Why we must stand with Israel

It is the moral thing to do- on many different levels

I woke up this past Saturday morning to news that I think has shaken the entire world over the days since. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas engaged in an attack on Israel and its civilians that in many respects mirrors the barbarism by Al Qaeda that took place against our people here in the United States on September 11th, 2001.

Hundreds if not thousands of innocent Israelis have been murdered in cold blood, and many are still alive but being held hostage in captivity by Hamas. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) have responded with air strikes and likely soon with a ground offensive in Gaza where Hamas is largely located and where many of the attackers originated from. They have threatened to kill the Israeli hostages one by one if the Israeli response in Gaza continues.

I have long been interested and invested in the issue of the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and in the essential role that Israel places on the global stage. As a gay man this is obviously a subject that is of great importance to me. After all Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has long supported gay rights; for instance they decriminalized homosexuality in 1988 (15 years before America did it on a nationwide level) and allowed gay people to serve openly in the military starting in 1993, a decade before the U.S. did, a time when America was still debating whether we should allow gays to serve in the armed forces at all, even if they were forced to stay in the closet.

I was first introduced to the plight of Israelis and the conflict that has ensued in the region for many years when as a young teenager I saw the film “Yossi & Jagger”, a beautiful film about two male soldiers who fall in love set against the backdrop of a conflict on the Israeli-Lesbanese border. The film also includes a song, “Bo” by the famous Israeli singer Ivri Lider which has always stuck with me. I would highly recommend seeing “Yossi & Jagger” if you haven’t seen it, and the sequel “Yossi” which came out back in 2012.

I first took a strong public stand in support of Israel when I wrote an article for The Advocate back in 2014 called “Why LGBT People Around the World Need Israel”. It got quite the response, mostly positive but also earned me the label of “Pinkwasher” by several sources including Al Jazeera, which quite frankly I was always proud of. It emboldened me, and motivated me to take an even stronger stand and continue speaking out in support of Israel’s right and need to exist.

In the last 12 years I have also been a Democratic candidate for political office twice here in West Hollywood, California, and worked on several Democratic campaigns from the mayoral level in Los Angeles to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016. I am heartened by the fact that many prominent Democrats have been outspoken in their support for Israel, including Adam Schiff who I have endorsed in his run to the next U.S. Senator from California.

Another politician who I have written about before and been extremely inspired by the Ritchie Torres, the young Afro-Latino and openly gay member of Congress from New York. Not only has he been a strong supporter of Israel and on behalf of the Jewish community, but he has called out those people, among some on the left who have spoken sympathetically about Hamas, made anti-semitic statements or simply been silent in the face of these recent atrocities.

Unfortunately some of those people exist here in California, including two of the City Councilmembers here in West Hollywood, Chelsea Byers and Sepi Shyne. There is nothing progressive about supporting terrorists or standing idly in the face of evil, and Byers, Shyne as well as phony liberals like them should be called out.

All people of good conscience and faith must take a stand and make their voices heard at this critical moment. The people of Israel and the Jewish community deserve our support, now more than ever before. You can count on me to continue being one of those voices, today and always.