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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Gays: Israelis Protest while Paleos Beat Up and Threaten Beheadings |
| 2006-11-11 |
| A group of gay Palestinian Americans canceled a planned pride march in East Jerusalem on Friday after one of them was beaten unconscious by a local man who said he was from the Waqf Muslim religious authority. The beating incident occurred on the same day an Israeli gay pride rally went ahead as scheduled, though without a planned march through city streets. The march had been called off after threats by religious and right-wing opponents to mount huge counterdemonstrations. Only minor violence marred the event. East Jerusalem was close to total lockdown Friday -- a combination of a three-day general strike called in mourning for the deaths in the Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun on Wednesday, and the resulting Israeli security alert to prevent retaliatory suicide attacks. Israeli security officials said they had more than 80 specific intelligence warnings of planned terror attacks against Israeli targets and raised the alert level to Daled or "D," the highest. Israeli police clamped a total closure on the West Bank, preventing all Palestinians from entering Israel except those living in East Jerusalem. In the East Jerusalem beating, two men -- one wielding a knife -- came looking for the group of gay Palestinian Americans who were staying at the Faisal Hostel near the Damascus Gate of the Old City. One of the assailants identified himself as being from the Waqf, the clerical trust that administers Muslim religious sites in the city. "I'm pretty terrified right now," said Daoud, an MBA student from Detroit who declined to give his full name. "We left the hostel immediately, but when my friend went back to collect some things, they were waiting for him. They asked if he was with 'the homos' and then started beating him." He said the victim, from Chicago, was badly beaten, knocked down a flight of stairs and left unconscious. The man, whose name was withheld for his safety, was taken to the El-Mokassed Hospital in East Jerusalem for treatment. "It was very scary. These two guys came in and said they had heard we were planning to march. They drew a knife and said if we marched they would cut our heads off. They sounded like they meant it," he said. Daoud said nine gay Palestinian Americans had come to Jerusalem to join the pride march. "Maybe I was just being naive. I heard about the pride rally, and I thought it would be nice for us to do something together as a gay community," he said. "We got a different kind of reception instead." once again, a westerner viewing the paleos through western lenses. In America, he said, "you have some tolerance and appreciation and understanding of what it means to be gay and to be a Palestinian. We're discovering the hard way it's not so acceptable here." Rotem Biran, 25, a hotel sales executive from Tel Aviv, said she was disappointed not to be able to march with the Palestinians from East Jerusalem. But by the time she arrived at the Faisal Hostel, Daoud and his friends had disappeared. "Gay Palestinians are really afraid," she said."It's not the same as being Jewish and gay. For them, it's dangerous. They can't really do anything openly in their own community because it's so strict, so they come all the way to Tel Aviv to be with other gay people." in contrast, here's an account of the Israeli event Friday's rally, held at the Hebrew University sports stadium, was a low-key affair that passed off largely peacefully. More than 2,000 participants were protected by about 3,000 police officers. One ultra-Orthodox protester who managed to sneak into the event was arrested after he jumped onstage and began screaming anti-gay slogans. Across town, California-born David Sheen, a founder of the East Bay City Repair project in Oakland, was one of 30 gay activists who were arrested after trying to march to the stadium where the rally was being held. Sheen, 32, wore a pink shirt bearing the words "My God is a lesbian," in Hebrew. Sheen, who describes himself as an "eco-freako," now lives in southern Israel and builds houses from earth. He said it was important for gay people in Israel to rally and speak out "because we're beautiful. And because we live here, and these are our streets." Noam Federman, an anti-gay religious activist, warned people not to touch the marchers for fear of catching AIDS and held a banner denouncing their "abomination." Five people with him were arrested after they were found carrying brass knuckles, knives and sticks. "We want to prevent the gays from marching inside Jerusalem," said Federman. "Jerusalem is a holy city to the Jewish people. We waited 2,000 years to get the privilege of having Jerusalem in our hands -- not to desecrate the city." Ultra-Orthodox rabbis, the Vatican and Muslim officials had all spoken out this week against the gay march through the streets of Jerusalem, a city holy to all three religions. Ultra-Orthodox Jews had staged rowdy protests all week and threatened violence if the march went ahead. |
| Posted by:PlanetDan |
| #9 and anyone who wants to come back and talk about the rights of divorced couples - I would like to remind you that my point still remains valid. While it is not true in every case, our courts, liberal and conservative, uphold the ideal that the biological parent has rights to be a part of their childs future, unless they are negligent to the point of having that privlidge revoked. My point is not to get into bickering over what makes the ideal family - but to point out that many of us don't want to conduct a social experiment undoing what has been, until about 1960, a fact of human nature. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-11-11 15:59 |
