Jew-Washing And The BDS Phenomenon

The term "Jew-Washing" just may be on its way to becoming the term for describing a growing phenomenon: exploiting the enlistment of fringe left wing Jewish groups in order to give demonization of Israel an aura of accessibility and evade the accusation of Antisemitism.

As used by Yitzhak Santis and Gerald M. Steinberg, who originate the phrase in On 'Jew-Washing' and BDS:

These were the “Jew-washers” – very visible actors in many such political attacks on Israel, particularly in Christian frameworks.They are influential beyond their actual numbers, providing a convenient means for cleansing such actions from the stains of double standards, demonization and sometimes anti-Semitism against the Jewish state of Israel, and even Judaism itself.

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Over at The Forward, Philo-logos gives the background to the term Jew-Washing and the long history of its cousin term Pinkwashing. He writes that despite the applicability of the new term, 'Jew-Washing’ Is Bad Practice and Phrase:

Still, it’s a term that is likely, as I said, to catch on, for the simple reason that it refers to something real — the use of Jews to conceal the anti-Semitism in boycotts of Israel (Have the Presbyterians considered boycotting China because of Tibet? India because of Kashmir? Russia because of Chechnya?) — that has no other short, handy way of describing it. Perhaps, indeed, “washing” is on its way to developing a new meaning, so that alongside “Jew-washing,” we will be seeing such expressions as “Muslim-washing” (using Muslims to criticize Islam), “poor-washing” (using poor people to attack the raising of taxes on the rich), “whiplash-washing” (using victims of car accidents to oppose lowering speed limits), etc. I sincerely hope not, though.

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But considering the use of BDS to wage a war of delegitization and demolition against Israel, both the use of Jew-Washing and its labeling as such is unlikely to go away.