{
  "id": 11523840,
  "title": "“They hung me up in an abandoned building and started beating me”: Palestinian sexual minorities speak out about repression",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/they-hung-me-up-in-an-abandoned-building-and-started-beating-me",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-02T20:34:41.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Insider",
    "slug": "the-insider",
    "url": "https://theins.press/en/confession/297768"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On a warm evening in Tel Aviv, a group of Arab LGBTQ+ individuals enjoyed a lively party at a trendy nightclub. Young and fashionably attired, they chatted animatedly, adopting exaggerated personas to draw attention. One strikingly beautiful woman was asked by a fellow party-goer, \"Where are you from?\" She confidently declared, \"Palestine,\" likely challenging their assumptions about her identity. Despite fluency in Hebrew, Arabic, and English, life remains precarious for queer Arabs in Israel, especially those residing within the Palestinian Authority or seeking asylum. According to HIAS, a Jewish organization advocating for refugees, there were approximately 300 Palestinian LGBTQ+ asylum seekers in Israel as of July 2026, a figure including only those recognized by relevant organizations.\n\nIn November 2023, 23-year-old Yamen, a gay man, fled to Israel from Nablus, a prominent Palestinian city in the northern West Bank. Dismissed from his studies in physics at a local university, Yamen secured employment cleaning offices. Upon arriving in Israel, he sought to improve his circumstances by learning Hebrew and finding better work. However, upon revealing his sexual orientation to his family, Yamen's uncle—a Palestinian Authority intelligence officer—threatened to jail him. His relatives accused him of collaborating with Israel, berated him, and physically assaulted him. Nearing his teenage years, Yamen's family had observed his effeminate behavior but never addressed it. According to HIAS representatives, this pattern of violence against LGBTQ+ individuals in Palestinian families often arises after a relative's sexual orientation or gender identity is disclosed.\n\nYamen recounted an incident when he was 14, when a police officer stopped him and a friend. The officer suspected their \"elegant\" appearance and intended to detain them. However, after a series of phone calls, he allowed the teenagers to go. Yamen believed the officer merely aimed to intimidate them. Nevertheless, the attempted abduction materialized, leading Yamen to flee. \"One day I was simply walking down the street. About 20 men suddenly attacked me – they forced me into a car and drove me away. They hung me up in an abandoned building and began beating me. They were young, and others joined in. I didn't know who they were or why they targeted me. It felt as though they were mocking me for amusement. I couldn't comprehend what was happening to me... They took everything, including my phone. When they discovered my last name, they declared, 'Now we have a problem, and we don't know what to do.' They alerted my family. When they arrived, my relatives were told, 'Your son is this and that.' I was not allowed to explain my side. My family was furious with me, and I couldn't understand what I had done. Instead of being furious at those who had abducted their son, they simply abandoned me. It was the most terrible feeling I had ever experienced in my life.\"\n\nFrom that point on, Yamen's family subjected him to a living hell. News of his abduction spread, reaching the police, who opened an investigation. However, it was quickly closed, as no one seemed to care about the fate of an abducted gay man. No one was willing to protect him. Driven by fear, Yamen decided to escape.",
  "summary": "Hundreds of Arabs from the Palestinian Authority apply for asylum in Israel each year on the basis of the fact that they are members of the LGBTQ community. However, even asylum does not guarantee protection from persecution by their own families. Other queer Arabs insist on identifying as Palestinian even though they are Israeli citizens, while others face prejudice from the international…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}