When killing young women is in order
This posting has several items on the subject of ‘honour killings’, all written before the attacks on Gaza, 2014. That is, there was growing protest from Palestinian women up until July 2014 – and then it stopped.
1) Your Middle East: The women of Palestine: caught between the occupation and patriarchy, Ebru Buyukgul on the women trapped between Israeli and family subjugation;
2) UNwatch: Human Rights Situation in Palestine, excerpt from Navi Pillay’s human rights report dealing with ‘honour killings’;
3) +972: New name for an old crime: Police get creative with ‘honour killings’but by referring to them as murder because of “independent conduct” they have surely made it worse, highlighting that ‘independent conduct’ by a young woman a crime;
4) WP: Honor killings rise in Palestinian territories, sparking backlash, women’s public protests against acceptance of honour killings, March 2014;
5) FSRN: Palestinian women’s organizations challenge “honour killings, March 2014;
6) Tikun Olam: Clarion Project’s New Islamophobic Film, “Honor Diaries”, Richard Silverstein finds a ‘documentary’ on honour killings untruthful and an excuse for Muslim-bashing. March 2014;
7) Notes and links: part of a UN statement on decriminalising adultery and its defences, and Robert Fisk on the great taboo of honour killings.
Women protest at the leniency for ‘honour killings’ during the International Women’s Day march in Qalandiya, West Bank on March 8th, 2014. Photo by Activestills.org
The women of Palestine: caught between the occupation and patriarchy
“Arab feminist movements have failed in achieving rights for women in Palestine”
By Ebru Buyukgul, Your Middle East
June 06, 2015
Around this time two years ago, Mona Mahajna, a 30-year-old mother of three, was found shot dead in her apartment in Umm al-Fahm. After her divorce and ensuing separation from her children she took the brave decision to begin a new life. Which sounds admirable but in a patriarchal society where divorced women are often dehumanised and ridiculed, Mona paid the ultimate price for freedom with her life. Mona is not the latest victim of domestic violence in the occupied territories of Palestine but she is unfortunately the only one I’ve heard of through various media outlets. There has no doubt been countless other Monas since then who I have not heard of and whose death has gone largely unnoticed by the world.
Reports and statistics provided by various Palestinian organisations don’t do anything to inspire hope and their findings on violence against women in the occupied territories is alarming. According to the Palestinian women’s group ‘Women against Violence,’ since 1991, 162 Palestinian women have been murdered by a family relative in the Green Line area alone. A study by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2012 highlights that 37 percent of married women in the occupied territories have been subjected to some form of domestic violence by their husbands. And the Middle East focused publication, ‘The Tower’, also notes that ‘honour killings’ doubled in 2013 in the West Bank and Gaza. As things stand today the future looks grim for Palestinian women who find themselves victims of both Zionism and patriarchy.
WHY?
Fatima Baradiya, mother of Aya Baradiya, with a picture of her daughter who was murdered by her uncle who disapproved of her having a boyfriend. Death in the West Bank: the story of an ‘honour’ killing Photo by Gali Tibbon
So how do we best go about trying to dissect and understand violence against women in the Middle East and in particular against women in Palestine?
With regards to Palestinian women there are two prevailing paradigms; the first points the finger at a misogynistic culture and society in which the ‘honour’ of a family is largely judged by the actions of the women in it and the second blames the loss of masculinity among Palestinian men as a result of Zionist colonialism and oppression, arguing that dire economic conditions and years of occupation have resulted in Palestinian men losing their most valued ability in patriarchal culture – the ability to provide and protect. And it is women who become the victims in these crises of loss of masculinity.
This is the very position that the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the U.N. Human Rights Council, Navi Pillay, supports, arguing that “the combination of decades of Israeli occupation” and “the use of force against Palestinians by Israel… expose women to a continuum of violence in all spheres of life.” Implicit in this is the argument that ultimately no one, whether man or woman, can be free under occupation.
