Human Rights

Ivanka and Her Family Spent Thanksgiving Hobnobbing with Homophobes at the World Cup

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner could have spent the Thanksgiving holidays with dear old dad at Mar-a-Lago or at their own abode on Indian Creek Island, near Palm Beach, but they instead did something that’s far too typical for this self-obsessed couple.

They spent the holiday watching the World Cup in Qatar, land of horrifying human rights abuses, Queerty reports. And of course, they took the kids along to hobnob with anti-Semites and rabid homophobes.

Of course, conservative America’s favorite Perky Pet hopped on Twitter to post a chirpy “Go Team USA! ??” because that’s what Ivanka does.

Yes, this tweet is dripping with hypocrisy because Ivanka pretends to be an advocate for human rights. But no, it certainly looks like she isn’t, since she and the fam are hanging out in a country known for human rights violations, and she apparently didn’t find it necessary to call out said country for its ugly behavior.

And I mean really ugly behavior. In Qatar, homosexual acts are punishable by imprisonment or death. Islam is the state religion here, and it has historically taken a dim view of homosexuality. Human rights activists say that anti-LGBTQ harassment by government officials frequently goes unchecked.

Officials here, along with World Cup CEO Nasser Al Khater both guaranteed the safety of visitors from the LGBTQ community and fans who display rainbow flags at the games, but that has failed to transpire. Police and stadium officials have reportedly been confiscating rainbow-themed swag from fans.

As if that weren’t bad enough, FIFA, the international body that governs professional soccer says it will institute severe penalties against any teams who display rainbow armbands on the playing field.

If Ivanka was a truly caring individual, you’d think Qatar’s reprehensible behavior toward those in the LGBTQ would give her pause. But she doesn’t even seem to be bothered that rampant anti-Semitism is also not uncommon here. After all, she, Jared, and their three kids are all Jewish.

Israel, Queerty notes, had negotiated a diplomatic agreement with Qatar that would allow direct flights between the countries during the World Cup. While this is notable because Israelis are usually forbidden from traveling to the Gulf state, the Israeli government is warning its citizens attending the game to “tone down their Israeliness” to avoid being harassed, and there have been conflicting reports that the Qatari government has banned public displays of Jewish prayer and kosher food.

The Jerusalem Post notes that this definitely hasn’t been the case:

“They were promised to be able to cook kosher food including kosher meat, but at the moment have only been allowed to sell cold bagel sandwiches.”

“Jewish officials say before the World Cup began they were also promised by authorities that observant Jews would be allowed to pray at venues.

“‘We were promised to be allowed to create prayer spaces in order for religious Jews who came to see the games to have a place of worship,'” one source told the Jerusalem Post.'”

“Officials now say that they are no longer allowed to pray due to ‘security reasons.'”

But of course, Ivanka can be blasé about this since she earned $640 million during her stint in the White House alongside dad, and her husband brought home $2 billion from the Saudis for an as yet unknown reason. Ivanka is no stranger to complicity and she almost likely never will be.

Her tweet, however, garnered lots of attention from Twitterati.

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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