BDS INITIATIVES HARM PALESTINIANS — ILGA Case Study
I am a huge believer that economic integration and personal freedom is a critical component toward reducing conflict. Joint innovation, collaboration, and mutual respect for individual liberties can have significant impact on reducing tensions and aligning incentives.
This is why I am opposed to Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) initiatives against Israel that are picking up steam around the globe.
- When you peel back the onion BDS actually causes direct material damage to Arab Israelis and Palestinians.
- BDS programs cause indirect damage to the wider world, especially the Muslim countries in the MENA region.
- BDS programs are based on flimsy logic or outright lies.
There are significantly better ways to support Palestinians (I share what I do at the bottom).
This series is aimed to unpack various BDS initiatives to show exactly why they are fundamentally flawed with the hope of finding better pathways to reaching coexistence.
Let’s look at ILGA
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, known as ILGA, is a global federation of nearly 1900 organizations in 160 countries that campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights.
ILGA has been around for nearly 50 years, pushing for advocacy and research to reduce homophobia.
Very recently, ILGA made the decision to suspend membership for one of it’s organizations called “The Aguda”.
Why? Because The Aguda is from Israel.
The Aguda, founded in 1975, is the preeminent Israeli organization for advancing LGBTQ rights in Israel. For 50 years The Aguda has worked tirelessly to create equality for the LGBTQ community in Israel.
And they have been incredibly successful. It is an undeniable fact that Israel is the only country in the entire MENA region that has codified protections for the LGBTQ community. There is a gay General in the army. The speaker of the Israeli parliament is gay. Olympic medalists are gay. Major TV anchors are gay. Israel put trans rights on the map decades ago. Transition surgeries are fully covered by national insurance. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
But this isn’t the worst of it…
The Aguda provides extensive support for the PALESTINIAN LGBTQ community. Why? Because the LGBTQ community for Palestinians is non-existent. It is an undeniable fact that the broader MENA region has no love at all for the LGBTQ communities.
Therefor, the Aguda has stepped up to give Palestinian LGBTQ people the critical support they need that they do not get anywhere else.
ILGA cares more about hating Jews than they do about supporting Palestinian LGBTQ members.
ILGA has actively thrown Palestinian LGBTQ members under the bus. The Aguda is the only place where Palestinian LGBTQ members can find support, and ILGA has publicly shown their lack of support for Palestinian LGBTQ members.
The ILGA case is indicative of wider issues in BDS campaigns, just like the Starbucks BDS campaign, the McDonald’s BDS campaign, the Memorial Sloan Kettering BDS campaign, and the TEVA BDS campaign (make sure to read those as well).
But ILGA takes the cake on pure hypocrisy, caving to Jew Haters and Rape Deniers while simultaneously spitting in the face of Palestinian LGBTQ members.
Ultimately BDS campaigns cause significant harm, are based on false premises or outright lies, and they do nothing to actually support Palestine.
There are many practical ways to support Palestine and to foster collaboration and mutually beneficial economic ties.
Here are some of the things I have personally done over the last two years:
- Entrepreneurship Seminars for burgeoning founders from the West Bank
- Working with the leading HMO in Israel to provide remote care access for the dispersed Bedouin population.
- Working with local NGOs to bring technology to address Diabetes for the Arab Israeli and Druze population in the north of Israel.
- Upcoming massive project with a global NGO to build an innovation infrastructure for the Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem (crossing fingers this one gets approved).
- Daily support for dozens of startups that are either founded by Arab Israelis, employ Arab Israelis in key positions, or employ Palestinians from Gaza and the W.B. remotely: Helping them connect to investors, co-developers, corporate entities, pilot sites, etc..
- And indirectly — the taxes I pay go to support Rambam Hospital and give free healthcare services to Palestinians in the W.B. and Gaza.
Note that none of these efforts involve blatant Anti-Semitism, hate-speech, or fabricated biased misinformation promoted on socials like Candace Owens or Gigi Hadid.
What have you done?
