Ruth Matar (Women in Green) Jerusalem
Dear Friends,
In today’s Jerusalem Post (March 22, 2007) there is a worrisome article by Yisrael Medad, entitled “Raping as ‘resistance'”. A gang of Arab youths have committed a series of rapes in the Galilee area. According to this gang, the rapes were perpetrated as a form of nationalist vengeance against IDF operations in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
The innocent young Jewish girls are physically attacked and violently raped. Their sole “provocation” is being Jewish!
Humanitarian groups in Israel and abroad, which define themselves as Liberal or Left, have been rightfully vociferous in condemning rape used in the course of war, as in Bosnia, Rwanda, the Congo and Darfur.
WHY THE APPARENT SILENCE WHEN JEWISH WOMEN ARE RAPED?
And, of course, there are no words of condemnation from the new Hamas-Fatah unity government!
Raping as ‘resistance’
Yisrael Medad, JPOST
Feminist groups, be they inside and outside Israel have become far more a political action force presumptiously in the name of women on issues of the day, many of which have no bearing on women then a political action force on behalf of and for the interests of women.
There have been many examples where various women’s groups have strayed from their presumed mandate. Some such examples can be found in womens’ groups endorsing Muslim group anti-Israel initiatives and even in Israel, a number of women’s groups advocating for Palestinian rights against Israeli policies they allege are oppressive against Palestinians.
Recently, on March 9th, 2007 in a partiularly obscene example of perversity in the field of womens’ rights advocacy, the UN Commission on the Status of Women passed a resolution identifying only Israel as the one state that violates the rights of women in the world today and in particular, violating the rights of Palestinian women. The vote was 40 for and the 2 against being the representatives of the U.S. and Canada.
The CSW has been twisted to serve the political interests of the anti-Israel and anti-Semitic members of the U.N. and in particular the O.I.C. and many of the third world countries that take the O.I.C.’s lead in applying an impossible double standard on Israel in its zeal to demonize and de-legitimize Israel.
Most of the nations that deny and trample on women’s rights and discriminate against women are in fact the very same nations represented by U.N. CSW representatives who voted to pass the baseless resolution condemning only Israel and thereby deflect attention away from the evils committed by the nations they represent, against their own women citizens.
Whether it be on the streets of the Jerusalem or other Western capitals, one can almost count the times on one hand that womens groups marched in the streets to condemn the systemic discrimination against and denial of women’s rights in virtually every Middle Eastern Muslim nations, to condemn Muslim cuture to the extent it promotes and excuses honor killings of their women and to condemn those nations in the third world where denial of women’s rights along with denial of human rights to many of their own citizens, male or female is is accepted as being appropriate because no one has stood up in those nations or from outside those nations, to say it is not or at least not with any muscle.
As much as I and others have condemned Canada for being outrageously politically correct, in a number of respects Israel has outdone Canada in that regard.
It is that political correctness that compels Israelis to give not just the utmost respect, completely unwarranted regard for Palestinian/Muslim interests, sensitivites and sensibilities when not one ounce of respect and regard for Israeli interests, sensitivites and sensibilites are given by the Palestinians and other Muslims.
Political correctness and fear of angering Palestinians even more then they have already angered themselves against Israel has stilled the voices of too many politicians, Israeli citizens and political action groups including Israeli women’s advocacy groups that should be screaming for the balls of the Palestinian rapists.