As PHYLLIS CHESLER points out, there is just too much support for Israel for the framers and the signatories of this letter to bear. There were too many fact-based condemnations of Hamas’s sadistic barbarism on Oct. 7th. The left-wing and lesbian feminists could stand it no longer. In a letter addressed to the Israeli, U.S. Government’s and others, they finally had to speak out against what they call the “weaponization” of rape by those who dare to oppose Hamas. They do so, the signatories claim, in order to justify Israel’s “war against the people of Gaza.”
JNS (h/t Marvin W) Not “Israel’s war against Hamas” or “against Qatar and Iran”—but “against the people of Gaza.” Even when Hamas is using those people as human shields for propaganda purposes. Using them to further inflame a world that has already been indoctrinated in Jew-hatred by leftists in the West and Islamists around the world.
The open letter is late to the party. There are already more than enough people who have been calling for a “ceasefire” before Israel can ensure that Hamas never again commits an Oct. 7, which it has repeatedly threatened to do.
A “ceasefire”? The fact that Hamas broke a ceasefire on Oct. 7 does not matter to those who signed this letter. Neither does the fact that Hamas itself has “weaponized” the entire Gaza Strip.
The outright lies and reversals of reality in this letter are all ways of linguistically denying or minimizing the pornographically sadistic sexual violence that Hamas committed against Israeli civilians: Women, girls, boys and men. Hamas continues to inflict sexual violence on their Israeli hostages. (The letter strategically refers only to “hostages,” not “Israeli hostages.”)
The letter is not particularly interested in Oct. 7 because it happened to Israelis. Maybe the signatories don’t actually care about rape. After all, it happens to women and girls everywhere. Or perhaps the signatories have decided that there is not enough evidence of Hamas’s mass rape even though Hamas terrorists themselves filmed and photographed it and livestreamed the results to their own and the victims’ families.
Telling lies and engaging in hyperbolic incitement is a tried-and-true method of attacking the “zionist” state (the letter always presents the word “Zionism” in lower-case letters). This is a way to “weaponize” the signatories’ contempt for the sovereign Jewish homeland and its people. To them, Zionism is not a noble idea. It is not even worthy of being capitalized, although they do capitalize “Palestine”: A state that has never existed; a concept that is no more than 100 years old; a potential state that Arabs have continuously rejected because their goal is the genocidal extermination of Jewish Israel, not the creation of yet another Muslim state.
Without evidence, the letter accuses Israel of committing a “genocide.” Jewish people have been accused of this since time immemorial. The signatories think that even mentioning the Holocaust is a way of “weaponizing” and concealing an alleged Israeli “genocide” in Gaza. To them, Israel’s protection of gay rights, including those of Arabs from Gaza, Judea and Samaria, has been “weaponized” as “pinkwashing.”
The letter lies relentlessly about Israelis and the IDF raping women in Gaza. This has not happened. But saying so justifies what Hamas has done and is still doing to the Israeli hostages.
Not a word is spoken about the fact that Hamas has terrorized and indoctrinated Gaza civilians. That it has stored rockets and guns beneath Gaza hospitals, mosques and schools—including U.N. schools.
The letter casts a wide net. It accuses the “Israeli government,” not individual feminists like myself or Sheryl Sandberg, of using the “accusations of sexual assault as a tool of war—and as an (often lethal) weapon of racism and colonialism.” It appears that the undeniable and irrefutable proof of Hamas’s mass rape does not exist.
As for “racism and colonialism,” the 1,200 Israelis (not “zionists”) and others who Hamas tortured and murdered, and the over 200 Israeli (not “zionist”) and other civilians taken hostage were Druze, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, secular, atheists and leftists. Their nationalities, ethnicities and—if we must—skin colors ranged from black to brown to olive to yellow to white. The IDF is comprised of Israelis of all colors. Many of them or their ancestors were forced to flee North Africa, central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim Middle East.
In other words, it is only Hamas that seeks to commit racially motivated genocide.
The signatories to this open letter refer to themselves as “feminists” who oppose rape. They also accuse Israel of conducting a “campaign to discredit feminists—especially feminists of color.” This accusation is quite simply insane.
The signatories also call for a “permanent ceasefire in Gaza; the release of hostages”—there is no mention of who is holding them—and the simultaneous release of “political prisoners”—that is, terrorists with blood on their hands—and “the termination of U.S. military aid to Israel and an end to Israeli apartheid.” The takeaway is clear: Rescue Hamas, rescue terrorists, slaughter Israel. There is nothing else.
