Episode 018: Is Racism in Vogue? with Qaher Harhash

This week, Palestinian model Qaher Harhash joins the Palestine Pod. Qaher speaks first hand about his experience receiving a barrage of anti-Palestinian and Islamophobic messages from Zara's head of design, Vanessa Perilman, in response to an Instagram story he posted from his room showing the infamous black water tanks on top of Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem compared to the Jewish Israeli rooftops which have no tanks at all since they are hooked up to water 24/7, highlighting the racist distribution of resources on occupied Palestinian land to favor to occupier and disadvantage the occupied. Michael recalls Zara's long history of racist policies and practices towards employees and shoppers alike. Lara dismantles Vanessa's racist diatribe and the Pod revisits how some of Vanessa's comments are an extension of Israeli pinkwashing, the official government policy to paint Israel as being this haven for LGBT+ folks in an effort to conceal its apartheid policies towards Palestinians and divert international condemnation by associating itself with freedom and liberal values. Qaher reminds us that even the notion of Israel being an LGBT+ safe haven is an awful distortion of the reality of life for LGBT+ folks in Israel. Qaher lets us in on what it is like to work as a Palestinian in high fashion and Michael reminds us why Palestinians can never see "eye to eye" with their colonizer.

To consult the sources used in the preparation of this episode, please see:

Articles

1. Why Gay Marriage Isn't Coming to Israel Any Time Soon (Ha’aretz)

2. Zara distances itself from Israeli designer who bashed Palestinians (Times of Israel)

3. Fashion retailer Zara condemns anti-Palestinian comments made by designer (NBC News)

4. The Occupation of Water (Amnesty International)

5. Gaza Is Still Under Attack—but You Wouldn’t Know It From the Media (The Nation)

6. Stitched with Prejudice: Zara USA’s Corporate Culture of Favoritism (The Center for Popular Democracy)

7. Stop the Wall: The illegality of the wall (Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign)

8. Masada: A heroic last stand against Rome (Princeton): “Masada’s image as a symbol of Jewish heroism, the Zionist enterprise, and the State of Israel was elevated through its connection to (chief-of-staff of Israeli Occupying Forces) Yadin, who promoted this association in various ways.”

9. The Persistence of the Palestinian Question (Cultural Critique). This journal article details anti-semitic rhetoric of Zionist leaders, including Herzl's vilification of Jewish Europeans as “parasitic.”

10. “The anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies.” - Theodore Herzl

11. Military Intelligence Directorate (Israeli Army website on Unit 8200 and their methods of tracking and surveilling Palestinians)

12. Inside Israel's lucrative - and secretive - cybersurveillance industry. The country’s hacking software is recognized the world over. Not everyone thinks it's a good thing. (Rest of World)

13. 3 Shot Dead at Gay Center in Tel Aviv (New York Times, 2009)

14. 16-year-old Stabbed in Jerusalem Pride Parade Succumbs to Wounds (Ha’aretz)

15. Fed Up With Tel Aviv’s “Liberal Homophobia,” a Queer Scene Thrives in an Unlikely Israeli Town (Ha’aretz)

16. Homophobia on the rise in Israel, study finds. (Y Net News on Nir Katz Center report)

17. ‘A queer cry for freedom’: Meet the LGBTQ Palestinians demanding liberation (+972 Magazine). Maya Haddad, a trans woman, was in Miss Trans International when she was stabbed and attacked.

18. One of the best Israeli strategies: weaponizing the LGBTQ (Near East News Agency)

19. An Open Letter on U.S. Media Coverage of Palestine. 500+ journalists sign on public letter to end "journalistic malpractice" when covering Israel's injustices against Palestine.

20. Entertainment Execs, Artists “Deeply Disappointed” After Lorde Cancels Israel Show (Deadline). WME executives among those who criticize Lorde for partaking in BDS movement.

21. The Transfer Agreement: The Untold Story of the Secret Pact Between the Third Reich and Jewish Palestine (Foreign Affairs)

22. These are the Israeli leaders who want to destroy al-Aqsa (Electronic Intifada)

23. Backed by Israeli police, Jewish settlers enter Al-Aqsa compound (Al Jazeera)

24. Beyond Propaganda: Pinkwashing as Colonial Violence (alQaws, Palestinian LGBTQ non-profit). Israel manipulates queer facade to isolate Palestinians from their society.

25. Gay Palestinians Are Being Blackmailed Into Working As Informants. And threatened their sexuality will be revealed if they don't cooperate. (Vice)