LGBTQ Advocacy in the Gaza War

Israeli LGBTQ advocacy during the war linked military service, bereavement, and hostage captivity with demands for equality.[1][3] Jerusalem’s May 2024 Pride and Tolerance March partnered with hostage families, while Tel Aviv replaced its usual June celebration with a rally highlighting hostages and LGBTQ people affected by the war.[3][7] These events combined LGBTQ-rights advocacy with responses to the Israeli wartime experience rather than treating Pride solely as a celebration.[3][7]

Other LGBTQ activists framed opposition to Israel’s military campaign and support for Palestinians as expressions of queer solidarity, using demonstrations, interruptions of Pride parades, and boycott campaigns.[2][4] Jewish LGBTQ organizations responded to concerns about exclusion and safety, asking Pride organizers not to make Jewish participation conditional on participants’ views about Zionism.[2] Protection for LGBTQ Palestinians from the West Bank also became a focus of legal and organizational advocacy, including a February 2024 Israeli court ruling allowing those endangered because of their sexual orientation to request asylum.[5][8]

Palestinian queer organizing and disputes over Israeli LGBTQ advocacy predated the war.[9] Wala AlQaisiya, Ghaith Hilal, and Haneen Maikey describe alQaws as a Palestinian feminist and queer organization challenging sexual and gender-based oppression through grassroots groups, alliances, and political organizing.[9] They argue that sexuality should be understood alongside local political conditions and other forms of oppression rather than as an isolated rights issue.[9]

The authors connect the development of a more radical discourse within alQaws to Israel’s 2009 military campaign in Gaza and describe a widening separation from Israeli LGBTQ politics, including disagreements about national symbols and military service.[9] They characterize alQaws as rejecting partnerships with Israeli LGBTQ groups that do not clearly oppose what the organization regards as Israeli settler colonialism, and as questioning whether Western models of coming out, Pride, and visibility fit Palestinian circumstances.[9]

The language of “pinkwashing” was already part of this debate before October 2023.[10][11] A 2014 essay in the Jewish Review of Books discussed Sarah Schulman’s 2011 New York Times opinion article while criticizing anti-pinkwashing activism as denying Israel credit for gay-friendly policies.[10] In a 2021 SAPIR essay, Ethan Felson rejected the pinkwashing account and argued that Israeli LGBTQ protections resulted from sustained political struggles rather than a government propaganda plan.[11]

New solidarity groups emerged after the war began.[12] Youth of Prague for Palestine was established in October 2023 and described itself as “a collective of international and queer youth for Palestine located in Prague.”[12] Its October 26 founding statement called for community-building and awareness-raising while opposing what it described as Israel’s “oppressive, imperialist, colonialist, pink-washed, patriarchal forces.”[12]

Major Sagi Golan’s death connected wartime sacrifice with a specific campaign for legal recognition: he died in the October 7 attack after saving families at Kibbutz Be’eri, a week before he was due to marry his fiancé, Omer Ohana.[1] Ohana was not initially recognized in law as Golan’s widower, and the struggle for recognition led to an amendment to the Bereaved Families Law.[1]

A December 2023 survey of 1,000 LGBTQ respondents recorded reserve enlistment among 28% of men aged 21–40, compared with 25% of men in the general population excluding ultra-Orthodox and Arab men; a similar proportion of women in the LGBTQ community had been recruited.[1] Alongside these service figures, the LGBTQ Association’s 2023 reporting recorded a 28% increase in reports of LGBTQ-phobic attacks and a 93% increase in reports of serious attacks involving violence.[1]

Jerusalem’s 22nd Pride and Tolerance March took place on May 30, 2024, under the title “Born to Be Free,” with an estimated 10,000 participants and calls for both LGBTQ equality and the hostages’ release.[3] The event was more subdued than in previous years, with slower music and no dancing; participants included a small group calling for an end to the war and others carrying a sign reading “supporting Palestinians = supporting terrorism.”[3] Tel Aviv’s June rally, “Pride, Hope and Freedom,” was organized with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and highlighted LGBTQ soldiers, reservists, and people affected by the war.[7] The city’s Pride flag included a wider yellow stripe to draw attention to the hostages.[7]

