CLAIM:
Palestinian society and the Palestinian liberation movement are natural allies for LGBTQ people, making “Queers for Palestine” a coherent solidarity alliance.
STATUS:
False
KEY COUNTERPOINTS:
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Hamas criminalizes homosexuality in Gaza under a legal code still in active force. The British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance of 1936, Section 152(2), prohibits male same-sex conduct in Gaza and carries a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment. This law was never repealed and remains operative under Hamas governance. The movement being supported by “Queers for Palestine” activists governs under a legal framework that imprisons people for their sexual conduct.
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Hamas tortured and executed one of its own senior commanders in Gaza after accusations that centrally included homosexual conduct. Mahmoud Eshtewi, a senior Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades commander, was secretly detained for over a year, tortured, and shot three times in the chest by Hamas operatives in February 2016. Hamas officially described the charges as “moral and behavioral violations,” language the New York Times and HRW investigations identified as referring to homosexual conduct. IDF-recovered Hamas tunnel documents from Khan Yunis, reported by Haaretz in April 2024, confirmed the interrogation records, torture notes, and Eshtewi’s personal diary. The same documents show Hamas continued to persecute and torture other men accused of homosexual conduct after Eshtewi’s death.
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The U.S. State Department’s own published human rights reports confirm Hamas systematically harasses and detains LGBTQ people in Gaza. Both the 2022 and 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for the Palestinian territories state that OHCHR and NGOs reported Hamas security forces harassed and detained individuals in Gaza based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The same reports note Gaza had no visible LGBTQ community and that local human rights organizations did not monitor or refused to address LGBTQ issues entirely.
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Palestinian public opinion polls show near-total rejection of homosexuality, making this a societal reality that goes well beyond Hamas policy alone. Pew Research Center’s 2020 Global Attitudes survey found that only 3 percent of Palestinians said homosexuality should be accepted by society, placing Palestinian territories second lowest globally. Arab Barometer’s 2019 survey recorded only 5 percent acceptance among West Bank Palestinians, the lowest figure across all surveyed territories. This is not a governing authority problem. It is a documented social consensus that predates and exceeds Hamas.
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Ahmed Abu Marhia, a gay Palestinian man under UNHCR refugee protection, was abducted and beheaded in the West Bank in October 2023, with footage of his severed head circulated on social media. Abu Marhia had fled Gaza to escape persecution, obtained UNHCR refugee status, and was awaiting resettlement to a third country. He was 25 years old. His killing occurred in Hebron under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction, not Hamas-governed Gaza, which eliminates the standard deflection that atrocities against LGBTQ Palestinians are only a Hamas problem. This is the clearest available case of what Palestinian society does to its own gay members who seek safety.
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LGBTQ Palestinians have fled both Gaza and the West Bank seeking safety inside Israel, directly inverting the solidarity narrative. Israeli LGBTQ organizations, including the Aguda, have documented cases of LGBTQ Palestinians who crossed into Israel specifically to escape persecution from Hamas, PA security forces, and family violence. The people the “Queers for Palestine” movement claims solidarity with are the same governing environment those Palestinians were running from.
EVIDENCE:
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British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance of 1936, Section 152(2), criminalizes male same-sex conduct in Gaza with up to ten years imprisonment. The law was inherited from British rule, never repealed, and remains the operative legal code under Hamas governance today.
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Mahmoud Eshtewi, senior Qassam Brigades commander in Gaza, was held in secret detention for over a year, tortured, and executed with three bullets to the chest by Hamas operatives in February 2016. Hamas publicly cited “moral and behavioral violations.” IDF-recovered Hamas tunnel documents confirmed interrogation records, torture notes, and Eshtewi’s personal diary. The same documents show Hamas persecuted additional men for homosexual conduct after his death.
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U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Palestinian territories, 2022 and 2023, both record that OHCHR and NGOs reported Hamas security forces in Gaza harassed and detained people based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
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Pew Research Center 2020 Global Attitudes survey found only 3 percent of Palestinians said homosexuality should be accepted by society, second lowest globally.
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Arab Barometer 2019 survey recorded only 5 percent acceptance of same-sex relations among West Bank Palestinians, the lowest figure across all surveyed territories.
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Ahmed Abu Marhia, a gay Palestinian man from Gaza who had been granted UNHCR refugee status and was awaiting third-country resettlement, was abducted and beheaded in Hebron, West Bank, in October 2023. Footage of his severed head was filmed and circulated on social media. His killing occurred under PA jurisdiction, not Hamas governance.
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Aguda has documented LGBTQ Palestinians crossing into Israel to escape persecution from both Hamas-governed Gaza and PA-governed West Bank.
Palestinian Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in Survey Data
This chart compares two survey findings on Palestinian attitudes toward homosexuality and same-sex relations. Pew Research Center reported that 93% of Palestinians rejected the idea that homosexuality should be accepted, while the Arab Barometer / BBC News Arabic survey found that only 5% of respondents in the West Bank accepted same-sex relations.
The chart shows a broad pattern of very low social acceptance, but the two figures come from different surveys with different wording and samples. So it should be used as supporting context, not as one perfectly unified statistic. Sources are in the PRIMARY SOURCES
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Haaretz, “Hamas Files Found by Israel in Gaza Detail Execution of Senior Member Accused of Being Gay,” April 2024
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/2024-04-03/ty-article-magazine/.premium/hamas-files-found-by-israel-in-gaza-detail-execution-of-senior-member-accused-of-being-gay/0000018e-9e6d-d64e-afce-fffd62370000
IDF-recovered Hamas tunnel documents from Khan Yunis directly record Eshtewi’s interrogations, torture, personal diary, and notes from detention. The documents show that after his death, Hamas continued to persecute and torture other men accused of gay sex. Primary documentary evidence recovered from Hamas itself, not external reporting.
