What does Netanyahu's 'chickens for KFC' comment mean?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mocked pro-Palestine supporters in a speech addressed to the US Congress on Wednesday (24 July).

This marks his fourth Congress speech since Hamas launched an attack on 7 October 2023. The latest death toll as of 23 July stands at 39,670 Palestinians killed and 1,139 people killed in Israel.

During his address to Congress, Netanyahu referred to the fast food chain KFC, and called demonstrators "Iran's useful idiots."

"I have a message for these protesters. When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you, you have officially become Iran's useful idiots," Netanyahu said.

"Some of these protesters hold up signs proclaiming gays for Gaza. They might as well hold up signs saying 'Chickens for KFC,'" he continued.

"These protesters chant 'From the river to the sea.' But many don't have a clue what river and what sea they're talking about."

The 'chickens for KFC' rhetoric is nothing new. In November 2023, an Israeli show aired a skit mocking queer pro-Palestinian protestors with signs reading 'LGBTQH' – the 'H' standing for Hamas. Homosexual sex has been outlawed since 1936 in Gaza, but queer solidarity with Palestine remains strong.

Speaking to Them last year, Dr Sa’ed Atshan, a professor of Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College and author of Queer Palestine, said he doesn't "deny the realities of homophobia within Palestinian society and the potency of it, as well as the need to combat it and resist it."

"That being said, homophobia is not unique to Palestinian society. It exists in most parts of the world, including in Israeli society, as well as here in the United States. It's a near-universal phenomenon, unfortunately."

He said it's "very dangerous to pathologise Palestinian society as uniquely homophobic or that homophobia is endemic to the society without this broader context."

"In order for us to deal with questions of how queer people are treated in Palestine, we have to address the broader landscape of the denial of freedom to Palestinians more generally speaking."

As of Monday (22 July), it was estimated that 83 per cent of the Gaza Strip has been marked as unsafe for Palestinian civilians.

Since Israel's retaliation to the 7 October assault, almost all Palestinians have been displaced. The supposed 'safe zones' have gotten smaller and deteriorated.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.