Why do Western feminists not care about Palestinian women's being raped?
Pars Today - The feminist movement has not learnt anything from its past experience. The violence that the Palestinian women and children are suffering from has flagrantly been ignored by this movement.
During the past 10 months, double standards have been seen in the sympathy of many Western feminists and feminist organizations, especially in the UK. According to Pars Today, while countless reactions are rapidly demonstrated by these feminists in support for Israeli women, there is a worrying silence among them about the sordid situation of the Palestinian women.
This intentional ignorance over wide sexual and fertility harms, which are imposed on the Palestinian women by Israel, are highly noteworthy especially given the fact that such issues must be taken into account by feminism.
Since October 7, 2023, hundreds of Palestinian women have been detained by Israel. These women have been exposed to bestial behaviors such as sexual torture, beating while naked, threat of rape and two cases of rape.
Western feminists have closed their eyes
Even if the two cases of rape documented in the UN report of February 19, 2024, are ignored, how can the scale of violence by the Israeli army against Palestinian women be ignored during the past 76 years?
Numerous reports published about this big scale of violence against the Palestinian women and children before October 7, 2023, are easily available. These reports have been released by human rights groups such as the public committee against torture in Israel, legal center of consultation and aid of women settled in Jerusalem al-Quds and B'tselem (one of the reports related to 2009) and also different reports of the UN.
These reports, which have been produced according to the protocols used in legal sessions, legal complaints, documentaries of advocates and testimonies of detainees, depict sexual violence, torture and other cruel, inhuman and humiliating behaviors against Palestinians in the Israeli detention centers. If the feminist discourse is really seeking to deal with sexual violence in war, the ongoing crimes against the Palestinian women must be taken into account in all articles related to the protection of the coherence of this movement.
Despite ample evidence during the past ten months, martyrdom of over 40 thousand Palestinians, half of whom are women and children, and the report on the loss of more than 21 thousand children, the feminist movement has not been admonished with its past record. The persistent violence against the Palestinian women and children is glaringly being ignored.
Similarly, the UN report of June 12, 2024 also seems to be ignored and failed to jolt consciences to cause a significant reaction.
Sexual violence culture
This sexual violence has spread to men, too. Certain reports indicate that Palestinian men have also been forced to rape by Israeli soldiers several times. During the past week, a worrying video was published on the facilities of "Sde Teiman prison, showing collective rape of a Palestinian by Israeli soldiers. Israeli ministers, including Bezalel Smotrich, rushed to condemn the publication and not the content of the video!!!! Some of them, like Hanoch Milevski of Likud party, even justified the sordid act. And, as it was expected, the Western feminists kept tacit towards the event.
This deafening silence is equally condemned even by other members of the feminist community. Ignoring the horrible images of Gaza during the past 10 months is tantamount to a kind of blatant inhumanity.
While %70 of the dead are women and children, while the Palestinian women are looking for their missing children in the debris, while mothers hug their dead infants, while families are burnt in refugee camps in sleep, while mothers witness the death of their children with hunger, and while children weep out of famine, silence no longer means "sticking to politics", but it means betrayal of the principles of feminism.
The recent events of the Gaza genocide have highlighted the debacle of feminist movement and revealed its shamelessness. In one of the deadliest weeks of Gaza, some of the feminists- instead of dealing with this crisis- have been engaged in the charming appearance of the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer!!!! Are we living in a parallel world?
This intentional concentration on superficial and petty issues and ignoring important ones indicates terrible deviation inside the movement. It reveals that the erstwhile famous leaders of the movement now stick to anti-Palestine, racist and Islamophobic inclinations.
This becomes more evident when some of the feminists sympathize with Tommy Robinson who is a convicted criminal with extremist rightist ideology who promotes spurious narrations on Muslims, refugees and migrants.
To save the feminist movement from this fiasco, it should be known that there is no room for racism. Those who betray human principles must face being ignored and isolated. "In a racist society, it does not suffice to be non-racist; we should rather be anti-racist."
Source: Aldossari Maryam, 2024. #MeToo unless it's Palestine: Why Western feminists ignore proven Israeli rape of Palestinians. Thenewarab
RM/MG
Key phrases: Gaza war, Israeli crimes, situation of women and children in Occupied Palestine, feminist movement, violence against women