Although the most commonly used, both these paradigms are flawed and too simplistic; blaming an entire culture for an act of violence that is also prevalent among societies not belonging to that culture as well as rationalising the incorrect view that the only value of a man is in his ability to provide and thus have his masculinity judged accordingly, is a dangerous view to have. Most importantly, both of these paradigms try to explain gender based violence in terms of violence in general ignoring the fact that in the former women are murdered for simply being women and by people who are intimate or immediate members of their family. Ultimately the root cause of all forms of violence against women is patriarchy and domestic and honour based violence is only one manifestation of this.
THE FAILURE OF ARAB FEMINIST MOVEMENTS AND LEGAL BODIES
Arab feminist movements, both in Palestine and neighbouring countries have subsequently failed in achieving rights for women in Palestine. There are a number of reasons for this, most notably the fact that they didn’t do themselves any favours by allying with autocratic Arab regimes as a way of promoting women’s rights through legislation. In doing so they opted for an elitist and bourgeoisie feminist struggle when in reality the majority of Arab women do not belong to this class and were thus left alienated. In addition to this, real and lasting social change can only be achieved with the presence of political freedom and not by beseeching a dictatorial and capitalist regime
“Since 1991, 162 Palestinian women have been murdered by a family relative in the Green Line area alone”
Women’s rights are not only about gender equality but also about abolishing the innate hegemonic undercurrents of power and control. The subordination of women is one of these undercurrents and it interconnects and overlaps with political oppression and other forms of exploitation based on religion, social class, race etc. In other words the personal and the political, particularly in the case of Palestine, cannot be seen as separate entities. Zionism and the state of Israel, as well as autocratic and misogynistic regimes in general are active players in the marginalisation and subordination of women and thus collaborating with them is not the solution.
Expecting the police or military to protect women against violence is also somewhat naïve at best and at worst foolish. Both these institutions are inherently patriarchal, militaristic and an active partner of a hegemonic state. It is thus even more ridiculous to expect the Israeli police to provide Palestinian women with protection against violence. Indeed the Israeli police is an active aggressor against Palestinian women not only in denying them political freedom but in denying them the right to essentially exist through the occupation. Israeli police are also known to turn away Palestinian women who are brave enough to report abuse as domestic violence is often seen as something inherent within Arab culture; respect for multiculturalism and ‘private family affairs’ is often cited for not getting involved in such matters. Not only does this racist presumption help Israel wipe their hands clean from any responsibility to protect women despite declaring to be ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’ but it is the same army that cares so much about multiculturalism and Palestinian ‘family affairs’ that also demolishes homes and displaces families in the West Bank and denies Palestinian history, culture and language.
More alarming than this lack of protection for Palestinian women is the lack of accountability for those who perpetuate violence against them. Most cases of violence against women go unreported due to lack of evidence and more commonly lack of interest. Although, in contrast to many Arab states, Israel does criminalise ‘honour’ killings in its judicial system, the police as previously explained do not exert much effort in investigating cases and holding perpetrators accountable.
THE SOLUTION
First and foremost, until society recognises that women are structurally oppressed rather than conceding gender based violence with violence in general, women will continue to be subjected to violence. It is not enough to passively condemn apparent acts of violence towards women but let the less obvious and perceptible forms of patriarchy go unnoticed. Until the latter is addressed and rectified women will continue to be violated and killed with legal impunity. Most Islamic movements in the Middle East, for example, vocally condemn violence towards women yet at the same time segregate women in public arenas and reject mixed-gender participation in political protest or political sphere in general. They actively encourage the passivity of women in fighting for their own political freedom by denouncing such behaviour as un-Islamic and unbefitting of the Muslim woman despite many of the first Muslim women in early Islamic society being vocal participants in that society. More disturbingly they rationalise and thus justify sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence by objectifying women and putting the onus of preventing such behaviour on them rather than the perpetrator, most often on her clothing or hijab.
Hundreds of women from the West Bank town of Bethlehem march to protest against so-called “honour killings” and other forms of violence against women, November 16, 2013. Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler.
This patriarchal attitude is not unique to the religious or conservative sectors of Middle Eastern society, left wing and so called Marxist politicians and groups also adhere to it by claiming that the priority should be fighting Zionism and its occupation and the fight for women’s rights derails and distracts from this aim. How can Palestinian women and women in general be free when political movements choose to be silent rather than speak out against violence towards them? Indeed the first step towards ending this cycle of violence against women is acknowledging that it is actually there; sweeping the ugly truth under the carpet will not make it disappear.
