UNRWA asks Gaza staff not to discriminate against gays. How are the Palestinians reacting?

Show this article to a progressive friend who supports the Palestinian struggle against “the occupation.”

By Michael Selutin | | Topics: Hamas, Gaza, LGBT
UNRWA is supposed to deliver money and food, but not make demands. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90
UNRWA is supposed to deliver money and food, but not make demands. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90

The strange alliance between progressive leftists and Islamists is based on the fact that the leftists close their eyes to the uncomfortable reality. The blogger Elder of Ziyon highlighted a particularly poignant example when UNRWA officials in Gaza this week required local employees of UN facilities to sign a code of conduct. The code was several pages long. One section read:

“UNRWA considers gender equality in accordance with the views of the United Nations and describes gender equality to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender colleagues (UNRWA staff) and beneficiaries (service recipients – the refugee population).

“UNRWA employees must treat all people equally and with respect in accordance with UN policy.”

The reaction in Gaza was, predictably, violent. And every single organization that spoke out argued that UNRWA should discriminate against homosexuals.

The Joint Committee for Refugees in Gaza issued a statement reading:

“This code violates the moral system of our Palestinian people…. blatantly hurts the feelings of refugees and employees, calls for moral decay and despises all customs, traditions, struggles and history of our Palestinian people and violates the laws of the host country… So-called gay rights are completely rejected and have no place in our Palestinian society, and the claim that they are part of human rights are false claims.”

In Tel Aviv, Arabs and gays live peacefully side by side. Photo: Hadas Parush/FLASH90

The Joint Committee of West Bank and Gaza Employee Unions at UNRWA condemned the code, saying:

“We call on the UNRWA leadership to respect our values, common sense and Islamic morality and not to spread such ideas.”

They asked the union members to return the document unsigned.

The head of the Hamas government’s media office, Salama Maarouf, responded:

“We expressly declare that this matter is unacceptable to us and we see it as a clear violation by the agency’s management of its internal regulations and its founding protocol, according to which it is must uphold the values, customs and laws of the communities to which it provides services.”

The UNRWA Workers’ Democratic Assembly “called on the UNRWA administration to withdraw the notices and immediately investigate who placed them in the publications and to apologize to the great Palestinian people for this incident, which was a stab in the back of the Palestinian refugee.” It also said the code “incites immorality.”

The Association of Palestinian Scientists said UNRWA “glorifies obscenity and vice and attacks the moral and humanitarian values of Palestinian society.”

Will there be anyone among progressive activists who will demonstrate for LGBTQ+ rights in the Gaza Strip after such statements?

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