Clearly, anygains made by Jewish LGBT Israelis are not shared by Palestinians.

We stand in support of both LGBT rights and an end to Israeli apartheid. We thereforecondemn the JNF’s tokenizing of the long fought for rights of LGBT communities for thepurposes of erasing the ongoing struggle for the rights of Palestinians.