Secondly, we must eradicate the hegemonic lexis used to describe acts of violence towards women, such as ‘honour’ killings. The use of such words rationalise and legitimise violence against women, in this case giving the false notion that the motive of the crime was ‘honour’ when in reality the motive was to strip women of their autonomy and freedom of choice.
And finally the most important step, is for women to organise. Whether it is to take up arms in times of war and conflict or organising street policing to combat sexual harassment and violence. It’s only when women aspire to be free and be actively involved in the achievement of this freedom that they will truly be emancipated.
Ebru Buyukgul works for the International Institute for Environment and Development and is currently based in London. She is also a freelance writer and blogger focusing on issues relating to gender and politics in the Middle East. Follow her work on her blog: bojublog.wordpress.com
Human Rights Situation in Palestine
Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, on the implementation of Human Rights Council resolutions S-9/1 and S-12/1
January 13, 2014
EXTRACT
5. Violence against women
72. Women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory face multiple layers of violence and discrimination. The analysis made by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women in 2005 remains valid. She found that the combination of decades of Israeli occupation, the use of force against Palestinians by Israel, the different forms of resistance used by Palestinians against such use of force and the patriarchy prevailing in Palestinian society expose women to a continuum of violence in all spheres of life.
73. Palestinian NGOs report that violence against women continues to be widespread and so-called “honour killings” remain of concern. Family honour plays a fundamental role in Palestinian society. Although there are no reliable statistics on “honour killings,” in 2012, ICHR documented five such cases across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
However, there appears to be under-reporting of cases; 13 additional cases of murder of women were documented as occurring under “mysterious” circumstances, which indicates that the number of “honour killings” may be higher.
74. In 2011, the Palestinian President abolished article 340 of the 1960 Jordanian Penal Code, which had been in force in the West Bank, and which allowed effective impunity for men who kill or injure their wives or female relatives (maharim) whom they consider to be involved in adultery. however, this measure has not been effective as provisions establishing mitigating circumstances remain in force, in particular article 98 of the Penal Code, which provides for reduced penalties for a person who commits a crime in a state of great anger resulting from a wrongful and dangerous act on the part of the victim.
An NGO study of cases of “honour killings” between 2005 and 2010 showed that the evocation of such mitigating circumstances had dramatically reduced penalties.100 In eight out of 10 cases, the perpetrators were charged with premeditated murder, which carries life imprisonment, however, in most of the cases, due to a combination of mitigating circumstances and the victim’s family’s decision to “drop” the victim’s personal rights, penalties did not exceed five years. Furthermore, in most of the cases, the perpetrators were close family members, including brothers, fathers and mothers. The study also revealed that only 10 judgments were handed down in such cases between 2005 and 2010.
New name for an old crime: Police get creative with ‘honour killings’
Israeli police, it seems, have finally learned not to use the infuriating term ‘honour killings’ to describe the murder of Arab women. Unfortunately, their replacement is far worse.
By Samah Salaime Egbariya, +972
January 2015
The good news is that the police arrested suspects in the murder of Bisan Abu Ghanem, and that authorities have apparently learned not to stop calling such murders “honor killings.” The bad news is that the new explanation for women’s murder is worse yet: their “independent conduct.”
Please insert the new phrase into your lexicon: “murdered on grounds of her independent conduct.” This new excuse for murdering women proudly joins others in an illustrious list: “romantic,” “family-crisis,” “honour,” “cultural,” the good old “crime of passion” and more.
This new masterpiece of nomenclature was first cited in a police press report of Tuesday, Dec. 9, announcing that the murder case of Bisan Abu Ghanem – the last and tenth murder victim in her family, killed on October 25, 2014 – has been solved.
Bisan Abu Ghanim, the tenth woman to be murdered in her family.
Ostensibly, we as women and activists have been waiting for the commendable moment when the murderers of Arab women are indicted, something that does not happen often enough. Indeed, I could not conceal my satisfaction regarding the efficacy and speed of the labyrinthine investigation, which led to the arrest of six suspects; nothing of the kind took place after the murder of Bisan’s stepmother in 2000, or after the murders of her sisters several years later. I even allowed myself to imagine that once the perpetrators are brought to court, we may see further indictments in cases that had gone unsolved.