This is not a feminist letter. It is trite, infuriating and mendacious. It is a standard Marxist-Leninist statement. It is not the work of feminists with track records as serious theorists, activists, researchers or clinicians in the area of sexual violence; nor of legal experts in the use of rape as a weapon of war. The majority of signatories are fairly unknown. Perhaps I alone am not familiar with their work. Happily, not all of them are Jews (but far too many are).
In the end, the letter is nothing but a series of blood libels. I was saddened when I read the names of the “famous” signatories. They are the usual suspects, many of whom I know: Angela Y. Davis, Blanche Wiesen Cook, Charlotte Bunch, Joan Nestle, Lila Abu-Lughod, Lisa Duggan, Margaret Randall, Rosalind Petchesky, Sarah Schulman, Zillah Eisenstein and a host of Jewish Voice for Peace members.
May God open their Marxist eyes in our lifetimes.
I guess this doesn’t apply to Israeli women:
Phyllis Chesler is an emerita professor of psychology and women’s studies at the City University of New York (CUNY)
ALSO SEE: GAZANS AS THE WORLD’S ‘UNDEAD’
Milana says
Fakemenists Claim To Be Against Rape While Supporting A Religion That Preaches Raping All Women And Having Women As Concubine Sex Slaves, Never Forget The White Women Captured,Enslaved,Raped,Breeded And Forced To Shitslime Empires
Charles Black says
I have zero idea why we’re pretending the so called “feminists” give a rat’s behind on women. They are the worst advocates for women.
Mary C says
I’m an avid supporter of women’s rights, but I cannot and will not align with these so-called “feminists,” when they ignore abuse and mistreatment of women and girls in Islamic countries and Islamic communities (because other religions are also sexist, so we should just turn a blind eye to Islamic misogyny), and support biological males competing in females’ sports and using females’ locker rooms, restrooms, etc. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge that chromosomes and other parts of genetics cannot and will not be altered by any surgeries, hormone treatments, and wishful thinking, is delusional and a fool beyond hope.
J.J. Septon says
I find it very interesting that the feminazis keep letting us know how morally corrupt they are. and not realizing how deeply hypocritical they are. The more vocal they are the less honest and relevant they’ve become.
BareNakedIslam says
Especially the Jewish “feminazis,” which is inexcusable.
Kevin O'Mara says
When Joe Biden assaulted Tara Reid, I don’t recall a peep from Syphilis Chesler.
JS John says
First of all, I cannot find ANY sense in what these lesbians are trying to say, they are completely nonsensical. Secondly, CUNY has a horrible reputation for Jew hate, especially in the last few years.
Bugsy278 says
Look at that picture, and look REAL close. More than half those women most men wouldn’t touch with a 6′ pole, let alone a 6″ penis.
BareNakedIslam says
It was hard for even me to look at that photo.
Bugsy278 says
Lol sorry if I made you look closer
jarmanray says
This was an excellent article which unfortunately will not be seen, much less read.
BareNakedIslam says
That’s why I posted it. I usually don’t post long articles, but I make exceptions for articles that more people should see.
sixlittlerabbits says
This is a great article by Phyllis Chesler. Thanks for sharing it with us, BNI. For the last 30 years I have worn only skirts and dresses as my personal protest against feminism. I also refuse to donate as an alumna to both my CUNY college and Hunter College High School because they are so woke. It shows how times have changed that when I attended these two institutions, the student bodies were heavily Jewish!
BareNakedIslam says
I know. That’s what makes it so difficult to read these stories about the virulent Jew/Israel hatred at CUNY. I went to Washington Univ in St Louis where there were a lot of Jewish students, too, but very liberal, so it wouldn’t surprise me if the same thing is happening there. I cut off all correspondence from the school a long time ago.
Reader says
Students walkout, disrupt St. Louis County Council meeting demanding cease-fire
https://websterjournal.com/2024/01/24/students-walkout-disrupt-st-louis-county-council-meeting-demanding-cease-fire/
“Students held up signs that read “Resistance is Not Terrorism” and “Ceasefire Now” while marching. Chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” echoed off the walls of the St. Louis County Council meeting on Tuesday.
Students from Webster, Washington University and University of Missouri—St. Louis demanded the St. Louis County Council to approve a cease-fire resolution in the Israel-Hamas war. Webster students made their way to the meeting by walking out of classes and rallied at the Council chamber in Clayton on Jan. 23…”
BareNakedIslam says
When I was there, the anti-Vietnam war protests were frequent and at one point, they actually burned down the ROTC building on campus. There was such turmoil after that causing the school to first postpone final exams, then cancel them all together, but only after we had been sitting there for 10 days at the end of the term waiting to take them.😡