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Does Feminism Have Room for Zionists?

(New York Times) Emily Shire - I identify as a Zionist because I support Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. Increasingly, I worry that my support for Israel will bar me from the feminist movement that has come to insist that feminism is connected to a wide variety of political causes. This insistence can alienate feminists, like myself, who don't support all the causes others believe should be part of feminism. I am troubled by the portion of the International Women's Strike platform that calls for a "decolonization of Palestine" as part of "the beating heart of this new feminist movement." The platform also states: "We want to dismantle all walls, from prison walls to border walls, from Mexico to Palestine." Implying that mass incarceration is analogous to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is simplistic at best. But why should criticism of Israel be key to feminism in 2017? One of the organizers behind the March 8 International Women's Strike is Rasmea Yousef Odeh, convicted for her involvement in a 1969 bombing of a Jerusalem supermarket that killed two Hebrew University students and an attempted bombing of the British consulate. She was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, categorized as a terrorist organization by the State Department.
2017-03-08 00:00:00
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