I have been at the forefront of the women’s rights movement for over five decades.
Unfortunately, I must now acknowledge that this once diverse and independent movement has been taken over by a “woke” death cult.
Those feminists who still remain, including the well-known figures among us, prioritize gender over biological sex, support transgender rights over the rights of biological women, and are more concerned with the alleged occupation of Palestine and Gaza than they are with the oppression faced by women in Gaza. In Gaza, girls and women are forced into child and polygamous marriages, compelled to wear veils, and subjected to “honor” killings, along with male homosexuals, by their own families.
During this horrific moment in history, when Hamas, a terrorist group similar to ISIS and the Taliban, has brutally and sadistically murdered, tortured, mutilated, raped, and burned alive Israeli civilians—including babies, young women, and grandmothers—I am struck by the deafening silence and moral failure of these American women, including women activists, who enjoy freedom in the United States.
These feminists, including academics and officials of human rights organizations, were vocal and active when it came to the rape, kidnapping, and murder of Afghan, Saudi, Iranian, Pakistani, Yazidi, and Ukrainian women.
In 2021, Mandy Sanghera and I formed a grassroots feminist team that rescued 400 women from Afghanistan.
Yet, we are shocked by the almost complete silence of feminists in response to Hamas’ terrorist attack on Jews this month, which involved the rape of young women next to their deceased friends and their bloodied bodies being paraded through the streets of Gaza.
Rape in a war zone is considered a crime—unless the victims are Jews.
Even now, as Hamas carries out livestreamed pogroms against Israeli Jews and non-Jews living in Israel, including Americans, feminists have remained strangely silent.
I conducted a quick survey of feminist websites such as Ms., Women’s eNews, Jezebel, Slate, Salon, and Lilith. I found nothing that explicitly condemned Hamas for raping, kidnapping, and mutilating women.
Why?
The fact that this issue is not being addressed speaks volumes.
Recently, Mandy and I published an article titled “Rape as a Weapon of War, This Time in Israel. Why are Feminists Silent?” We posted it online and sent it to numerous feminists, including grassroots activists.
Mandy, who resides in the UK, was defriended, bullied, and labeled a “Zionist.”
In my case, few feminists have reached out to me privately to offer support or sympathy.
Only about 10 women responded positively. Gloria Steinem deserves credit for saying she would inquire with the Feminist Majority organization. However, they have not responded.
Others have said nothing.
Women like Eleanor Smeal, former president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and head of the Feminist Majority Foundation, who campaigned for Afghan women from the 1990s until last month, have not written anything condemning the rape and murder of Israeli Jewish women.
Christian F. Nunes, the current president of NOW, has remained silent. Equality Now, founded by Jessica Neuwirth and Navi Pillay (known for her anti-Israel stance at the United Nations), Laurie Adams, the CEO of Women for Women International, and Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood, have all said nothing.
UN Women, the UN organization dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, claims to condemn attacks on civilians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, expressing deep concern about the impact on women and girls. However, their statement does not mention Hamas and refers to Israel’s efforts to evacuate Gaza to root out terrorists as “extremely dangerous.”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez keeps calling for a cease-fire and has identified Christian fundamentalists and Donald Trump as a key problem in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
All of this confirms that the feminist movement I once knew and supported has lost its moral compass. It is stagnant, co-opted by the Palestinian cause, and influenced by Stalinist ideologies. At best, it has become a tool of the Democratic Party, which appears to be compromising or betraying Israel.
After World War II, the world saw the evidence of Nazi atrocities against Jews and dissidents through images of concentration camps, crematoria, and emaciated survivors. These images were crucial in bringing the Nazis and their collaborators to justice.
Feminists, all of us, should be calling for a Nuremberg-like trial in which Hamas leaders who have murdered and kidnapped Americans, Israelis, and citizens of other nations are extradited and held accountable.
This is why I believe it is necessary to show the world all the images of these atrocities.
Can the military might and intelligence of both the United States and Israel come together to locate and rescue the Israeli hostages?
Can we capture the Iran-backed Hamas criminals and bring them to trial?
Can we put pressure on Egypt and other Arab and Muslim countries to welcome Gazan civilians and provide them with refuge?
Can we finally confront the existential and global threat posed by a nearly nuclear Iran to both the United States and the Middle East?
These are the questions feminists should be grappling with. However, their silence speaks volumes.
Phyllis Chesler is an emerita professor of psychology and the author of 20 books, including “Women and Madness,” “Woman’s Inhumanity to Woman,” and “An American Bride in Kabul.” She is a co-founder of the Association for Women in Psychology and the National Women’s Health Network.
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