So the central investigator in this case certainly deserves tribute. But whoever wrote the press release in Hebrew really must have struggled with the ban on the term “honour killing” as the grounds for this horrific crime. Clearly the writer knew that the term is a red flag for furious women’s organizations, and since nothing in the list above was quite suitable, and some sort of “grounds” must be found, the new phrase “independent conduct” was invented. This is in fact an umbrella that covers everything — behavior, dress-style, speech, aspirations and plans for the future, legal battles with an ex over child custody, any behaviour characterized by independence.
And after all, why should any woman, and especially an Arab woman, conduct herself independently? She is expected to be attached by an umbilicus to some man whose whims and goodwill determines where she goes. Think how much patronization, stereotyping and arrogance are encoded in this term: a) We know that women are not independent; b) She who knowingly conducts herself “independently” thereby endangers her own life. c) Protecting women involves raising awareness of the dangers involved in their mounting independence.
Honour killing may be a preferable term after all
For me, as a woman who has struggled for 20 years to be able to say with abundant womanly pride that I am independent entity in my own right, a human being who is not dependent on any man – this police press release was a slap in the face. Where do you think you are living? Independent? By what right? You still belong to someone, and your provocations in the name of human rights and feminism are leading you in a very dangerous direction.
If until now the grounds of honor killing pointed the finger toward a woman’s sexual conduct, and hinted at control over her body and her sexual life, now comes “independent conduct” and expands the domains of control in almost every conceivable direction.
Here is my suggestion for you, distinguished members of the Israel Police force: if you really must cite grounds, then “gender-based” is the appropriate name for a woman’s murder, or murder “due to misogyny,” or “grounded in chauvinism,” or, in the case of the city of Ramle: “organized-crime murders affecting women, men and youth.”
Women are murdered because they are women, precisely because they see themselves as persons in their own right, and because some man nearby wants to control them. They are born independent and sometimes grow to be reliant on some man in their surroundings, not the other way around. It is natural for a woman to be independent, liberated, and to do whatever she cares to with her life, her body and her future. Women’s lives or conduct are not the grounds for murder or for anything else.
I am concerned that this new excuse — “independent conduct” — will become a problem in its own right, so I suggest we go back to “honour killings.” The latter is more focused, understandable and limited. I promise to protect the honor of my family, and my whole khamula (clan) and my entire society if need be. Just leave me my independent conduct which I have spent my entire life cultivating.
A Palestinian woman holds a sign that says “Protecting women from violence is an official and social responsibility” during a 2012 rally held at the spot where a woman’s throat was slashed by her husband. Photo by Majdi Mohammed/AP
Honor killings rise in Palestinian territories, sparking backlash
By Anne-Marie O’Connor, Washington Post
March 03, 2014
AQQABA, West Bank — The news spread at dawn, and people in the village made their way to the olive tree where the bruised body of a young mother of six was hanging, her veil torn off. She had been killed in the name of honor.
“For two weeks, her children were incapable of sleeping, crying for their mother,” said Ahmad Abu Arra, a cousin of the victim. “We want justice.”
Here in this northern West Bank mountain town of breathtaking views, the relatives of Rasha Abu Arra, 32, who was killed in November after rumors spread that she had committed adultery, are adding their voices to an outcry against honor killings in the Palestinian territories.
Twenty-seven women are thought to have been killed last year in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by family members claiming reasons of “honor” — more than double the 13 cases documented in 2012. The age-old rationale can serve as a cover for domestic abuse, inheritance disputes, rape, incest or the desire to punish female independence, according to Maha Abu-Dayyeh, the general director of the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling, a Palestinian human rights group that tracks the killings.
Honor killing, once hidden behind a curtain of silence and shame, is beginning to generate condemnation of its perpetrators, public support for its victims and vows to stop the practice.
“The entire society is incensed by the increase,” said Rabiha Diab, the minister of women’s affairs in the West Bank. “It is a very worrying situation, not just in the occupied Palestinian territories, but all over the Arab world.”
