The Left likes underdogs. Gays are underdogs. Palestinians are underdogs. Muslims are underdogs. What happens when you throw all three into the mix? This:
A group of gay Palestinian Americans canceled a planned pride march in East Jerusalem on Friday after one of them was beaten unconscious by a local man who said he was from the Waqf Muslim religious authority.
The beating incident occurred on the same day an Israeli gay pride rally went ahead as scheduled, though without a planned march through city streets. The march had been called off after threats by religious and right-wing opponents to mount huge counterdemonstrations. Only minor violence marred the event.
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In the East Jerusalem beating, two men — one wielding a knife — came looking for the group of gay Palestinian Americans who were staying at the Faisal Hostel near the Damascus Gate of the Old City. One of the assailants identified himself as being from the Waqf, the clerical trust that administers Muslim religious sites in the city.
“I’m pretty terrified right now,” said Daoud, an MBA student from Detroit who declined to give his full name. “We left the hostel immediately, but when my friend went back to collect some things, they were waiting for him. They asked if he was with ‘the homos’ and then started beating him.”
He said the victim, from Chicago, was badly beaten, knocked down a flight of stairs and left unconscious. The man, whose name was withheld for his safety, was taken to the El-Mokassed Hospital in East Jerusalem for treatment.
“It was very scary. These two guys came in and said they had heard we were planning to march. They drew a knife and said if we marched they would cut our heads off. They sounded like they meant it,” he said.
Daoud said nine gay Palestinian Americans had come to Jerusalem to join the pride march. “Maybe I was just being naive. I heard about the pride rally, and I thought it would be nice for us to do something together as a gay community,” he said. “We got a different kind of reception instead.”
In America, he said, “you have some tolerance and appreciation and understanding of what it means to be gay and to be a Palestinian. We’re discovering the hard way it’s not so acceptable here.”
Here’s the problem: Which underdog do you side with? I would prefer to side with a principle — non-violent tolerance within a pluralist society — rather than an underdog, but that’s just me.
Filed under: Muslim violence, Palestinians |
Bookworm Room (ARCHIVES) 
Have you anymore thoughts on how the Left deals with this moral dilemma? If supporting the underdogs that appeal to Leftist guilt and self-righteousness is standard operation on the Left, how do you explain their way of dealing with such conflicts as you have just described? Which way would they go, or would they just ignore it?
Oh, I forgot, your question. Well, I think the answer is. What do you get when you mix em up? You get a party that entertains the Left.
Lefties should get beyond the reflexive support of “underdogs” and recognize that many are underdogs for good reason. When it comes to the Palestinians (as a group, not individuals), I can’t think of a group of people less deserving of sympathy for their self-inflicted pathologies, the unflinching commitment to the destruction of another people, or the education of their children to commit suicide and murder . When I think of all the identify groups in the world that do deserve sympathy, I put the Palestinians pretty much at the end of the line. That being said, I know many individual Palestinians that are wonderful people that wish only for peace and a sane future.
re: “In America, he said, “you have some tolerance and appreciation and understanding of what it means to be gay and to be a Palestinian. We’re discovering the hard way it’s not so acceptable here.””
By George, I think he’s got it! I’ll bet this clown was someone who thought a dirty look or a roll of the eyes was “gay-bashing” before he went to Jerusalem.
This guy needs to spread this story far and wide in the US, so some people will finally re-learn what “gay bashing” actually IS, and how tolerant a roll of the eyes is.
People with knives really shouldn’t be pulling them out when the enemy isn’t even in range yet. That is major tele something, what was it again. Arg, oh well, forgot the name. But it is more intimidation than actual threat. After all, they just beat the guy up right, so why did they have a knife?
“It was very scary. These two guys came in and said they had heard we were planning to march. They drew a knife and said if we marched they would cut our heads off. They sounded like they meant it,” he said.
The mob and their intimidation tactics, pretty standard.
They aren’t important enough to kill, why are they scared? Theo, now that was a guy with propaganda ability, important enough to kill, anyways. Those who can speak out with their own voices, must be intimidated. Those who can speak out with a voice such that millions upon millions hear it, those must be killed. It is interesting how these jihadists categorize their threats.
I believe there is a professor at Columbia University who is working on an “Oppression Index” just to deal with this prickly and politically awkward issue.
I think Mama’s right. When I encountered this story I have to admit I was somewhat dumbstruck.
Firstly, given the general level of tension in Israel at the moment, what kind of dim bulb (gay or straight, these are idiots) would go there, of all places on the planet, to hold a mass rally and march in the streets? THAT’S just what the Israeli civil authorities want right now: a mass demonstration with hundreds of people marching down main street. Terrific idea.
So you aren’t going to have the authorities on your side, they just wish you’d go away.
Even without the current tension, you’re confronting a crossroads of cultures who at the best of times do not especially favor the gay lifestyle. Neither Judaism nor Islam is ever going to be famous for tolerance in this particular area: neither Moses nor Mohammed was a fan.
This somewhat tantamount to standing in a pool of gasoline and lighting matches.
And Daoud couldn’t figure this out?
Somebody’s giving this guy an MBA?
You don’t get it. Oppressed Palestinian Muslim Arabs trump everyone for the Left. They only acted badly to the Gays because they are oppressed and rightfully angry. It is their right to be angry and culturally backward since they are so unfairly oppressed. Until they are free and their anger purged by having murdered every Jew they can find, they have every right to hurt any and everyone they please. It’s their right as victims. They trump everything.
[…] I posted the other day about an identity politics problem in Israel: an American Palestinian showed up in Israel for the gay pride parade, only to find himself and his friends on the receiving end of a violent beating from Muslim religious authorities. Surprisingly, the gay American Palestinian was surprised. I was not surprised. If the focus is on your place in the hierarchy of oppression at any given time, rather than on underlying conduct, you’re going to have clashes. In other words, we’ve long stopped being surprised that NOW assiduously ignores Islamic misogyny, and we’re going to get to sit and watch and see how the gay community deals with increasingly virulent Islamic homophobia. […]