Life is Always Sacred.
You know I get it. Most of the world is entirely indifferent if not downright hateful towards the plight of homosexuals. Homosexuality places me in the middle of a strange religious dilemma. I understand perfectly well what religious law governs the ‘correct’ attitude towards homosexuality, and yet, I find myself at odds. I can no more ignore a plea for compassion and human dignity than I can walk on by a dying man.
Do I understand homosexuality? No, but then again, the older I get, the less I understand most things. This state generally doesn’t aggravate me unduly since I made the decision years ago to follow Rabbi Hillel’s lead. Rabbi Hillel gave the definitive answer when a gentile who wished to become a Jew asked him for a summary of the Jewish religion in the most definite and concise terms, Rabbi Hillel said, “What is hateful to thee, do not unto they fellow man’ this is the whole Law; the rest is merely commentary”(Shab. 31a). So to get at the heart of most things I ask myself; how would I want my mother, father, brother, sons or daughter treated? And try to govern my actions accordingly.
This is a sad story centering around conflict, a faceless inhuman bureaucracy and the high human price of homophobia. The only hero in this Ynet News article is a religious Jewish settler living in the disputed territories.
Such a remarkable story could only happen in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A young gay Palestinian man, who is in grave, life-threatening danger and cannot return to his home with his Israeli partner, was saved by a stranger who came to his aid – a religious West Bank settler. Ynet News
The Palestinian, T., and the Israeli, Doron, became a couple 10 years ago. Eight years ago, they drafted a marriage agreement between them, but this did not help on the bureaucratic side. T. is tormented: The State has yet to authorize family unification with Doron. As a result, he has yet to receive permanent authorization to live in Israel.(…)Recently, T.’s father, who lives in a West Bank village, fell ill, and his son wanted to go visit him. Because going to the village is life-threatening for him because residents there are not willing to accept his sexual orientation, a father-son meeting was held outside of the village.
About ten days ago, T. entered the West Bank via one of the checkpoints. His sick father, accompanied by his mother, waited for him a short distance from the checkpoint. It was an emotional meeting. The family members finally got to see one another and T. gave them a sum of money that he had been saving for them.
However, following the brief meeting, all started to go wrong. T. started making his way back to Israel, but was surprised to discover at the checkpoint that he was not allowed re-entry. Even though he is currently under consideration for family unification and despite the fact that a yearly temporary residence permit was authorized for him, it was decided not to allow him back into Israel for security considerations.
T. found himself in an impossible situation: he was not allowed to return to his home in Israel, but returning to his parents’ home in the village would put his life in danger. Left with no other choice, he turned to the only person he knew in the area who could help him – a religious settler who has known him for some years. The man decided to give asylum to T. even though he knew it would not be looked upon favorably in the settlement. So, this is how it came to be that T., a gay Palestinian, has been hiding out in the home of a religious Jewish family in a settlement.
This piece wouldn’t be at all remarkable except for the routine demonization of Israeli religious settlers living in the disputed territories found within the media and especially Ynet News. I can only imagine the quandary the Ynet News editors struggled with this story – indirectly praise a settler or slam the government. This time, the government pulled the short end of the stick but I can only hope one of those bureaucrats takes heart and makes the right decision, the only humane decision, and allows T to be reunited with his partner in Israel where they can live safely.
