Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: women's rights

Showing posts with label women's rights. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

PA security forces officially discriminate against women. Does anyone care?

The Palestinian ministry of interior announced today the launch of a training curriculum for gender issues in the Palestinian security forces.

As is always the case with these sorts of social justice programs under Palestinian rule, it is not coming from an internal desire for progressive thinking. It is being funded by a European country, in this case Great Britain, as can be seen in the flags above.

It turns out that the Palestinian security forces are really, really misogynist. An expose in The New Arab this year notes:

Female members of the Palestinian Security Services (PSS) endure unequal treatment in comparison with their male colleagues when it comes to social security, health insurance, promotions, social allowance, holidays, scholarships, courses abroad and accessing decision-making positions.

Brigadier General Rana Al-Khouli, director of the Advisory Committee for Gender and director of Public Relations, Media and Gender in the National Security Forces experiences discrimination alongside her female colleagues when it comes to accessing social security and health insurance due to administrative regulations defining their social status as 'single'.

Even when they are married. Because a female breadwinner in the security services is not supported by their own laws.

Really.

The Law of Service in the Palestinian Security Forces No. 8 of 2005, defines a soldier as follows:

"Every (male)officer, non-commissioned (male)officer, or (male)individual in any of the security forces".

Article 72 from the same act states:

"Social allowance is paid to the (male)officer on behalf of his non-employed wife and his sons and daughters in accordance with the executive regulation specifications of this act".

I've noted a series of anti-woman provisions in Palestinian laws in the past.

Yet "progressive" voices remain silent about this.

Proving, once again, that attacking Jews is more important than helping Palestinians. Every single time.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Gaza women join Arab protest against femicide and "honor killings" - but must include the mandatory anti-Israel angle

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.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

BDS list of what supporters should do proves they aren't "pro-Palestinian activists."

BDS celebrated its 15th anniversary last June with a list of 15 things you can do to "show solidarity with Palestinians."

Here they are:

Expose Israeli Apartheid:
Targeted Sanctions [against Israel]
Apartheid Free Zones in your community "as spaces free of racism, sexism, discrimination"
Corporate Complicity (pressure on companies with branches in Israel)
Racial and Indigenous Justice: Support Indigenous-led and Black-led struggles for racial justice...
Environmental and climate justice
Women’s struggles: "justice in Palestine is a feminist issue"
Ethical City Councils: "Promote an intersectional motion in your local council..."
Faith Communities & Tourism: "respect the Palestinian call for ethical tourism/pilgrimage."
Cultural Boycott of Israel
Academic Boycott of Israel
Student Activism: Organize intersectional campaigns...
Sports Boycott: Join the global campaign to boycott Puma...
LGBTQI+ Rights: "Unmask and counter Israel’s agenda of pinkwashing..."
Donate to BDS: BDS needs support from people of conscience everywhere...

Only one problem: Not one of them would actually help a single Palestinian.

Not one mention on sending money to Palestinians - only to BDS.

No request to help pay rent for Arab Sheikh Jarrah residents which would allow them to stay in their homes.

Not one mention of supporting Palestinian businesses - only boycotting Israeli businesses.

Not one mention of lobbying Israel to ease restrictions on Palestinians.

Not one mention of sending letters or tweets of support to ordinary Palestinians.

Not one mention of working to improve Palestinian democracy or its institutions.

Not even a request for volunteers to help with the olive harvest.

This isn't a list of things to show solidarity with Palestinians. It is a recruiting list for "social justice warriors."

There is nothing positive here at all. Nothing supportive of Palestinians. Only hate for the Jewish state.

This list shows, better than any hasbara ever could, that people who claim to be "pro-Palestinian" are nothing of the sort. They simply hate Israel with a passion that is only equaled by their Jew-hating cousins on the Right.

"Palestinian Feminist Working Group" shows no interest in women's rights for Palestinians

A recent Mondoweiss article by the "Palestinian Feminist Working Group" sheds some light on how hate for Israel is often disguised using liberal buzzwords that have nothing to do with the actual agenda of these groups.

