A primitive wood stove became a refuge for Gazan women for a minimum of food (French)

Writer Maryam Al-Dosari says in her article on the Middle East Eye website that Western feminist movements’ bias towards Israel against Palestinians and Palestinian women in particular is not new and reveals moral bankruptcy.

Al-Dosari explained that male and female writers of Western feminist movements showed bias towards the narrative that depicts Israel as a “model of civilization” and is in stark contrast to the “stronghold of backwardness in the Middle East.” Some of these writers even went so far as to reduce the value of the Palestinian people to the level of animals.

She added that despite the International Court of Justice's warning that the Israeli attack on Gaza could constitute genocide, some of the strongest advocates of the Western feminist movement against gender-based violence expressed their solidarity only with Israeli women, and accused the international community of remaining silent about operations. Rape and “sexual assaults” against Israeli women during the October 7 attack, they said.

Imperial feminism

Maryam Al-Dosari stressed that the absence of sympathy and anger towards the plight of Palestinian women and children reveals shocking double standards and a profound moral failure, adding that this is not the first time that Western feminist movements, which have traditionally ignored the concerns of non-white women, have failed.

The author explained that this biased and resentful pattern on the part of Western feminist movements, which has become widely described as “imperial feminism,” is not only evident in the positions of these movements regarding the miserable situation in Palestine, for example, but also in their positions toward Afghan and Iraqi women. These positions operate in harmony with Western imperialist policies.

A contradiction with the principles they defend

The writer said that the silence of those who should oppose the violence against women and children in Gaza, in addition to their focus on criticizing the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), contradicts the very principles that the feminist movement claims to embrace, and it is clear that their positions go beyond the enormous difficulties facing women. Palestinian women suffer from hunger, lack of clean water, and severe shortages of basic necessities.

Al-Dosari warned that if feminist groups and their media continued to distort the narrative as they did, there would be no difference between them and the position of the French government, as the Minister of Gender Equality threatened to cut off funding for feminist groups that deviate from the Israeli October 7 narrative, adding The positions of these movements set a dangerous precedent, and will mean the beginning of the end of the comprehensive and impartial feminist movement, which means the actual absence of a movement that represents all women in the world.

Source: Middle East Eye