Nada Elia |
What’s a pro-gay, anti-Israel activist to do when faced with the fact that the Jewish state is the only nation in the Middle East in which not only is it illegal to discriminate against homosexuality, but where homosexuality is celebrated with an annual gay pride parade? To such activists, the answer is obvious: invent a bogus theory called “pinkwashing” that accuses Israel of touting gay rights in order to downplay its alleged oppression of the Palestinians.
The University of California, Los Angeles’s Center for Near Eastern Studies recently jumped into the fray with a lecture comically titled, “Pinkwashing: Gay Rights and Queer [sic] Indigeneities” (the term “indigeneities,” an invented piece of academic jargon, is derived from “indigenous”). In a sparsely attended presentation rife with post-colonialist rhetoric, Nada Elia, a professor of gender and global studies at Antioch University in Seattle and a member of the organizing committee of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), attempted to align her support for “Palestinian queer activism” with her devotion to all things anti-Israel.