If your own suffering does not serve to unite you with thesuffering of others, if your own imprisonment does not join you with others inprison, if you in your smallness remain alone, then your pain will have beenfor naught.

On the evening of August 1st inTel Aviv, someone entered a youth group meeting at a gay, lesbian, bisexual,and transgender community center and opened fire, killing two people andinjuring many more, some critically. 

We mourn the loss of those killedand injured, and are outraged by this homophobic violence. As people who arelesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and/or queer (LGBTQ), we empathize withthe pain, fear, and rage that friends, loved ones, and communities are experiencing.We are heartened that people all over the world are coming together to mournthese deaths and to stand against the violence and hatred that caused them.  Maythis loss compel us towards greater justice, compassion and humanity!

As people who reject the Zionist premise of safety basedon violence and isolation of people from each other, we cannot subscibe to therepresentation of this crime as an isolated event, separated from the violencethat pervades the state of Israel.To sincerely engage with the question of building true safety, we mustrecognize the systemic aspects of this incident. Israelis marketed as a gay-friendly tourist destination and a beacon of democracy inthe Middle East. In fact, LGBTQ people of allethnicities and religions face discrimination and violence in Israel, just as we do in all otherparts of the world.

Furthermore, this horrendous crime took place in thecontext of a deeply militarized society in which a ban on assault weapons –such as the gun used in this attack - is simply unimaginable. In theterritories occupied in 1967, unarmed Palestinians, including teenagers andchildren, are routinely shot by the Israeli army. Israeli forces routinelydestroy people’s homes, confiscate their land and resources, discriminateagainst Palestinians in their access to water, and restricts their everydaymovement – much of this now accomplished through the building of an apartheidand annexation wall. These acts of violence against Palestinians are normalizedby Israeland its allies. They require a pervasive militarization and a culture ofaggression within all spheres of Israeli society. Israel is founded on the denial andpurposeful destruction of Palestinian existence and homeland.

Contrary to the mediated attempt to describe Israel as a force of liberation and progress, wesee objecting to apartheid Israelas an act of solidarity with the Palestinian people, including LGBTQPalestinians. LGBTQ Palestinians are not going to be “saved” by a so-called gay-friendlyZionist state. Organized LGBTQ Palestinians reject the myth of Israelas an “oasis of tolerance.”

We are disturbed by the cynical manipulation of thesedeaths to bolster support for the Israeli state and its violent policies. WhenIsraeli politicians say that this is an unprecedented level of violence, andpromise to create safety for LGBTQ people in Israel, they are using the promiseof safety to hide the violence and domination that is foundational to theIsraeli state. When Zionist groups emphasize the growing gay nightlife in Tel Aviv,they are using the illusion of safety to draw support and funding to Israelfrom liberal queer and Jewish people around the world. We reject these lies, aswell as the manipulation of our communities for profit and to increase militaryand political support for Israel.

Just as we reject the liethat Zionism is premised on the safety of Jews, we reject the lie that Israel prioritizes and values the safety ofLGBTQ citizens of Israel. The safety Israelclaims to extend to LGBTQ people is false; we do not accept an illusion ofsafety for some at the expense of self determination for others.  No matter whoZionism claims to save or value, nothing can justify the targeting,suppression and oppression of the Palestinian people.  

We call on LGBTQ communities tostand in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle againstIsraeli violence. Putting words into action, we call on LGBTQ communities acrossthe world to endorse the Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions(BDS) against Israel until it complies with full international law, includingan immediate end to the occupation and colonization of Palestine, a dismantlingof the wall, an end to war crimes against the people of Gaza, and for thePalestinian Right of Return.

Specifically, we call on these communities to boycott internationalLGBTQ events held inside of Israel; to abstain from touring Israel as is marketedto LGBTQ people - with the exception of solidarity visits to Palestine; and tocounter and boycott the promotion of Israeli LGBTQ tourism, and Israelicultural and academic events in the countries in which we reside - unless they are in clear and undivided solidarity withPalestine. By these actions, we show a commitment to justice and humanityconsistent with our outrage against this hateful and deadly attack thatoccurred in Tel Aviv.

This statement was drafted by members of thefollowing organizations:

International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, Toronto

Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism

and

The following BDS activists from Israel:

Ayala Shani

Edo Medicks

Emily Schaeffer

Hamutal Erato

Leiser Peles

Liad Kantorowicz

Moran Livnat

Nitzan Aviv

Noa Abend

Rotem Biran

Roy Wagner

Segev (Lilach) Ben- David

Sonya Soloviov

Tal Shapira

Yossef/a Mekyton

Yossi Wolfson

Yotam Ben-David

IJAN-TC hosted a "Picnic for Palestine" on Sunday, August 9th inMinneapolis. Over a dozen other local groups who also work to supportjustice in Palestine and the region were present. The picnic wasdesigned to build relationships between activists and organizationsalready engaged in this work. "We see folks at rallies and protests,but we don't really know one another," remarked one of theparticipants. Along with great informal networking, each group had thechance to introduce themselves. Around 60 people attended.

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