Israeli government releases cartoon depicting Hamas murdering gay people
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry has released a cartoon that depicts gay people in Gaza being murdered by Hamas.
The cartoon, titled “Open your eyes about Gaza”, mocks foreign journalists who report on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
In it, a cartoon journalist reports, as terrorists fire rockets: “We are here in the center of Gaza, and as you can see, people here are trying to live quiet lives. There are no terrorists here, just ordinary people.
As a man standing in front of a pride flag is wrenched away screaming by Hamas, the reporter says: “There is no doubt that the Palestinian society here is liberal and pluralistic, and that Hamas allows everyone to live in dignity.”
A rifle is heard firing in the background as the gay man’s screams continue, and then suddenly stop.
Uri Resnick, a spokesman for Israel’s foreign minister, denied the video was an “insult”, saying it was “meant to expose the irony of how Gaza is portrayed” in the media.
He told the Washington Post: “I don’t think it is meant to be an insult at all.”
Homosexuality is not illegal across the Palestinian territories, as it was decriminalized in the West Bank in 1951. Male homosexuality remains illegal in Gaza under a law dating back to the British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance of 1936, and Hamas has supported the death penalty for gay people.
There are little protections for LGBT people in Palestinian territories.