Financial pressures also affected Tel Aviv’s plans: in May 2024, the municipality was preparing a NIS 500 million budget reduction amid increased wartime spending, rising prices, and revenue pressures.[13] Planned cultural cancellations included Gay Pride events, with the wartime atmosphere also cited as a reason; the council was scheduled to vote on the revised budget on May 20.[13]

Protection for Palestinian LGBTQ people generated a separate strand of advocacy.[5][8] In Gaza, Hamas authorities were openly hostile to LGBTQI+ people, same-sex sexual activity was illegal under legacy British Mandate criminal provisions, and observers reported harassment and detention based on sexual orientation or gender identity.[8] Safety concerns contributed to cases rarely being reported, and observers described no visible LGBTQI+ community or open local human-rights monitoring of LGBTQI+ issues.[8]

During 2023, Palestinian residents of the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — who feared life-threatening harm because of sexual orientation or gender-based violence lacked access to Israel’s asylum system, although some could obtain temporary COGAT permits.[8] Applicants had to approach the relevant office in person and in view of others, creating potential safety risks; people unable to return safely but lacking legal status faced vulnerability to trafficking, violence, and exploitation.[8]

After October 7, permit cancellations without notice were followed by arrests and deportations affecting some Palestinians who held valid permits.[14] In an Aguda questionnaire, a majority of surveyed Palestinian LGBTQI+ asylum seekers reported increased violence and job loss, a majority reported police arrest between October 7 and year’s end, and nearly a third reported expulsion to the West Bank.[14] Following communications from HIAS and ACRI, the Ministry of Justice stated on October 16 that it did not intend to deport permit-holders and that their permits were renewed automatically.[14]

On February 4, 2024, Tel Aviv District Court judge Michal Agmon-Gonen ruled that LGBTQ Palestinians facing danger because of sexual orientation could request asylum in Israel.[5] The appeal involved a West Bank Palestinian whose application had been rejected because the Population Authority regarded Palestinians as outside the UN Refugee Convention’s scope.[5] He had lived in Israel since 2015 and said his father attacked him after he refused an arranged marriage and came out; after fleeing, he sought residency and eventually received a temporary permit through further proceedings.[5] The ruling held that the convention applied to West Bank Palestinians and allowed asylum requests based on sexual or political persecution.[5]

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel announced an intention to appeal, prompting opposition from The Aguda.[5] The association argued that an appeal contradicted Israel’s duty to protect people persecuted because of their identity and “also contradicts Israel’s efforts to present itself around the world as an LGBTQ-friendly country during the war.”[5] In March 2024, The Equality Campaign Inc. launched a “Queer in Gaza” website, claiming that openly queer life in Gaza could lead to torture or death and that Israel provided asylum to endangered LGBTQ Palestinians.[15]

International solidarity campaigns often targeted Pride events.[2][4] Activists briefly interrupted Philly Pride with “No Pride in Genocide” signs, while groups calling for a boycott of Queens Pride accused its Jewish organizer of “pinkwashing genocide.”[2] On June 30, 2024, pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted Pride parades in New York City, St. Louis, and Toronto; Toronto’s parade ended early following a demonstration.[4] In St. Louis, the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee and Jewish Voice for Peace joined opposition to Boeing’s sponsorship, while pro-Palestinian LGBTQ groups also boycotted London and San Francisco Pride events.[4]

Campus protests also invoked pinkwashing.[16] On April 4, protesters opposed a Hillel-hosted University of California, Riverside event featuring Michael Alroy, a transgender Israeli man invited to discuss gender identity and Judaism.[16] Protesters highlighted his former Israeli military service, and Students for Justice in Palestine at UCR described the event beforehand as an attempt to “pinkwash a genocide.”[16]

Palestinian Israeli queer activists also challenged the wartime use of Pride symbols.[17] Activist Daoud criticized Pride flags in Jaffa, saying the flag had become associated for him with suffering in Gaza and that the Palestinian flag should be raised instead.[17] Human-rights lawyer and activist Rauda Morcos questioned holding Tel Aviv Pride while Palestinians were being bombed.[17]

