Gay Palestinian Man Executed in ISIS-Style Beheading

Ahmed was abducted from Tel Aviv where he had taken refuge.

By Edy Cohen | | Topics: palestinians, LGBT
ISIS ideology and methods have found a foothold in Palestinian society, one of the most religiously extreme Muslim societies in the Middle East.
ISIS ideology and methods have found a foothold in Palestinian society, one of the most religiously extreme Muslim societies in the Middle East. Photo: EPA-EFE/FAROOQ KHAN

While in some countries LGBTQ agendas are being shoved down everyone’s throat even at kindergarten level, in other societies people are going to the opposite extreme.

Ahmed was supposed to receive asylum in Canada in two months, but instead was brutally murdered. The violent “honor killing” took place in early October, but because of its horrific nature the Palestinian Authority censored this news item. It was a murder the likes of which we have not seen in many years.

Ahmed Abu Merahia was executed by a group of Palestinians in Hebron after being abducted from Tel Aviv, where he had been living for the past two years.

Twenty-five-year-old Ahmed had managed to get a residency permit in Israel about two years ago due to death threats he received in his hometown of Hebron, which is governed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). He fled from there and came to Israel. His plan was to get to Canada, and indeed luck seemed to smile on him at first. Canada expressed willingness to accept him as a refugee immigrant based on his personal story and the persecution against him in Hebron. In the meantime, he lived in Israel, found a job and made a decent living. But luck stopped playing in his favor when a group of Palestinians managed to abduct him and bring him back to the city of Hebron by force. The person who murdered Abu Marahia made sure to document the event by video and spread it on social media after the deceased was beheaded.

Even the official spokesman of the Palestinian police admitted that this is one of the most horrific crimes recorded recently, and that it sets a dangerous cultural precedent of beheading, which is liable to be repeated. The spokesman appealed to the young people not to disseminate the video.

Arab nations have little tolerance for homosexuality. However, the attitude differs from country to country. In Gulf localities such as Dubai, the policy is “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” In other countries like Lebanon or Jordan there is more tolerance, and there are even special gay entertainment venues. Places like Egypt and the Palestinian Authority have no tolerance.

There is no direct reference in the Koran to the punishment or execution of homosexuals. But a significant number of Muslim scholars interpret homosexuality as a sin and a crime, and support the death penalty for homosexuals. Most of the extremist clerics rely on the Hadith, a collection of oral law traditions attributed to Mohammed. Many Hadiths (ahadith) discuss livat (sexual intercourse between males). Two examples are:

  1. “When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes.”
  2. “Kill the one that is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to.” (apparently in reference to the active and passive partners in gay sexual intercourse)

Therefore homosexual activity can lead to death in Muslim societies. This is usually not at the hands of the authorities, except in Iran. As in the case of Ahmed, sometimes people in conservative Arab societies take the “law” into their own hands and execute judgement. We have seen many examples in the Palestinian Authority, in Egypt and elsewhere.

Hundreds of Palestinians have taken refuge in Israel after being threatened over homosexuality. Some of them use Israel as a waypoint while trying to obtain asylum in Western countries, like Ahmed. Some of these Palestinians choose to settle in the State of Israel, with a residence visa that is issued for purely humanitarian reasons.

In Palestinian society, gays are treated as religious infidels and also as dangerous criminals, who must be destroyed in order not to contaminate the traditional and religious society in which they live. In Arab society, a person’s honor and his family’s honor are of paramount importance. The gay person’s relatives are the ones who must “get rid” of the problem so that the social stigma does not stick to them. The only way to do this is to murder the homosexual. It is similar to murdering women for supposedly dishonoring the family (See: The Tragedy of Palestinian Honor Killing). It’s the same. The same shame, the same stigma and the same method used to erase the stigma.

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