After a murder and multiple stabbing at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade last Thursday, by an individual who perpetrated an attack a decade ago, the anti-Israel movement has kicked into high gear.
There is a concerted effort to undermine an indisputable truth -- Israel is the safest, most-welcoming, most open society for LGBT individuals in the Middle East.
The term "
Pinkwashing" is a growing part of the anti-Israel movement's attack on Israel, by claiming that Israel promotes its positive gay rights record in order to (pink) wash its alleged crimes against Palestinians. (There also are
Greenwashing and Redwashing claims made against Israel.)
The pinkwashing movement, which has a particular hold among
anti-Israel students and faculty on campuses, seeks to turn Israel's positive gay rights record into something bad. The pinkwashing movement
is nearly silent, at the same time, on the plight of Palestinian gays, who are relentlessly persecuted and often flee for their lives.
This latest effort to exploit the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade attack, however, is even worse. Call it "Reverse Pinkwashing," seeking to use an isolated incident to deny the truth about Israel's gay rights record in order to wash away the violent and pervasive persecution of LGBT individuals in Palestinian society.
Below I examine the crime, the Israeli gay rights record, the dismal status of gays in Palestinian society, and the Reverse Pinkwashing exploitation in the wake of the attack.