When a womens strike is not about women

[Mosby]

“Does Feminism Have Room for Zionists?” The New York Times headline asked. Less than three months ago, many of us proudly joined in the National Women’s March, part of a coalition that included a number of Jewish organizations, with signs sprinkled throughout the crowd that proclaimed our Jewish identity. So how should feminist Zionists react to an international women’s strike whose platform calls for “the decolonization of Palestine,” and whose signers include a woman convicted of anti-Israel terrorism?

Perhaps we should not be too concerned. After all, that problematic language was not well publicized, while the participation by Rasmeah Odeh, now awaiting trial for having lied about her terrorist activities, was posted in a web-only publication with limited circulation. Neither seems to have been included in the associated American program, a “Day Without Women,” which is what reached most American women.

This is important: For almost all the women who chose to take action on National Women’s Day, the motivation was evident: not anti-Israel code words, but the economic and social barriers that handicap women’s full participation in society, the persistent dangers of gender-based violence, the obstacles that continue to restrict our daughters’ futures. Those are real issues, and I was glad to see the attention they received. We need to keep it up — on symbolic days and every day. We also need to keep in mind that the larger the coalition, the more likely we are to be effective.

So who decides who is in the coalition? Are we magnifying a problem that is better ignored?

http://washingtonjewishweek.com/37294/when-a-womens-strike-is-not-about-women/editorial-opinion/voices/

[Behind the Aegis]

1. A very good article.

Like may other social issue groups and a few economic ones, anti-Semitism, and to be clear, that is what this is, rears its ugly head because people allow others to hijack the movement and make it about something else all together.

[leftynyc]

2. This belongs in GD

where many eyes will see it. I know people who had nothing to do with the women's March because of this. I stopped giving BLM any money, support or attention for the exact same reason.