There is no agreement on whether this increase reflects an uptick in killings or better reporting of incidents by the news media, activists and authorities. Some suggest that urbanization and technology have fuelled social tensions in the deeply traditional Palestinian society.
In December, the Palestinian Authority, which governs much of the West Bank, began training police and hospital staff to detect and report such abuses and threats as part of an effort to combat violence against women. Diab is pushing to require prosecutors to involve her ministry in investigations of suspected honor crimes, and she is seeking to purge the Palestinian legal code of laws that guarantee light sentences for honor killings.
A slow groundswell
Women march past Palestinian Authority government buildings in Bethlehem. Photo by Ryan Rodrick Beiler.
The suspected honor killings of two teenage girls in Gaza in recent days drew a rebuke from Hanan Ashrawi, a top official with the Palestine Liberation Organization, who called for immediate legal amendments that impose “maximum sentences” for those convicted of killing women.
“The woman is not an emblem of honor for the man or her family,” Ashrawi said in a statement. “The categorization of such crimes under misleading labels constitutes the exploitation of women, and in turn, it safeguards the offenders and promotes more crimes of this nature.”
In recent years, other suspected victims have included a young Gazan mother of five who was bludgeoned to death by her father because he suspected she was using her cellphone to talk to a man. In September, a mentally disabled 21-year-old in the West Bank city of Hebron was allegedly killed by her mother after she was sexually assaulted. Another West Bank woman, who had divorced an abusive husband, allegedly was strangled by her father after being accused of “disgraceful” acts in a petition that news reports said was signed by a legislator from the Islamist militant movement Hamas, which rules Gaza.
Muslim clerics have become some of the most vocal critics of the killings, women’s groups say. Sheik Yousef Ideis, head of the Palestinian Islamic-law court, has warned that “innocent women” were being killed by relatives on the basis of hearsay that would be ignored if they were men. He also said that the killings are a discriminatory practice that violates the teachings of the Koran.
“Citing honor as a justification to kill is completely rejected in Islam,” Ideis wrote in an article published on his court’s Web site, according to the Palestinian news agency Maan. “This tradition was spread during the pre-Islamic
pagan era, and Islam fought it.”
As police become more vigilant, and neighbors even in small, close-knit villages such as Aqqaba speak up, the perpetrators have begun to disguise the killings as accidents, such as falling off a roof, Abu-Dayyeh said.
Palestinian news media have begun to report more on honor killings, adding to the sense of outrage over the crimes.
In 2011, Palestinians were shocked by the television coverage of the killing of a popular university student, Aya Baradiya, 20, allegedly thrown into a water well in Hebron and left to die by an uncle who disapproved of her suitor. There were protests, with some students describing her as a “martyr.”
In the fallout, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas annulled a law dating to Jordan’s occupation of the West Bank that allowed sentences of no more than six months for honor killings.
But similar laws remain, some dating to the Ottoman Empire. And pardons and suspended sentences are common, according to women’s groups that are publicly demanding a legal overhaul to end honor pleadings. Some activists blame the slow progress on a reluctance to offend conservatives.
A close-knit community
The killing of Rasha Abu Arra shocked Aqqaba. In the village, most families share one of three last names and steer their daughters through tradition-bound lives even though they live just a few miles from the Arab American University, a private institution where thousands of young Palestinian women study for careers.
The local imam, Sheik Mustafa Abu Arra, denounced the killing, saying that those who suspect religious violations “should respect the rule of law.”
The victim’s husband and brother are jailed as suspects, and other family members have been detained for questioning, according to Aqqaba Mayor Jamal Abu Arra.
“People were outraged,” he said. “This is not accepted by our religion or our traditions. We need legislation to support and protect women.”
The mayor said the killing should be pursued as first-degree murder, without the pleas of honor that can shorten a prison sentence to less than a year. In the past, honor killings didn’t even make it to the courts, he said.
“It was a terrible shock for all the children,” he said. “Every child has a mother. She represented all the mothers of the town. It had a very destructive psychological impact.”
It was no secret here that Rasha Abu Arra and her husband, a police officer, weren’t getting along. Some townspeople said the victim’s in-laws spoke maliciously behind her back.
