Modes of online resistance: Israel’s strategic framing of pinkwashing on social media, and the emergence of queer counternarratives

While the topic of discourse framing has been relevant to the Israel-Palestine conflict since it first began, it has never been as salient as in the aftermath of October 7th 2023. This is especially true given the rise of digital platforms and the subsequent amplification of competing narratives. Following drastic military escalation in Gaza, Israel has intensified its online presence using platforms like Instagram and X to justify its actions against mounting criticism, which has been met with direct online resistance from pro-Palestinian solidarity movements. This thesis will explore the conflict in the context of LGBTQ+ identity politics, as this has become central in how each side shapes and legitimizes their respective narratives. Israel has systematically employed “pinkwashing” by distinguishing itself as a beacon of Western progressiveness despite its ongoing human rights abuses in Palestine. In response, counter-narratives have emerged online using hashtags like “NoPrideInApartheid” to promote an intersectional understanding of queerness that combats Israeli attempts to erase the Palestinian struggle. Two primary research questions have been formulated, namely 1) how does Israel use its online framing of queerness as a political tool?, and 2) how are online counternarrative movements emerging as a form of resistance? This thesis uses framing theory as a framework and employs a mix of inductive coding, critical discourse analysis, and thematic analysis to investigating how online discourse is manipulated to influence perceptions in times of conflict. The findings suggest that Israel has increasingly used fearmongering and stereotypes to frame itself as a protector of queer rights against the brutality of Hamas and Arab men, and to in turn justify military intervention. Meanwhile, the pro-Palestinian narrative has emerged through the virality of hashtags and documentation of queer experiences via the platform “Queering the Map” to resist against Israel’s political dichotomization of Palestinian and queer identity. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the academic literature on the interplay between political discourse, online platforms and queer identity.