My Letter to the Editor of the Jewish Exponent

To the Editor:

Deborah Hirsch's report from the events of Equality Forum ("Israel's Gay Outlook Gets a Hearing," May 9, 2012, http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/25867/Israels_Gay_Outlook_Gets_a_Hearing/) mention, inter alia, "a self-proclaimed Palestinian-Israeli," who interrupted the speech of Israeli ambassador Michael Oren and made a statement regarding the lack of equality for Palestinians in Israel.

That person was I, but your reporter had misheard my self identification. While I was born in the Palestinian town of Yaafa, and my parents were born in British Mandate Palestine, their parents before them were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. My solidarity with the Palestinian plight comes not from me being a Palestinian myself, which I am not, but from the injustice that the Palestinian people have been suffering since my immigrant ancestors came to Palestine, and which has not ceased, despite the slick words of Dr. Oren.

What I did say I was, by the way, was "a queer Israeli," as can be heard in the following video:

Sincerely,
Uri Horesh
Philadelphia


Update: An abridged version of the letter was published on the Exponent web site on May 16, 2012: http://www.jewishexponent.com/article/25899/Letters/:

Deborah Hirsch's report from the Equality Forum (Cover story: "Gay Rights Gathering Puts Focus on Israel," May 10) mentions, inter alia, "a self-proclaimed Palestinian-Israeli" who interrupted the speech of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren and made a statement regarding the lack of equality for Palestinians in Israel.

I was that person, but your reporter misheard my self-identification. While I was born in the town of Yaafa, and my parents were born in British Mandate Palestine, their parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.

My solidarity with the Palestinians comes not from being a Palestinian, which I'm not, but from the injustice the Palestinian people suffered since my immigrant ancestors came to Palestine, and which has not ceased, despite the slick words of Dr. Oren.

What I did say I was, by the way, was a "queer Israeli," and it was captured on YouTube.

Uri Horesh
Philadelphia