The Aguda’s suspension from ILGA World brought the relationship between LGBTQ advocacy and national responsibility into an international organizational dispute.[18] ILGA suspended the Israeli umbrella organization in October 2024 after it proposed Tel Aviv as a host for the 2026 or 2027 world conference, saying the proposal had caused “anger and harm” and expressing solidarity with Palestinians.[18] The Aguda objected to the exclusion of LGBTQ-rights advocates, emphasized its work with Arab citizens and Palestinian refugee populations, and argued that LGBTQ Israelis should not be held responsible for government policy.[18]

In May 2025, ILGA announced that The Aguda would be reinstated in October after a year-long suspension.[19] It called complaints about The Aguda’s “reluctance to condemn war crimes plausibly amounting to genocide in Gaza” substantive, but recognized its continuing support for LGBTQ communities.[19] ILGA disavowed the Israeli organization’s position, actions, or silence on the war while warning that requiring member groups to take public positions on their governments could create a harmful precedent.[19] The Aguda welcomed the decision, called the complaints simplistic, and defended remaining in difficult spaces for dialogue.[19]

Jewish participation in Pride became another focus of advocacy.[2] Keshet and A Wider Bridge asked organizers to avoid gatekeeping Jewish participation based on Zionist views and to permit expressions of Jewish pride, while recommending that their own marchers avoid national flags in the volatile climate.[2] Keshet’s chief executive described unprecedented concern about Jewish safety at Pride while also recognizing Pride’s tradition of protest and the expectation of debate about Israel and Hamas.[2] Keshet UK and West London Synagogue declined participation in London Pride over safety concerns.[4]

A January 2026 dossier described Berlin’s Internationalist Queer Pride, held since 2021 and drawing more than 10,000 participants in recent years, as combining queer and other progressive causes with explicit Palestinian solidarity.[20] It reported that the 2024 march included the chants “Yallah yallah Intifada” and “There is only one solution intifada revolution.”[20] Around the 2024 Dyke* March, Jewish and non-Jewish queer women who questioned march-related imagery and statements described being insulted and threatened at a July fundraiser, with some leaving under police protection.[20]

The dossier also reported a dispute at the 2025 Community Dyke* March concerning a rainbow flag bearing a Star of David.[20] Organizers argued that the star was no longer neutral because of its association with Israel, while describing the march’s red triangle as Palestinian resistance and acknowledging its association with actors that use or justify violence.[20] An October 2026 account also described Queers for Palestine marching along London’s Piccadilly with “there is no pride in genocide” chants, and Palestinian flags appearing at Brighton Pride despite a reported national-flag ban while the Jewish delegation kept its flags hidden.[21]

Personal testimony also entered the debate: in a 2026 SAPIR essay, Eve Barlow recounted that Emily Damari, a lesbian Israeli released after 471 days in Hamas captivity, had seen television coverage of “Queers for Palestine” at Columbia University encampments while held in Gaza.[22] Barlow attributed to Damari the response, “You guys may be for Palestine. But I can tell you, Palestine is not for you.”[22]

“Pinkwashing” refers to critics’ allegation that Israel promotes LGBTQ rights to divert attention from its treatment of Palestinians; Israel’s promotion of LGBTQ achievements does not itself establish that alleged motive.[6] AlQaisiya, Hilal, and Maikey argue that this discourse can cast Israel as modern and liberal while portraying Palestinians as backward or homophobic.[9] Opponents of the allegation argue that it dismisses genuine features of Israeli society and falsely makes recognition of LGBTQ freedoms incompatible with concern about Palestinian rights.[23] Felson similarly argues that support for Israeli LGBTQ achievements can coexist with criticism and demands for further progress.[11]

Wider interpretations also differ: the Jewish Virtual Library frames links between Palestinian solidarity and LGBTQ campaigns as an oppressor-versus-oppressed political strategy, while UN Watch’s July 2023 submission to the Human Rights Council alleged abuses by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority rather than constituting an independent UN finding.[24][25] A June 2024 media dispute likewise concerned the accusation that Israel was co-opting Pride symbols, which HonestReporting challenged without reproducing the opposing article’s full argument.[26]

Some evidence has important limits: the Berlin dossier was a January 2026 snapshot based on events, media coverage, and interviews, not a comprehensive study, and individual march incidents do not establish the views of all participants.[20] The Palestinian asylum-seeker questionnaire’s sample size and exact percentages were not supplied, while the February 2024 asylum report established an announced appeal rather than its eventual outcome.[14][5]