Palestinian women have suddenly become prominent in the American women’s “resistance” movement, centered on opposition to President Trump. The group has chosen to welcome and elevate a Palestinian woman terrorist and one who is an apologist for terrorists.
Sadly, there are so many Palestinian women who truly deserve to be honored by America’s feminists.
One of the organizers of Wednesday’s “Day Without a Woman” general strike is none other than Rasmea Odeh, who was convicted of murdering two Israeli college students and now faces deportation for lying on her US immigration forms about her terrorist past.
She’s not the only Palestinian extremist championed by the new women’s movement. One of the four co-organizers of last month’s Women’s March on Washington was anti-Israel zealot Linda Sarsour, a supporter of the bigoted BDS movement.
Sarsour also has agitated for the release of Muhammad Allan, who was jailed by Israel for his activities on behalf of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. “Proud of our new generation of Palestinian rights activists. Free #MUHAMMADALLAN,” Sarsour tweeted.
Islamic Jihad is the group that carried out the bus bombing in which my daughter Alisa, and seven other innocent people, were murdered.
A few years ago, Sarsour tweeted: “Nothing is creepier than Zionism.” I, for one, can think of a few things creepier — for example, the sight of Linda Sarsour and Hamas terror operative Salah Sarsour smiling and posing together for photos at last December’s Muslim American Society-Islamic Circle of North America conference.
According to The Daily Caller, Salah “spent eight months in an Israeli prison in 1993 for his work with Hamas.”
The Caller report added: “An FBI document from Nov. 2001 states that Salah Sarsour’s brother, Jamil, told Israeli authorities in 1998 that he and Salah funded the terrorist group Hamas through the Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based non-profit.”
It’s probably not a coincidence that both Rasmea Odeh and Linda Sarsour are speaking at the upcoming convention of the far-left “Jewish Voices for Peace” group. Odeh and Sarsour are fast becoming the favorite Palestinians of America’s radical fringe.
The Women’s March movement, however, isn’t a radical fringe. It is a mainstream movement that has proven it can mobilize millions, and it wants to be taken seriously by Washington policymakers and the news media. But if the women’s movement leadership continues to associate with the likes of Odeh and Sarsour, its credibility will suffer.
So allow me to offer some free advice. The women’s movement certainly should take an interest in Palestinian women. Here are a few examples of Palestinian women who deserve the support of American feminists:
- The many Palestinian women who are victims of “honor killings” — sometimes as many as two dozen in a year — in which men murder female relatives whom they suspect of violating Islamic fundamentalist morals, such as premarital relations, dressing “provocatively” or being seen in the company of an unauthorized boyfriend. According to The Washington Post’s Anne-Marie O’Connor, even when the Palestinian Authority imprisons such killers, “pardons and suspended sentences are common.”
- Palestinian women politicians who are subjugated, such as Najat Abu Baker, a member of the Palestinian parliament who was forced to hide in the parliament building for 17 days after the PA police sought to arrest her for criticizing PA President Mahmoud Abbas. According to The New York Times, Abu Baker’s “crime” was that she “said Mr. Abbas should resign and suggested that there would be money to pay educators if ministers were not so corrupt.”
- The Palestinian women candidates for office whose names were concealed by the Palestinian Authority in listings for planned local elections last year. They were listed only as “sister of” or “the wife of.” The American women’s movement would never tolerate such discrimination in the United States; why should it turn a blind eye when Palestinian women are the victims?
True peace will come to the Middle East only when the Palestinian Authority adopts democracy, pluralism and tolerance — including an end to its mistreatment of women. The American women’s movement can help that cause by siding with Palestinian women who are genuine victims, not Palestinian extremists who murder innocent college students or agitate for the release of imprisoned terrorists.
Stephen M. Flatow is a vice president of the Religious Zionists of America. His daughter, Alisa, was killed in a Palestinian terrorist attack.