Re-Jew-venation
How could feminists be silent about the abduction and killing of a mother and her babies?
Ahead of International Women’s Day last year, the cover of The AJN called for the release of the remaining female hostages from Hamas captivity.
A year on and we are immensely relieved that, over the last few weeks, most of those brave women have come home. But the return of Shiri Bibas in a coffin, a day after the bodies of her sons Ariel and Kfir were handed over in a depraved parade, was a sickening blow to the hopes and prayers we had desperately held onto for over 500 days.
We were sure it would rattle the wider women’s world as profoundly as it did ours. How could feminists be silent about the abduction and killing of a mother and her babies?
But some things never do change. Just like a year ago, the silence from women’s organisations and self-proclaimed feminists has been deafening, disappointing and hurtful.
Not a word from UN Women. Closer to home, not a mention either from UN Women Australia.
And so we have now reclaimed the fight for the rights of all women – including Israelis and Jewish women – as our own.
As Lynda Ben-Menashe, president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia, says in this week’s AJN, it’s a kind of ‘re-Jew-venation’.
Jewish women have stepped up to use their voices for those whose voices have been silenced, to call out the silencers, to point out the hypocrisy, to raise up our fiercest advocates. Lionesses like Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Gal Gadot, Debra Messing and Montana Tucker, rescued hostage Noa Argamani, the released Emily Damari, Agam Berger and Liri Albag, and powerful Australian Jewish voices Sharri Markson, Caroline Marcus and Clammy Fraud.
It has been heartwarming and gratifying to also be supported by incredible women from outside our community, including Erin Molan, Nova Peris, Senator Hollie Hughes and Elica Le Bon, and of course our many other Christian, Iranian and Australian allies at home.
These are the great defenders and protectors of our women, our people. May they continue to raise us up and inspire other women to find their own voices this International Women’s Day.
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