“In the name of love” is a phrase which has been written in English, Arabic, and Hebrew on the rainbow flag raised by an Israeli soldier over the rubble of Gaza. The image brought back memories for me, the specters of 1.1 million Iraqi civilians who were killed when the U.S. occupied Iraq. It gained significant popular approval from queer communities at the time under the pretext of liberating Iraqi homosexuals.

The U.S. military in Iraq did not welcome homosexuals, following a policy of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” However, this did not prevent the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad in 2009 from organizing a Pride party, which most certainly did not erase the memory of the Abu Ghraib scandal in 2004, revealing the psychological and sexual violence suffered by prisoners. Those images still haunt many people’s memories.

Today, Israel returns to the skillful practice of pinkwashing, attempting to restore the image of the facade of democracy to its former state. This is the image seen in the photo of the soldier with the rainbow flag. It’s part of the image Israel has been building for years, enticing LGBTQ+ individuals from North Africa, for example, with money and fame to come to Israel, painting a picture of the bright Eastern queer fantasy that seduces Western queers.

Investigations reveal that the slogan “Sea, Sex, and Fun” is just an advertisement that conceals discrimination, homophobia, and racism. When cameras are turned off, Arab or Arab-origin LGBTQ+ individuals return to their status as “second-class citizens” in Israel.

Israel began its pinkwashing strategy in 2005 under the slogan “The Oasis of Middle Eastern Democracy,” accepting sexual and gender diversity within a set of policies aimed at washing Israel’s hands of blood. However, Israel quickly engaged in humiliation, denying equality to those it invited to visit this oasis, particularly LGBTQ+ Palestinians. The “other,” stripped of humanity by Israel, associated with “bestiality” and brutality, possesses a different culture, language, religion, and even a different ethnicity, hence not entitled to equal status with citizens.

Queers in Israel… “Deviants” in Gaza

The Palestinian “other” does not fit within Israel’s definitions of humanity. They can only be imagined as submissive and servile, deprived of rights but subject to punishment. This leads the Israeli media to describe LGBTQ+ individuals in Gaza as “deviants,” questioning Hamas’s stance on them, while welcoming LGBTQ+ individuals in its army, despite not recognizing same-sex marriage.

Israel goes beyond that, producing an ethical value system different from what its institutions advocate. It investigates the ideological role of Hamas in maintaining Islamic values, arming itself against LGBTQ+ individuals, which some reports indicate. The Israeli army has allegedly threatened LGBTQ+ individuals in Gaza with exposure if they don’t cooperate.

The phrase “Not in our name” is now an attempt to justify distancing Israel’s retaliatory violence from our identity as queer individuals. However, Israel has done what it has done so far in the name of the Jews, many of whom have raised the same slogan.

Israel also resorts to dramatic narratives to highlight its achievement of human justice. The “gay” soldier with a unique liberal identity confronts “savage rejecters of human values.” The LGBTQ+ soldier in Israel becomes a hero fighting absolute cosmic evil, justifying violence and triumph when posed above the rubble of buildings, often concealing the bodies of civilians. This image coincided with the Israeli Defense Ministry’s decision to consider LGBTQ+ partners of soldiers as “family,” ensuring they receive the same benefits and advantages in case one of them is killed.

Israel also seeks European central involvement in ethical dilemmas, yet it demonstrates the violence of this freedom-fighting hero as necessary to rid the world of “evil.” This justified brutality is part of an emotionally charged scenario, a manifestation of retaliatory heroism. Its emotional nature becomes a form of justified or excusable violence, as Hamas’s heinous crime must be met with an even more horrible justice.

The Killing in the Name of Love

The image of the soldier holding the rainbow flag in Gaza and another kissing his partner is part of Israel’s propaganda to redefine “love” as a weapon which Palestinians are killed for. This image is also used by Arab and non-Arab non-state entities to suppress gender minorities, presenting Israel’s war as a defense of individual freedoms. This is seen by Islamic-authoritarian societies as a Western project to seize “human values” and “God’s nature,” now associated with Israel, perceived as an “enemy” by Arab societies. This is evident through the soldier’s statement that the phrase “in the name of love” is a response to “in the name of Allah” on the remaining walls of houses.

The previous comparison gave form to the flag and the word as a form of justice, as a “victory” and an application of “justice” in the name of identity, a civilian identity serving the dominance of the military institution in the name of “duty” and “individual freedom.”

The clear argument now in the context of raising the rainbow flag is that the violence committed in Gaza is carried out in the name of “love.” It is for public safety, to exclude/prevent evil from committing more violent crimes. This seems ethical, but it also justifies “genocide,” making such crimes seem ordinary, softening Israel’s violence in comparison to the “evil” committed by Hamas, portrayed as the “end of the world.”

Between Pinkwashing and Hamas’s Ideology

The phrase “not in our name” is now an attempt to justify Israel’s retaliatory violence and distance it from the retaliatory violence is committed against our queer-selves.  However, Israel has done what it has done in the name of Jews, many of whom raised the same slogan.

It wouldn’t be difficult for Israel to shape a superhero who saves the historical victim from the savage Islamic violence threatening its peace. Israel’s influence on us as individuals from the queer community might be indirect but is still retaliatory and humiliating, serving its stereotypical image of being the only democracy in the Middle East. This violence affects us in different aspects, whether in Iraq or Lebanon, both countries teeming with armed militias essential to their existence, aiming to “liberate Palestine” and fight against America and everything associated with it, or as individuals rejecting oppression based on identity, happening to queer Palestinians in particular, and the Palestinian individual in general.

Our rejection of turning the flag they trade with is necessary, not only on the level of the ongoing war and genocide but on a broader level that includes rejecting Israel’s occupation policies, which exploits our oppressed identity in our countries within the pinkwashing agenda, for it to become a curtain hiding oppression. 

This by no means implies that Hamas did not commit crimes against queer Gazans, as its ideological stance urging to “preserve Islamic values” explains the actual suffering of queer Gazans, lost between Israel’s pinkwashing and Hamas ideology.