| #8 IE silence on the fact the bulk of the violent hate-crimes against "gays" are comitted by... Youths, but full assault on the horrible straight "square" who must be culpabilized for his "bigoted opinions". Liberties for homosexuals are based on the ideals of tolerance that came from 2,000 years of those who were willing to learn to love their neighbor - not those who attempt to shove their own lifestyle on others. Values of tolerance that seem in short supply to many in the homosexual activist community. Notice I said activist, please. The vile spewed towards conservative "fundies" on Kos and other sites far exceeds anything you will find on Christian or other religious websites (excepting Islam) about homosexuals. And yes - they do attempt to shove their lifestyle on us when they demand we pay for their marriage benefits and accept that a family is just who happens to be currently living under one roof. I don't care if people are homosexual. I really don't care what anyone else does as long as it doesn't affect me. Homosexuals took it past the point of saying, don't discriminate against me to demanding we change the rules of society for them. In the process, they are breaking down the idea that a family is a biological unit. I don't really have a problem with homosexual families to be sure. But I do have a problem with supporting anyone and everyone - homosexual or not - who wants to form an arrangement, temporary or permanent, and slap the label of family on it. We as a society accept the concept that children want to be with their genetic parents. Every adopted child seeks to find who their genetic parents are. Thus - there is something deeper to the concept of family than just a document in a courthouse. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-11-11 15:44 |
| #7 A parade there is a very unwise move. "Pride" parades are un-needed period. Keep your bedroom in the bedroom and most people will just not care. |
| Posted by: closedanger@hotmail.com 2006-11-11 14:48 |
| #6 Anonymoose, yea, all those gays for paleostinians groups, they challenge the shariat system, allrighty then. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2006-11-11 13:25 |
| #5 I agree about homosexuals living in muslim or even hindu societies, or to a point, to those in Russia. But I still think those living in the West and reaping the benefits of western liberal democracies tend to gravitate toward Ye Olde subversion of the White Male Order, even if it means allying themselves with people who actually oprress homos at home. There can be some exception, I recall a small demonstration by the french act up in front of the iranian embassy to protest hangings of homosexuals, but most of the time, it is the usual stuff, barge into the Nôtre-Dame cathedral to celebrate a mock same sex marriage (with of course tv invited), disturb the mass, punch a priest,... IE silence on the fact the bulk of the violent hate-crimes against "gays" are comitted by... Youths, but full assault on the horrible straight "square" who must be culpabilized for his "bigoted opinions". Did you know that in 2006 France a Mp was heavily fined for a speech at the pulpit of the parliament (MP are supposedly immune, but he repeated the incriminated sentence in a press conference, at the request of a "fellow traveller" journalist)? Yet, he just said heterosexuality is superior to homosexuality in that sense that homosexuality cannot perpetuate a Nation, as it is unable to give life (this was more circonvulated, the guy is a catholic philosophy teacher)... But there's a recent anti-homophobia law (based on an hoax, an attempted suicide by self-immolation who was turned into an exemplary hate crime which demanded an immediate response by the law), so "gay rights" NGOs sued him for "hate speech" and won. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-11 13:06 |
| #4 I will say in behalf of homosexuals that they are one of the most obvious groups actively challenging Sharia Law and religious persecution from both Orthodox Jews and even Hindu nationalists. By doing this they indirectly challenge all sorts of oppression, especially of women. Beliefs that are both so brutal and backwards that dare I say, even socialism looks like an improvement. Liberal democracy looks like paradise compared to that. Most Islamic countries have a delicate balancing act between their civil law, and the whim of Sharia, that inserts itself to oppress whenever it feels like it. This comfy hypocricy needs to be shaken until it is broken. And since it is homosexuals doing most of the shaking, then they are the ones who deserve at least tacit support, at least until somebody else challenges "the system". |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-11-11 12:44 |
| #3 The march had been called off after threats by religious and right-wing opponents to mount huge counterdemonstrations Apparently the SF crowd decided to drop the "disenfranchised youth" label and switch to "right wing opponents" instead. What exactly does that mean, "right wing opponents"? I've noticed this ridiculous description in more than one paper. But of course! We all know how those "right-wing" Jews and "right-wing" Christians all go around beating up homosexuals on Friday night. Not excusing anything, but sometimes you just set yourself up for trouble that you won't be able to handle on down the road. |
| Posted by: anon 2006-11-11 11:45 |
| #2 Not surprising, gay activists are involved in the whole "pro-paleostinian" scam, yet homosexuals are persecuted in "paleostine" and often become refugees in Israel. As a sidenote, it must be noted this gay pride was an "activist" one, IE it was held in Jerusalem in order to provoke the religious jews, purely and simply; gay prides in Tel Aviv do not cause any controversy. Anyway, while I certainly favor individual freedom including sexual orientations, I'm really uneasy about the "gay rights" thing; IMHO, yet an another tool used by leftist a assorted subversives, a fact clearly visible in France with the totally anti-catholic stance of the act up crowd, and the communautarism and differentialism agenda it promotes. I have no problem with homosexuals, but am really fed up with gays. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2006-11-11 11:00 |
| #1 Remember the Lavender Panthers? Those were CA gays who took martial arts, with the idea of thumping those who wanted to thump them. While it is hard to find individuals with a talent for martial arts, if you go looking, you can easily find talented individuals who are martial artists you can rent. This is what they should have done. I'm sure they could find any number of martial artists to accompany them, given the opportunity to give some violent individual a royal thumping. They could even go out trolling for homosexual haters, who would attack them on the street, thinking they were easy prey, when all of a sudden some Sonny Chiba appears and just beats seven bells out of them. You have to admit it would be funny as hell to hear in the same sentence: "Die, you filthy homosexual swine...Hey! Quit hitting me! Ow! I'm being oppressed!" |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-11-11 10:53 |