There have been some shocking murders of women in the Arab world recently, such as that of Nayera Ashraf, 21, stabbed to death in broad daylight in Egypt by a man whose marriage proposal she rejected, and Iman Arsheed, a Jordanian nursing student shot multiple times for similar reasons.
In response, women throughout the Arab world called a general strike for two hours on Wednesday to protest these and similar murders by a patriarchal Arab society.
In Gaza, dozens of women joined in the strike as well. But the rules are different in Palestinian ruled areas.
They had to add an anti-Israel angle.
Gaza's AISHA Association for Woman and Child Protection sponsored the protest. A speaker from that group said, "We in feminist organizations, women's rights organizations, and our allies announce our support for the cross-border women's strike campaign, to demand an end to the systematic violence and oppression of women in the Arab region. We are appalled that women are still being deprived of their basic rights, including the right to life, and we are outraged by the escalation of brutal murders of women in various countries in the region."
But AISHA spokesperson Heba Al-Danaf took pains to say that this is not only a protest against femicide throughout the Arab world, but also against Israel, saying that "the Israeli occupation is one of the reasons that contribute to the continuation of murders against Palestinian women."
By adding this gratuitous and absurd anti-Israel message, the group completely undermines its goals. Suddenly, it is not Arab men who are at fault for killing Arab women - but Israel. Arab women are murdered throughout the Middle East - but in Gaza, it is Israel's fault.
This takes Arab men off the hook. It isn't the patriarchy or misogyny or male supremacy that makes them treat women like garbage - it is the "occupation."
Palestinian Arabs grow up with the unshakeable belief that everything bad about their situation is Israel's fault, and anything that takes away from that message must be muted. This pervasive antisemitism hurts the Palestinian themselves by diluting and misdirecting the issues towards an enemy that they cannot control.
Gaza men beat and murder women, and Israel is blamed.
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