Originally published January 22, 2016
For several years the Israeli government has attempted to use propaganda about the freedoms some LGBTs in that country have as a cover for their increasingly brutal rule over Palestinians, a process known as “pink-washing.”
Because of the brutal racism of the country, mimicking apartheid South Africa – one set of laws for Jews, another for Palestinians – most Palestinian LGBTs don’t enjoy these freedoms. Israel’s racist rule features widespread imprisonment of Palestinians without charges or trials,systemic torture documented by numerous human rights organizations, and the intentional, extreme impoverishment of Palestinians thru the purposeful destruction of their economic activity in Gaza and the West Bank.
Nothing more succinctly encapsulates the racist nature of the Israeli state than its infamous apartheid wall, facilitating the increasing theft of land from 
Palestinians even as they approach a majority of people in all the areas controlled by Israel. As progressives rightly criticize the racist wall that Donald Trump proposes to build on the U.S.-Mexico border, why can’t some of them see the profoundly racist nature of the wall that Israel has already built?
By allowing a pro-Israel group space at its Creating Change conference, the National LGBTQ Task Force has turned its back on its ostensible mission to oppose racism in all of its forms.
Don’t allow LGBTQs to be used as a cover for anti-Palestinian racism. Please join us in condemning Task Force’s choice to allow a pro-Israel event at their “Creating Change” conference in Chicago.
Please join and share the Facebook event widely, and then show up at 8:30 PM today, Friday, Jan. 22 at the Hilton Hotel, 720 S. Michigan, Buckingham Ballroom on Lobby Level.
(Please note that a pro-equality Shabbat will be taking place in the same room beforehand, so please be respectful and do not disturb.)