People saw her talking on her cellphone. They began to whisper that she was secretly carrying on with a man, who has since disappeared, though some of her relatives deny there was adultery.
She left the house with her brother one day in late November and didn’t come back, the mayor said. Her husband told his family that she had disappeared, but he waited two days to report it to the police, the mayor said.
Rasha Abu Arra’s oldest son, Adham, 13, waited for hours with townspeople under the olive tree for investigators to arrive and collect evidence. The victim’s mother took to her bed, paralyzed by grief.
Baker Abu Arra, 43, a cousin of the victim, said the killing brought back terrible memories of two local girls who were raped when he was a boy and then killed by their families to cleanse the stain on their honor; the rapists went unpunished.
“This killing has destroyed a whole family,” he said.
Nisreen Abu Zayyad contributed to this report.
Protest in Gaza, March 2014. Photo by Lena Odgaard.
Palestinian women’s organizations challenge “honour killings”
After a surge in killings of women in the Palestinian territories, women’s organizations are calling for an end to legal loopholes which allow men to exercise violence against female relatives with impunity. FSRN’s Lena Odgaard reports from Gaza.
FSRN (Free Speech Radio News)
March 21, 2014
“It was the most difficult day in my life,” is how the middle-aged ‘Im Mohammed’ describes the day she finalized her divorce and had to leave her children behind. As tears run down her cheeks, she explains how her ex-husband would beat her and their children. “When I heard him come home I would feel a pain in my body before I even saw him. Once he came home to us and started shouting that he was crazy.”
‘Im Mohammed’ doesn’t give her real name for fear of the reaction from her family. She explains that for 20 years she faced severe domestic violence. It started a few years after she got married, when at 17 her father-in-law tried to kill her after a cooking accident. She says she never pressed charges against her ex-husband or father-in-law because she was unaware of her options. Today, she tries to help women in Gaza in similar situations. But this is no easy task.
“It’s a man’s society so women don’t have the right to refuse or say no. It’s only the right of men.”
A study from 2012 by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics shows that 37 % of married Palestinian women have suffered domestic violence at the hands of their husbands. Of these, half live in Gaza. According to the AMAL Coalition to Combat Violence Against Women, 28 women were killed on motives linked to “honor” last year alone – a trend, which seems to continue as eight women have already lost their lives since the beginning of the year.
This led to a call for action by the coalition, which is formed by 11 Palestinian civil society groups. “Yes to life – no to killing of women,” was the message chanted by more than a hundred women in front of the Attorney General’s office in Gaza City on March third.
“We have to take a step against this to say no for women killings in Palestine; it’s against religion, against our human rights,” said Mariam Abu Al Atta, coordinator of the AMAL coalition. “Criminals should be punished by the law.” She explained the protest was a response to two recent cases in which teenage girls were killed under the pretense of honor. According to Atta the perpetrators often argue mitigating circumstances of the women having brought shame on the family’s “honor”; for example, by having sex before marriage or cheating on her husband.
Naser Al-Rayyes is a legal consultant at the Palestinian Human Rights Organization, Al Haq. Speaking to FSRN in Ramallah he explains president Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree in 2011 annulling two previous articles that allowed for reduced punishment For men who kill female relatives in cases of adultery or protection of family honor. But perpetrators still use honour as a motive.
“The problem is not the two articles but the whole law,” says Al-Rayyes. He explains one article allows fathers to use force to discipline their daughters, which in extreme cases has led to death. Another law allows for lighter sentences if a homicide is committed while the perpetrator is in a state of extreme anger – an article often used by uncles or brothers of female victims, he says. “There is nothing called honor killing in the law. It is used it to create an atmosphere of sympathy for the murderer and his family to mitigate the sentence.”
Al-Rayyes says investigations show that in 90 percent of the cases honor is not the real motive. Instead, women are killed because of inheritance issues, for being an economic burden to the family, in cases of severe domestic violence, or to hide another crime, such as rape or incest.
Al-Haq has pushed for a new law that calls for harsher sentences in cases of honor-related crimes. This aims to protect women and discourage people from taking the law into their own hands, Al-Rayyes explains.