The article is typically ridiculous - it pretends that Zoom, YouTube and Facebook's pulling the plug on a conference featuring a proud terrorist Leila Khaled was about censorship and a silencing of Palestinian feminist voices when it was simply adhering to existing US anti-terrorist and sanctions laws.

It goes on to justify Palestinian terror as "resistance" and defining everything Israel does as terror.

This is the first appearance of this group, which is what makes it interesting. The group has no website. It describes itself this way:

The Palestine Feminist Working Group is a U.S. based network of Palestinian and Arab feminists who are committed to ending all forms of Zionist colonial and gendered violence and oppression. We believe that social liberation is a critical component of Palestinian national liberation. The working group was founded by the Palestinian Youth Movement’s (PYM) Women’s Committee. To learn more about our work and/or to join our efforts contact us at Palestinianfeminists@gmail.com

Note that it doesn't say a word about feminist issues in the Palestinian controlled territories at all. The supposed feminism of this group begins and ends with attacking Israel.

Many of the people signing this article are academics at US universities:

Noura Erakat, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Rutgers University
Dr. Sarah Ihmoud, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, The College of the Holy Cross
Dr. Hana Masri, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Maisa Morrar, Physician Assistant and member, Palestinian Youth Movement
Dr. Loubna Qutami, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies, UCLA
Basima Sisemore, Researcher, Othering & Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley
Randa M. Wahbe, Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology, Harvard University
Yazan Zahzah, MA in Women and Gender Studies, San Diego State University
Leena Odeh, J.D., The Decolonizing Race Project

Isn't it strange that these "Palestinian feminists" have so little interest in feminist issues in Palestine?

The United Nations Development Programme published a comprehensive guide to gender laws under the PA and Hamas in late 2018. It uncovered state-sponsored discrimination against women, which I have summarized before:

Domestic violence: Palestine has no domestic violence legislation.
Marital rape: Marital rape is not criminalized.
Abortion for rape survivors: Abortion is prohibited in the West Bank by the Jordan Penal Code (Articles 321–325) and in Gaza by the Criminal Code of 1936 (Articles 175–177).
Sexual harassment in the workplace: Sexual harassment is not criminalized by the Labour Code.
Honour crimes: Mitigation of penalty Laws allowing mitigation of penalties for ‘honour’ crimes were repealed in 2011 and 2018 in the West Bank. However, the government in Gaza has not applied the reforms.
Adultery: Adultery is an offence in Gaza and the West Bank. In the West Bank, Article 282 of the Penal Code criminalizes adultery
Human trafficking: Palestine does not have comprehensive anti-trafficking legislation. Some provisions of the Penal Code of Jordan apply to trafficking in the West Bank.
Sex work and anti-prostitution laws: Prostitution is prohibited by Articles 309–318 of the Penal Code in the West Bank and Articles 161–166 of the Criminal Code of 1936 in Gaza.
Marriage and divorce: The personal status laws for Muslims require the husband to maintain the wife. A wife owes obedience to her husband. A husband can divorce by repudiation (talaq). A wife has the right to divorce on specified grounds. She can also apply for a khul’a divorce without grounds if she forgoes financial rights.
Male guardianship over women: Muslim women require consent of a wali (male guardian) to marry. There are some weak legal protections for women under guardianship. Women can seek permission from the court to marry if the guardian withholds consent without a legitimate reason.
Guardianship of children: Fathers are the sole guardians of children.
Custody of children: After divorce the mother has custody up to a certain age, but automatically loses custody of her children if she remarries. Inheritance Sharia rules of inheritance apply to Muslims. Women have a right to inheritance, but in many cases receive less than men. Daughters receive half the share that sons receive.
Polygamy: Polygamy is permitted.
Legal restrictions on women’s work: Some legal restrictions exist on women’s employment in certain industries that do not apply to men, such as mining.

The report seemingly went into a black hole. There are very few references to it online. Yet it is probably the most comprehensive report on women's rights in the Palestinian territories that exists.

Real Palestinian feminists would be screaming from the rooftops about this. But not the members of the "Palestinian Feminist Working Group."

The fact that Leila Khaled's PFLP actually murdered an Israeli girl last year doesn't diminish her "feminist" bona fides for some reason. None of these "feminists" condemned the murder of a Jewish girl.

