Stephen M. Flatow is President of the Religious Zionists of America (RZA.) He is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995 and the author of A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror now available in an expanded paperback edition on Amazon. Note: The RZA is not affiliated with any American or Israeli political party.
CodePink - the activist group famous for its anti-Israel street theater - likes to wrap itself in a rainbow flag. It accuses Israel of “pinkwashing,” claims Jewish supporters of Israel are enemies of LGBTQ rights, and insists the world’s only Jewish state is somehow a danger to gay people.
But CodePink’s rainbow flag doesn’t stand for gay rights. It stands for smearing Jews.
That became painfully clear last week in Baltimore, Maryland where CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin and another activist confronted Rabbi Yaakov Menken of the Coalition for Jewish Values.
According to CJV and the video CodePink released, they hurled “Free Palestine” at him simply because he was visibly Jewish. The exchange - which the activists themselves proudly posted online - quickly spread across Jewish social media and drew millions of views.
When Rabbi Menken pointed out that he was being singled out “only because I’m Jewish,” Benjamin didn’t object. She joined in. The activists escalated: “racist,” “baby killer,” “get an education,” and even the eliminationist slogan “from the river to the sea.” Meanwhile, every other passerby walked by unnoticed.
This wasn’t political debate. It was targeted harassment. And it stripped away CodePink’s mask.
For years, the group has portrayed itself as progressive, feminist, peace-loving, LGBTQ-supportive, and morally enlightened. But a movement that shouts down a rabbi for walking while Jewish has no moral standing to lecture Israel - or anyone else - about bigotry.
The Baltimore incident matters for a larger reason. It reveals what so much of CodePink’s messaging about Israel really is: not a defense of human rights, but a weaponization of identity politics against Jews.
Their current favorite line claims Israel is an enemy of LGBTQ people - that the Jewish state hides its “crimes” behind rainbow flags and Tel Aviv pride parades. It’s an easy accusation to make in the West, especially among young activists who don’t know very much about the Middle East. But it also collapses under the slightest touch of reality.
Whatever one’s personal religious outlook - and many traditional Jews, me included, hold sincere halakhic objections to modern sexual ethics - the facts are the facts:
Israel is the only country in the Middle East where gay people can live openly without fear of prison or death.
Same-sex activity is legal in Israel: Same-sex couples can adopt. LGBTQ Israelis serve openly in the military and in Knesset. Pride parades take place in major cities, and Tel Aviv isn’t just tolerant - it’s one of the most LGBTQ-affirming cities on earth.
Within the religious community, there is complexity and debate, not persecution. You won’t find government death sentences, public beatings, secret police raids, or state-sponsored violence. You will find coexistence, pluralism, and the freedom to disagree.
Now let’s look across the line into Gaza, the place CodePink claims to be defending. Homosexuality is illegal under Hamas. Arrests and torture have been reported for years. Social pressure and legal danger force LGBTQ Palestinian Arabs into hiding or exile. And under Hamas, gay people do not march in any parade - they flee for their lives.
The same is true in Iran, a regime CodePink regularly excuses and supports. Iran executes gay men. Full stop. No debate. No nuance. No rainbow flags. So does Saudi Arabia.
This alone should make CodePink’s posture embarrassing. But they double down, asserting that Israel’s record doesn’t count - that any mention of LGBTQ rights in the Jewish state is propaganda, “pinkwashing,” or distraction.
Translation: opposing Israel matters more to them than saving LGBTQ lives.
If the group genuinely cared about gay rights in the Middle East, they would be demanding reform in Gaza, Tehran, and the rest of the region - not demonizing the one safe harbor. If they truly valued human dignity, they’d acknowledge the truth, even reluctantly: a gay Palestinian is physically safer in Tel Aviv than in Gaza City.
The Baltimore confrontation exposes why they can’t say it. The targets aren’t policies. The targets are Jews.
And that’s why their rainbow flag - the symbol they use to signal moral superiority - has become a blunt instrument for antisemitism.
A movement that singles out a rabbi on a busy sidewalk and screams at him for being Jewish isn’t defending human rights.
A movement that shouts “baby killer” at a peaceful passerby doesn’t care about children.
And a movement that accuses Israel of homophobia while ignoring Hamas imprisonment and Iranian executions isn’t protecting LGBTQ people.
It cares about one thing: attacking Israel and the Jews who stand with her.
That’s why CodePink’s rainbow flag rings hollow. It’s not a banner of pride - it’s a costume. A shield. A prop. A way to disguise the same old hatred in new colors.
So, the next time CodePink claims to fight for justice, remember the simplest test of all: who is actually safer under the system they defend, and who is safer under the system they despise?
In Israel, gay people live freely and openly. In Gaza, they are hunted.
In Israel, Jews walk the streets unafraid. In Baltimore, CodePink proved they won’t even let a rabbi pass without harassment.
That tells the world everything it needs to know.
And the rest of us should have the courage to say it: CodePink isn’t defending the oppressed - it’s helping to oppress.