A new draft Penal Code was presented to President Abbas in 2011, but has never been signed. And even if Abbas approves it, it won’t do the women in Gaza any good.
Since the violent political split in 2007 the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank while a de-facto Hamas-led government rules Gaza. The two territories are therefore run according to two different laws creating a sort of legal limbo. Adding the pressure of years of Israeli siege causing lack of jobs, frequent electricity cuts and unaffordable food and fuel, Gazan women end up as the biggest losers, says Heba Zayyan from UN Women.
“The fact is that there is a sense of lack of punishment as well as maybe it’s an issue of law and order as well,” Zayyan says. “And in Gaza also a number of socioeconomic factors that never has a one-to-one correspondence to violence but research has proved that the more poverty and unemployment there is in an environment the higher the percentage of violence in that environment.”
Although legal guarantees to protect women from violence inflicted by relatives aren’t currently a priority for officials in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, these small grassroots initiatives are at least shedding light on the sensitive issue and creating public debate.
Clarion Project’s New Islamophobic Film, “Honor Diaries”
By Richard Silverstein, Tikun Olam
March 27, 2014
The Clarion Fund (now the “Clarion Project–#1 news site on the threat of Islamic extremism“) rides again. After producing three classic Islamophobic films, Obsession, Third Jihad and Iranium, T-H-E-Y’R-E B-A-C-K with a new one, Honor Diaries. The new project focuses on honor killings and Islam’s supposed hatred of women. One has to ask why a film about the purported abuse of Muslim women was produced by Jews, and ones with a distinct ideological agenda at that.
Honor Diaries calls itself a “woman’s film” (it was launched on March 8th, International Women’s Day) when its focus is decrying the alleged backwardness and misogyny of Islam. Here is the blurb from the film’s website in which you can see the sly manipulation of feminism for the purpose of Muslim-bashing:
The film gives a platform to exclusively female voices and seeks to expose the paralyzing political correctness that prevents many from identifying, understanding and addressing this international human rights disaster. Freedom of movement, the right to education, forced marriage, and female genital mutilation are some of the systematic abuses explored in depth.
Spurred by the Arab Spring, women who were once silent are starting to speak out about gender inequality and are bringing visibility to a long history of oppression. This project draws together leading women’s rights activists and provides a platform where their voices can be heard and serves as inspiration to motivate others to speak out.
More than a movie, Honor Diaries is a movement meant to inspire viewers to learn more about issues facing women in Muslim-majority societies, and to act for change.
The words “Arab Spring” above are the “hook” for the film. Its producers erroneously saw the Arab Spring as a revolt against Islam. So they devised this film as a wedge to further divide the mass of westerners against Islam. If the Arab Spring represented democracy, feminism, and turning toward western values, then it offered a perfect tool to discredit traditional Islam. Of course, this analysis of the Arab Spring is totally wrong. It did represent a turn toward populism and even democracy in some national contexts, but it in no way rejected Islam.
Another aspect of the marketing of this film is quite devious and sophisticated. Instead of taking on Islam head-on as it did so outlandishly in the previous three films, here the trash-talking is downplayed. It doesn’t preoccupy itself with terrorism or claim that all Muslims are terrorists as the earlier films did. Instead, it embraces a subject as American as apple pie: women’s rights. We all agree that oppression of women is wrong. So if Clarion can paint a picture of Islamic societies as oppressing women, then it’s achieved it’s goal of discrediting Islam, but done it through the back-door as it were.
Behind the film are the usual cast of characters including Rabbi Raphael Shore, formerly (according to him) of the settler-linked Aish HaTorah and Israel media-advocacy group, Honest Reporting. Alex Traiman, who wrote the previous films is back for another reprieve. But there are some intriguing new figures, Ayan Hirsi Ali, one of the early African female of assailants of Islam, who is a visiting fellow at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute. Another “expert” interviewed extensively is Dr. Qanta Ahmed, a Manhattan sleep disorder specialist, who’s transformed herself into a feminist Muslim and darling of the pro-Israel world. She celebrates Israel’s achievements as an unapologetic voice of Arab hasbara.
