International Women’s Day, Anti-Semitism and Left-Wing Hypocrisy

Israeli feminists fit in perfectly with the groups concerned with the plight of females, as long as they aren’t the wrong kind of Jews.

By: Ruthie Blum

International Women’s Day is an annual farce that was adopted by the United Nations in 1975 and devoted to causes that do nothing to ameliorate the torment of truly subjugated females. In light of the mass sexual abuse perpetrated by Hamas during and after the invasion of southern Israel in 2023, the theme of last year’s IWD—“Inspire Inclusion”—took the absurdity to new heights.

The title of the current intersectionality fest, “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment”—self-described as “emphasizing the urgency to expedite progress toward gender parity”—is no less worthy of disdain.

If anything, it highlights the hypocrisy of “feminist” activists, politicians and academics around the world who’ve been tight-lipped at best and dismissive at worst about the atrocities committed against their Israeli counterparts on that Black Sabbath 17 months ago. And that’s after hearing the stories from massacre survivors and released hostages.

Some “progressives” have ignored the testimonies, including when forensic evidence collected from hundreds of the victims who didn’t live to recount their tales of rape confirmed the brutality. Others have gone as far as to justify the horrors on the grounds that the Israeli “occupation” of Palestinians is the real culprit.

Such attitudes cannot be chalked up to ignorance or a lack of proper Israeli public relations. They are expressions of anti-Semitism against the collective Jew, pure and simple.

Yet, in an interview with JNS on Friday, the wife of Israeli President Isaac Herzog opted to skirt the particularity of the phenomenon. Asked about the silence from women abroad—something she had written about in Newsweek a few weeks after the massacre—Michal Herzog opted to convey a more general message.

“We have to keep talking about it not only from an Israeli point of view but from a universal perspective, protecting women in the world, because this is bound to happen in another conflict,” she said. “From what we’ve seen throughout and from professionals in the field, I know that Oct. 7 was a new level in violence against women and the tendency is unfortunately in the next conflicts around the world for things to go even further.”

She reiterated, “We speak not only for Israeli women but for women everywhere, and we must prevent the use of sexual violence in the next conflict to come.”

Of course, violence against women, like all violence, is a global issue. But the sex crimes perpetrated on Oct. 7 by terrorists and “civilians” from Gaza were directed at Jewish women because they were Jewish.

The acts were specific, not generic. They were fueled by genocidal hatred, and should never be treated otherwise—certainly not by Israel’s first lady. But shaking stubborn liberal habits is hard to do.

Take the constant chatter about the “need” for more women in politics, for instance, which always comes up on International Women’s Day. Touching on this issue, Herzog stated, “I think that there is a lack of female voices around the decision-making tables. We know that women always have something to add and a different point of view. It is so important to hear their voice.”

It’s a common left-wing mantra. It’s also utterly disingenuous, since women on the Israeli right are subjected to ridicule and misogyny from their “enlightened” peers.

When opposition leader Yair Lapid quipped last week that he deserves a raise just for having to look at [Minister of Settlements and National Missions] Orit Strook, the feminists weren’t the least bit outraged. On the contrary, they feel zero solidarity for the likes of Strook, a religious Zionist.

They only want females in their own political image to grace the halls of power. In this sense, they fit in perfectly with the groups around the globe marking a day dedicated to women, as long as they aren’t the wrong kind of Jews.

          (JNS.org)