These people aren't feminists. They are Jew-haters who use feminism as a justification for their bigotry and hate.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Associate the Palestinian flag with what it really stands for

Seeing Palestinian flags at rallies for liberal causes like LGBTQ rights, women's rights and Black Lives Matter is always jarring, because Palestinians are among the least liberal people on Earth.

But the sight of the flag associates the "pro-Palestinian" (really anti-Israel) cause with liberalism and that is something that happens subconsciously.

If we are to fight the anti-Israel side we have to sometimes play by their rules. Let's associate the Palestinian flag with the anti-liberal causes that are their actual positions.

Here's a start:

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Is it even possible to be a pro-Palestinian feminist?

This article in The Nation is being reported all over:

Her arguments are really nutty, but Sarsour knows how to get publicity.

So let's use her own methodology to ask whether it is possible for Linda Sarsour, or anyone else, to be a feminist while supporting Palestinian Arabs.

According to the UN, there are no specific laws or provisions in the Palestinian Authority or under Hamas rule that protect women against domestic violence and sexual violence.

If women are not able to provide/show evidence of “force”, “threats” and/or “deception” to support rape claims, they risk being criminalized for “adultery.”

The Palestinian Authority has adopted the Jordanian 1960 "rape marriage" law that says that a rapist will not be prosecuted if he marries his victim. These laws often result in rape victims being coerced by family or courts to marry their rapists.

While rape is illegal, the woman is often the one who must defend herself since the rape laws only apply “provided that such a woman is not a prostitute and is not known for her immoral character.”

Murderers who claim to have murdered women in order to ‘maintain family honor’ can be exempted from judicial sanction.

Marital rape is not against the law.

This study showed that Palestinian women only went public about being abused sexually only where the abuse was extremely traumatic, publicly apparent, and the victim absolved of blame. 10% of the women who went public were murdered. Usually the family would respond with measures like hymen reconstruction, marriage to the rapist, and abortion to “nullify” sexual abuse.

Women are not allowed to marry without permission from their guardian, Men may marry up to four wives.

A Palestinian Arab man can divorce his wife for any reason, but Palestinian women can request divorce only under certain circumstances. When a divorce is initiated by the woman it means that she must give up any financial rights and must return her dowry.

Sexual abuse of women and children are rampant but swept under the rug. 37% of married Palestinian women were exposed to some form of violence by their husbands in the previous year alone, nearly 12% exposed to sexual violence in the previous year. 65% of those who were exposed to violence stayed quiet about it because of cultural mores.

20% of Palestinian women are married before they are 18, almost always to older men, which is a human rights violation. Because of child marriages, 10% of all Palestinian women between 15-19 give birth in any year.

The highest rates of violence against women are found where the families tend to be more religious, in Gaza and Hebron.

The Palestinian Basic Law, by saying that ‘the principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be a principal source of legislation’, can be interpreted in a manner which undermines the rights of women according to a UN study.

I'm not even going into Shari'a law here, which is far worse than Palestinian law for women. (Linda Sarsour has publicly defended Shari'a law, which calls into question her own qualifications to be called a feminist.)

Liberal "Pro-Palestinian" activists rarely if ever mention any of the issues listed here. The media is also complicit in its silence on these topics. Yet Palestinians know all about them, and it is likely that Sarsour is quite aware of them and chooses to remain silent, because that would blunt her anti-Israel message.

Her hate for Israel is more important to her than the rights of Palestinian women.

Sarsour says "You either stand up for the rights of all women, including Palestinians, or none. There’s just no way around it." Which means that Sarsour is not a feminist by her own definition because she does not stand up for the rights of Palestinian women who are suffering so badly under a patriarchal, Islamic-based system of laws and customs. In fact, her anti-Israel stance is her way to divert attention from the very real discrimination and abuse that Palestinian women suffer.

Sarsour, with her silence, is actually enabling the daily abuse of Palestinian women from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the misogynist Palestinian society that she idealizes for the cameras.

Linda Sarsour, and all so-called "feminists" who use their platform as a means to bash Israel, are in fact anti-feminist and tacitly support discrimination against and abuse of Palestinian women that happen every day.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.