Legitimate criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism

[Little Tich]

56. I thought this thread was exhausted, but your question deserves an answer.

I define pinkwashing as an attempt to promote a pro-Israel POW by referring to Israel's record on LGBT rights. It's either used to deflect criticism of Israel or to criticize other countries. I've seen both forms in the I/P group. It's not even remotely anti-Semitic to criticize those who do the pinkwashing.

The thing is, reporting about Israel's supposedly good record on LGBT rights is in itself not a bad thing and it's not pinkwashing to do so. It's only when it's used as a pro-Israel argument that's not really connected to the issue that it becomes pinkwashing.

I think that any country that's trying to hide a bad record on human rights by referring to some other issue shouldn't be allowed to get away with it. Most countries that are doing it are not democracies, like China and Russia, but Israel is doing it too.

Sometimes the pinkwashing can backfire, because the Israeli politicians who promote pinkwashing aren't actually promoting LGBT rights, they just want to pretend they do. Here's an example:

Day after marking LGBT rights, Knesset nixes 5 gender equality bills
Source: Times of Israel, February 24, 2016

Opposition fumes as proposals on civil unions, ban on conversion therapy shot down; coalition’s only openly gay MK skips votes

http://www.timesofisrael.com/day-after-marking-lgbt-rights-knesset-nixes-5-gender-equality-bills/