WANTED: BACKLASH

When are we going to stand up to mass murder-endorsing, Jew-baiting, cultural-appropriating, pinksoiling creeps? (Yeah, I”M MAD!)

Can’t fix stoopid.

The anti-Israel thugs are targeting Kamala Harris. Finally, Democrats (and anyone who cares about democracy surviving in America) are feeling optimism, a “joyful campaign” is rising. And along come the killjoys of the hate-Israel movement to spoil it all.

In case you’re new, I call these activists what they are: “anti-Israel.” Or I use scoff-quotes — “pro-Palestinian” — because they do nothing to advance peace or Palestinian self-determination.

If you think Trump and Vance are creepy and weird, have you met any of these hooligans?

They marched through malls last winter hollering “Cancel Christmas.” (Way to stick it to the Jews, Einsteins!) They screamed “Genocide supporter!” at Jerry Seinfeld. They chased after kids playing on the sidelines of a Canada-Israel women’s baseball game near my house, screaming their hatred into an amplifier. This summer, it’s been one disrupted Pride parade after another. They hurl made-up accusations of “genocide” against Israel while marching in support of a movement with genocide of Jews at its absolute core. They literally celebrate October 7. They spend their weekends on overpasses, waving signs equating Jews to Nazis, cuz that will free Palestine. (Bonus points if it’s a heavily Jewish neighborhood.) These examples are but an infinitesimal microcosm of the despicable behavior of a tiny but unbelievably vocal group of radical extremists who have finally found their moment. Their 15 minutes of shame. The attention they apparently didn’t get at home.

And now they’re coming for Kamala Harris.

The vice-president has a sort-of multi-pronged approach. She shuts them down (“I’m speaking”). She points out the obvious impacts of presumed progressives targeting the Democratic nominee during her desperate race to save American democracy (“If you want Donald Trump to win, say that”). But she also throws them a bone, which is politics, I guess. She tells them that she has already taken a stand that they should agree with, calling for a ceasefire and making other noises that should (but won’t) shut their chantholes.

Harris has to get herself elected. Most of us don’t. We don’t need to be nice. When they go low, we don’t need to go high.

So why do we put up with their divisive, unenlightened, violence-celebrating, disruptive, vicious, regressive, self-centered, juvenile, intimidating and snotty behavior?

When are we going to stand up to these thugs?

In my hometown, Pride organizers caved instantly. A clot of ragged performative know-nothings assembled from their various tattoo parlors, hair coloring studios and suburban basements to wrap themselves in 21st-century-blackface keffiyahs and interrupt the parade. Police asked organizers what they should do. The Pride leaders declared “Party’s over.” Hundreds of thousands had come to see a parade. Thousands had planned, designed and built celebratory costumes, floats and entries. Then along come a tiny cluster of killjoys and shut it all down. And Pride organizers said, Welcome!

To my knowledge, only one community leader of any note has spoken up about this, Morgane Oger, a local trans activist who seems to be a tragically lone voice in a world turned upside-down.

She tweeted: “Hamas kills and tortures more trans people than all the world’s TERFs combined … What is your end game here? I would love to know what you hope to accomplish that will make things better? … Why did you undermine queer equality like that? Why did you stop so many people from celebrating their pride in Sunday’s march?”

Oger is truly a voice in the wilderness.

Where is the outrage? It’s as though hundreds of thousands who had Skytrained to the event, donned sunscreen, waited an hour for the Dykes on Bikes to start the parade and then had their day cut short by terror-endorsing bigots should just suck it up.

And speaking of sucking it up ... I probably shouldn’t go here, but I can’t help making this inappropriate observation. Are these people even who they say they are? Are “Queers for Palestine” even queers? I mean, anyone can say they’re anything. But being “queer” used to demand a little more commitment than slapping a Pride flag on your Che Guevara T-shirt.

Should there maybe a litmus test (some sort of proof that doesn’t contravene public decency laws?) before we simply accept that these activists who don’t seem to care that queers in Palestine are dragged behind cars and thrown from roofs, are actually queer? They are commandeering my identity for their cause. Do I have a right to demand they have actually had (or at least desire) same-sex relations? Hmmmm?

We’ve already seen they have no qualms appropriating other cultures. Why would they hesitate to declare themselves queer if they’re not? They don keffiyehs and wrap themselves in Palestinian flags, paint their faces like they’re going to a festival. Gosh, activism’s fun! They speak over and on behalf of Palestinians, certain that they know better than Palestinians do that endless conflict, not compromise and coexistence, will free Palestine. They seem so dedicated to freeing Palestine that I suspect they will fight this battle to the last dead Palestinian.

Why would they have any reservations about appropriating queer identity? By any means necessary, amiright?

The assumption, I assume, is that these are our friends, so we’ll let them have a veto over our fun. But where did this perverted idea come from? There is nothing progressive about Palestinianism. I’ve been attending and marching in Pride parades since before most of these little snots were born. Then along come these disruptive slacktivists to desecrate the movement we’ve built by linking it with one of the most homophobic forces on earth (as well as one of the most misogynistic, racist and violent).

They accuse Israel of “pinkwashing” — a depraved conspiracy theory in which Israelis are accused of playing a deceitful shell game with various groups’ rights, trying to hoodwink the world into ignoring Palestinians’ problems by deflecting at the joyous life of Israeli queers. The only way such a creepy idea could take hold is in an environment seething with the most antisemitic ideas of devious, manipulative Jews hypnotizing the naïve.

They are guilty of “pinksoiling” — shitting on everything decent and righteous, including queer rights.

Imagine if the protestors who rained on our parade had been anti-trans activists or MAGAts or some other group that has not successfully coopted our progressive causes. They would have been bulldozed out of the way and the parade wouldn’t have missed a beat. Yet because they have convinced a cluster of leftists that the rape, immolation, beheadings, kidnapping and mass murder of Jews is a top progressive priority, Pride organizers declare, By all means, whatever you say. Parade over.

What is wrong with us? When are we going to stand up to these creeps?

Do I sound angry? You ain’t seen nothin. Wait until tomorrow’s post.