Hurt by silence
"Jewish women have stepped up into the limelight," says Lynda Ben-Menashe.
As the Jewish community grapples with the ongoing silence from women’s organisations in response to the atrocities inflicted on Israeli women, Lynda Ben-Menashe (pictured) has offered a glimmer of hope.
Ben-Menashe, president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia (NCJWA), was recently speaking to a Jewish audience in Sydney when a woman mentioned the word ‘re-Jew-venation’.
“That speaks to me profoundly about the impact of the tragedy of the past 16 months on our community and on Jewish women’s place in it,” she said.
“Jewish women have stepped up into the limelight, and we will not be stepping back anytime in the foreseeable future.”
Ahead of International Women’s Day this Saturday, Ben-Menashe said it has been “tremendously gratifying” to see women from outside of the community express solidarity with the Jewish community, in particular women from the Iranian, Hindu, Sikh, Christian Zionist, Greek and other ethnic communities.
But it has been difficult to shake the anger, disappointment and sadness that so many mainstream women’s organisations and self-proclaimed feminists have failed to muster any meaningful words of support. Neither UN Women nor UN Women Australia mentioned the barbaric kidnapping and murder of Shiri Bibas and her two sons Ariel and Kfir, while some feminists minimised the events.
Ben-Menashe has previously said the NCJWA had long asked UN Women Australia to mention the plight of the Israeli women raped, massacred and abducted on October 7, but each time were told it was not possible.
“The silence of the majority of ‘feminist organisations’ has been deeply disappointing, and in fact hurtful, given that the feminist movement itself was largely founded by Jewish women,” said Ben-Menashe.
“The betrayal felt by Zionist Jewish women in the feminist movement is profound, and their exclusion mirrors the exclusion of Zionist Jews from progressive spaces more generally.
“It’s undeniable that October 7 galvanised Jewish women all around the world to stand up as protectors and defenders of our people. That’s what we’ve seen in Australia, and NCJWA has provided a home and a platform for those women.”
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