Julia Zahar is an Arab businesswoman from Nazareth, whose personal success story began when she took it upon herself to take over the management of the Al-Arz tahini factory after her husband died. She made headlines last week when she decided to donate some of the company's earnings to help fund an Arabic-language hotline for young LGBTQ in distress, which would operate under the auspices of the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel.
The story of the first Arab business to announce public support for the LGBTQ community very soon went viral. Julia, and her Al-Arz brand, were praised by Arab liberals and Jews on Hebrew Facebook pages. But the responses were different on Arabic-language pages. One said: "Jaber Hijazi, the owner of Tamra Market, won't sell Al-Arz tahini, which supports perversion, anymore." Many others also called for a boycott of the Al-Arz brand.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
Joint Arab List leader MK Ayman Odeh, whose party received enormous support from the Israeli Left in the last election, discussed the company's move in an Arabic post, and very quickly moved on to the "Israeli occupation," writing: "How hypocritical are the people who seek to boycott Al-Arz tahini are, when it comes to all the Israeli companies who take pride in their support of settlements and the army?"
But even such a limp-wristed post, which quickly moved to his comfort zone of "the conflict" and did not specifically touch on LGBTQ issues, garnered mostly aggressive responses. Users called Odeh "a supporter of perverts" and wished him ill. There were a few responses from open and liberal Arabs, who took a stand against the darkness and hatred and openly supported the LGBTQ community.
Odeh is trying to walk a thin line. On one hand, he is a rising leader on the Israeli Left, whose representatives were swallowed up by vague parties in the last election; on the other hand, he is the chairman of a communist, atheist party that is trapped inside a mainly Islamist Arab party. His impossible mission is to look for the middle ground for the two communities that will never meet: the liberal Left and radical Islam. He won't succeed, because not only can there be no common ground for these two worldviews, they are talking about two entirely separate worlds. A party can't exist with such severe internal ideological contradictions. Despite its electoral success, the Joint List is a political paradox that is doomed to remain unsolved. This is not a party that will make a clear decision between openness and sectorial zealotry. Ayman Odeh, who presents himself as a leader and not just the chairman of some odd mix, doesn't have the guts.
I'm an Arab who is proud to be part of Arab society, and even prouder to be on the side of those members of it who chose education, progress, and the values of freedom and compassion. However, I've always voiced the same criticism of my society: the problem is its ideological roots. Until the Arab mainstream acknowledges the right of women and girls to love, issues such as LGBTQ rights will remain "support for perverts." A society that sees love and sex, in any form, as a crime or a perversion to be contained, is a society that is destined to remain in the dark, where death and failure and violence flourish.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