↑↑↑ Best source!
BBC News, “Ahmed Abu Marhia: Gay Palestinian refugee beheaded in West Bank,” October 2023
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-63174835
Direct reporting on the abduction, beheading, and social media circulation of footage of Ahmed Abu Marhia’s severed head. Confirms his UNHCR refugee status, his origin from Gaza, and that the killing occurred in Hebron under PA jurisdiction. Crucial for breaking the “this is only a Hamas problem” deflection.
↑↑↑ Best source!
British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance, 1936, Section 152(2) https://cdn.sida.se/app/uploads/2021/05/07094749/rights-of-lgbt-persons-palestine.pdf The operative legal text criminalizing male same-sex conduct in Gaza. Maximum penalty ten years imprisonment. Still in force under Hamas governance with no repeal.
“In Gaza, same-sex sexual relations between men are prohibited with a penalty of up to 10 years” p. 1
“In Gaza, some Human Rights organisations have reported that Hamas has harassed and detained LGBTI individuals due to their sexual orientation.” p. 2
↑↑↑ Best source!
Pew Research Center, “The Global Divide on Homosexuality,” 2020 https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2013/06/04/the-global-divide-on-homosexuality/
Records only 3 percent of Palestinians said homosexuality should be accepted. Second lowest figure globally. Neutral institution, direct data, no inference required.
“Overwhelming majorities in the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed also say homosexuality should be rejected, including 97% in Jordan, 95% in Egypt, 94% in Tunisia, 93% in the Palestinian territories”
↑↑↑ Best source!
U.S. State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Palestinian Territories, 2022
https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/
Government publication directly stating that Hamas security forces harassed and detained people in Gaza based on sexual orientation and gender identity, citing OHCHR and NGOs.
↑↑↑ best source!
U.S. State Department, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Palestinian Territories, 2023
https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/
Same section, repeats the finding for 2023. Confirms the pattern is not a one-year anomaly.
↑↑↑ best source!
Arab Barometer / BBC News Arabic, “Acceptance of Homosexuality,” 2019, via FDD https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2019/07/01/only-5-of-palestinians-and-6-of-lebanese-accept-gay-relationships/
Arab Barometer survey of over 25,000 people across 10 countries and Palestinian territories. Recorded only 5 percent acceptance of same-sex relations among West Bank Palestinians, the lowest figure across all surveyed territories. Gaza was not included in the sample.
“a mere 5% of Palestinians from the West Bank accepted same-sex relations..”
↑↑↑ mid source
Human Dignity Trust, country profile, Palestinian territories https://www.humandignitytrust.org/country-profile/palestine/
Corroborates that Section 152(2) of the British Mandate Criminal Code is still operative in Gaza and criminalizes male same-sex conduct.
“Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited in Gaza under the British Mandate Criminal Code Ordinance 1936.”
↑↑↑ mid source
STRONGEST COUNTER ARGUMENTS WORTH KNOWING:
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The strongest version of the opposing argument is not that Gaza is tolerant. It is that the “Queers for Palestine” movement is expressing anticolonial solidarity, arguing that oppression under occupation distorts and radicalizes societies, and that a free Palestine would eventually become more tolerant. On this framing, queer activists are not ignorant of the hostility. They are choosing to prioritize decolonization first.
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A secondary argument holds that LGBTQ Palestinians themselves have called for solidarity with their national liberation, meaning queer voices exist inside Palestinian society that reject the binary between queerness and Palestinian identity.
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Both arguments should be taken seriously. The response is: Ahmed Abu Marhia was not killed under occupation or by Israeli forces. He was a UNHCR-recognized refugee, already removed from the conflict zone, beheaded in the West Bank by people from his own society. The hypothetical future tolerant Palestine does not explain what happened to him. And the existence of individual queer Palestinians seeking national liberation does not change what the governing structures and social environment would do to them today.
NOTES:
The linguistic pivot to watch: opponents will immediately shift from “Palestinian society is tolerant” to “we are in solidarity with Palestinian liberation, not endorsing every aspect of Palestinian culture.” Force them back. Ask whether they would extend that logic to any other movement that criminalizes the identity of the people expressing solidarity.
Ahmed Abu Marhia is the debate-ending case because it cuts through every deflection simultaneously. He was not in Gaza. He was not under Hamas. He was not in a war zone. He was a recognized refugee waiting for resettlement, and he was still beheaded. Use him to close the “that is only Hamas” and “that is only because of the occupation” exits before they are opened.
The Pew data is the structural anchor. It is not Hamas policy, not Israeli government framing, not pro-Israel advocacy. It is a neutral global polling organization measuring Palestinian social attitudes. Lead with that, then bring in the individual cases.
Do not overclaim on the West Bank PA situation as equivalent to Hamas governance in terms of formal criminalization. The PA does not have the same active penal code on homosexuality. The Abu Marhia case shows the social reality is lethal regardless of the formal legal distinction.
Best short response in debate: “Ahmed Abu Marhia was a gay Palestinian refugee under UN protection. He was beheaded in the West Bank in 2023. Ask yourself what Palestine he was waiting to be liberated into.”
RELATED CLAIMS:
Hamas is not the governing authority of Gaza
Hamas is a resistance group
Israel is collectively punishing Gaza’s civilian population
I dare you to march thru the streets of Gaza with a LGBTQ flag