Homonationalism as a sentimental matrix: contestation of Palestinian LGBTQ+ rights in the ‘Tahini Incident’

This article examines the 2020 ‘tahini incident’ as an empirical site for understanding the affective and discursive operations of Israeli homonationalism. We argue that homonationalism in Israel-Palestine operates through what we call a sentimental matrix: an affective–discursive regime that mobilises empathy, compassion, and narratives of Palestinian LGBTQ+ suffering to produce moral hierarchies between a purportedly progressive Israeli Self and a backward Palestinian Other. Drawing on Berlant’s theorisation of national sentimentality, we show how both supporters and opponents of the boycott of Al Arz Tahini became ensnared in this matrix, reproducing dichotomous understandings of sexuality, modernity, and belonging. Using stance analysis, we explore how Hebrew- and Arabic-language media responses circulated affect-laden evaluations that entrenched homonationalist logics, even when participants held opposing political views. In contrast, we highlight the position of the Palestinian LGBTQ+ organisation alQaws, whose refusal of both homophobic attacks and Israeli pinkwashing attempts at moving beyond the sentimental matrix by creating a ‘space of otherwise’, that is, an alternative queer political space not tethered to liberal sentimentality or colonial rescue narratives. Ultimately, the article suggests that dismantling the sentimental matrix is essential for imagining genuinely liberatory queer futures.