If you’re an LGBTQ+ parent, you should worry about Hamas gunning down your kids. Did that get your attention? Sounds outrageous, doesn’t it? Guess what? Hamas feels the same way about LGBTQ+ people and their families as they do about Israelis. Let me make this crystal clear: If an LGBTQ+ family moved into Gaza, Hamas would kill them. LGBTQ+ Palestinians are afraid to let their families know they are gay for fear that they will be murdered. Many have been killed — or successfully escaped — as reported in PGN and in media around the world.
Hate is hate.
Like many of you watching the carnage in Israel this week, my sorrow and outrage were too much to bear. Seeing the bloodshed of toddlers having their throats slit; pictures of mothers, children, and Holocaust survivors being kidnapped; and whole villages being gunned down was more than any civilized person should witness. But it’s not just Israelis that Hamas hates. They hate you as well. And when I say “you,” I mean “LGBTQ+ people.” Much like how they feel about Israel, they believe we should not exist as well.
Yet, there are members of our community who are so full of self hate or are so masochistic that they would love the person that would kill them? They praise Hamas and make apologies for their actions this week. Some go as far as to support what Hamas did this week. Think about that: Supporting the kidnapping of a woman who survived the Holocaust. Supporting an organization that wants, and has always wanted, the genocide of an entire race.
Anyone who would support Hamas — a group that slaughters children in their beds, rapes women and kidnaps people at random — is unthinkable. Do they support ISIS as well?
The reality of what has happened is not complex. Civilians were kidnapped and killed. Some of those gunned down were peaceful activists. Hamas didn’t care. Their goal is the destruction of Israel. They’ve been crystal clear about that. The timing of their actions, as Israel and Saudi Arabia were about to discuss an historic recognition of Israel, reinforces that point.
What will Hamas do with the hundred or so kidnapped victims? The likelihood of this ending soon does not seem to be a reality.
One last thought: These were not freedom fighters, as Hamas likes to promote themselves. These were bloodthirsty butchers. Consider this: Would you feel safe living next to someone who calls for the death of LGBTQ+ people? Would you publicly support that person? For any LGBTQ+ person who cares about the safety of their community, the answer should be an easy “no.” Sadly, it seems like the LGBTQ+ people applauding Hamas this week are blind to reality. Hamas’ actions will lead to the deaths of LGBTQ+ Israelis and Palestinians alike. And any person who is OK with that is not OK with me.