At Tablet, Jamie Kirchick picks apart the phenomenon of pinkwashing, the notion that Israel is trumpeting the freedoms of its gay community merely as cover for its mistreatment of the Palestinians.
Sarah Schulman, the world’s preeminent pinkwash-watcher, organized a conference in April at the City University of New York’s Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. According to an email from Schulman that Kirchick has unearthed, the conference’s objective is to show how Israel uses gay rights “to enforce racial dominance, globally.”
“Racial dominance, globally” raises more flags than pride night at Magic Mike’s, but okay. We won’t make the point that what Schulman is peddling are the charred, blistered remains of structural Marxism. Or that under Schulman’s strictures, an Israeli gay traveling abroad must repress either his gayness or his Israeliness, lest his comfort in his own skin advance Israel’s bid for “racial dominance, globally.”
No, instead we will embrace her thesis and advance it. For it is not only pink that Israel is washing. Here at JTA we’ve identified a number of areas of nefariousness, where Israelis pretending to seemingly normative actions are actually advancing “racial dominance, globally.”
–Celebrating the oeuvre of Rami Fortis and other pioneers of the 1980s Tel Aviv club scene: Punkwashing
–Celebrating Israeli pirate fetishists: Plankwashing
–Celebrating SpongeBob villains: Planktonwashing
–The desperate attempt of pig farmers in the wake of increasing kashrut strictures to market their wares as companionable conversationalists: Hogwashing
–Promoting trust exercises in large arenas: Moshwashing
–GOP freshmen skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee: Froshwashing
–Nostalgic yearning for Andrew Sullivan’s paeans to all things Israeli: Dishwashing
–Noting the Old Testament origin of mild expletives: Land’o’GoshenWashing
–Reminiscing fondly about the OCD tendencies of the Second Aliya German Jews, the Yekkes, who laundered everything to near oblivion: Washingwashing
–“No eating between meals? In Israel, there is no between meals. Have some more wafflim.” Noshwashing
–“Dad, please, don’t bring DVDs, we see ‘Breaking Bad’ before you do. If anything, we need clothes for the twins, kids’ outfits cost an arm and a leg here.” OshKoshB’GoshWashing
–Any attempt to rationalize Ashkenazi cuisine: Knishwashing
–Any attempt to rationalize spelling bees: Knaidelwashing
–Bathing Josh: Joshwashing
–“Bar Refaeli is a bit o’ allright, i’n’she?” “She’s out of yer class, mate.” Poshwashing
–“I say, what is all this hullabaloo about pinkwashing, what?” Pishtoshwashing
–HULK SMASH. Greenwashing
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