Palestinian police in the West Bank have vowed to crack down on LGBTQ events for going against traditional values, NBC News reported.
“This recent backlash is in direct response to the dismantling of societal denial regarding the existence of LGBTQ Palestinians,” AlQaws, an LGBTQ rights advocacy group, wrote in a Facebook post.
AlQaws says their social media has been flooded with threats of violence and persecution since police made the announcement, including promoting lies about their organization and myths about LGBTQ people.
The group went on to condemn recent attacks on LGBTQ Palestinians, highlighting a 16-year-old who was stabbed outside of an LGBTQ youth shelter in Tel Aviv.
Describing themselves as “a Palestinian anti-colonial organization that works in all of historical Palestine since 2001 and challenges patriarchal, capitalist and colonial oppression,” there’s not much an American conservative could commiserate with, except that they’re being denied basic rights.
One has to ask whether the Palestinian authorities are hurting their position on the world stage if they can’t let a minority group ask for a permit without that group being visited with threats of violence.
Editor’s Note: This post has been emended.