We, Palestinian Queers for BDS (PQBDS) and Pinkwatching Israel, are appalled by the Equality Forum’s decision to highlight Israel as the featured nation of their 2012 Summit in Philadelphia this May. While attempting to celebrate the purported advancements of LGBT civil rights within Israeli society, the Equality Forum is partnering with the Israeli Embassy in Washington and the Israeli Ministry of Tourism in promoting the Tel Aviv gay tourism agenda. Even more disturbing is the Equality Forum’s willingness to provide Israel with a platform to market itself as a state that protects human rights. We call upon the Equality Forum leadership to reverse their complicity in Israel’s propaganda campaign. Continue reading →

While the International Tourism Fair in Berlin (ITB) claims to have an ethical commitment towards promoting socially responsible tourism, it is a disgrace that they fail to see the contradiction between that responsibility and hosting “Tel Aviv Gay Vibe” an Israeli government led campaign to promote gay tourism to the city of Tel Aviv.

While Israel continues its illegal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem, and continues its discrimination against Palestinians in Israel, imposition of an inhumane siege on more than 1.5 million people in Gaza, and continues to deny more than 5 million Palestinian refugees their UN-sanctioned right to return to their homeland, it is the International Community’s social responsibility to hold Israel accountable for these violations, not reward it by supporting it’s economy and whitewashing it’s image. Continue reading →