A member of the film’s advisory board is Christopher Boughey, a detective in the Peoria, AZ police department. Though his work involves investigating crimes against women, he has no particular expertise in Islam. His claim to fame is that he was the lead detective investigating an alleged honor killing. Which now makes him an expert in the entire field of women’s rights and Islam.
A writer and producer of the film, Paula Kweskin, has penned anti-Palestinian articles in the Jerusalem Post arguing that Israel does not occupy Gaza. Despite Kweskin’s claim of special interest in international humanitarian relief and the plight of Arab women, her NY Times wedding announcement proclaims that she is an employee of Clarion Fund (not just an independent producer of the film). She and her husband appear to be Orthodox Jews. So rather than a feminist filmmaker, she’s little more than a hasbara professional.
There may be genuine, sincere feminists involved with this film. There may even be some legitimacy to the issues offered. But under the auspices of an Islam-hating outfit like Clarion, whatever good might’ve been possible in this project has been completely undermined. The participants have either been used without their awareness, believing they were doing good; or they’ve participated out of sharing the values of Shore and Clarion.
One of the latter is one of the nine subjects of the film, Reza. Here is her spin on the matter:
“I thought this project was the most brilliant thing I’d ever heard of, and I say hats off to Clarion for having done this and allowing us to speak. We were not paid and it was not scripted,” Reza told Haaretz in a phone interview.
“The term Islamophobia is being used today to ward off any criticism of Islam and to silence people. Moreover, this is not really a film about Islam, it’s a film about human rights,” she said. “Those who are apologists will have an issue with that.”
I’ve got news for Reza, either she’s lying and she knows it; or she hasn’t seen any of the previous Clarion films and hasn’t reviewed Raphael Shore’s credits or bio. Clarion is an overtly anti-Muslim organization and all of its projects share that goal.
Clarion represents not just a pro-Israel agenda, but an Islamophobic one. Think Progress compiled a list of the group’s largest donors and they are some of the most pro-Israel, Islamophobic funders in the U.S. They include the Irving Moskowitz Foundation ($60,000), the San Francisco Jewish Federation ($75,000), the Jewish Communal Fund (NY, $30,000), and the William Rosenwald Fund ($25,000). Moskowitz is one of the most generous donors to the radical settler movement, the S.F. Jewish federation’s largest donor is the Islamophobic Koret Foundation. The Rosenwald Fund is controlled by Jewish Islamophobe, Nina Rosenwald.
Clarion’s board members and analysts like Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, Frank Gaffney and Ryan Mauro are frequent guests on FoxNews shows in which they decry the threat of Islam to U.S. society. Clarion is almost a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GOP, especially the Jewish neocon variety.
Clarion’s films are hyperbolic, histrioinic and senationalist. Tens of thousands of copies of Obsession were mailed to voters during a presidential election at a cost of $18-million, an expense secretly borne by a Chicago Jewish pro-Israel donor, Barre Seid. Before they removed it, one of the websites overtly championed the candidacy of John McCain. Clarion has paid GOP political consultants to promote its previous films.
The movie bills itself as “interfaith” in order to inoculate itself from claims that its sole target is Islam. But as near as I can tell the sole interfaith aspect of the project is that Jews funded a project to bash Muslims.
The producers have located nine women, only one of whom lives in the Arab world, and most of whom appear privileged, wealthy and secular. Some of the subjects haven’t lived in the Arab or Muslim world for decades. One of the interviewees is an Arab Christian, who would have a plethora of prejudices against Islam. Another is an Indian Sikh, who is neither Arab nor Muslim.
If the producers had wanted to make an honest film they would’ve created a project that explored the subjugation of women in the Third World, not just in Arab or Muslim lands. This would’ve enabled them to explore conditions for women throughout the world, rather than in one relatively small piece of it. But then, of course, they wouldn’t have fulfilled the agenda of the producers to bash Israel’s Arab and Muslim “enemies.”
Nor did I see in the movie trailer any commitment by any of them to engage in work in the Arab world to liberate women and girls from their alleged straits. The only call to action asks viewers to support the International Violence Against Women Act, which has failed to gather enough support in past Congresses to become law. It also offers a “Wall of Honor” to which you may nominate a respected man or woman.
The film does offer video clips of young girls speaking of their suffering. But the girls were rarely identified and it wasn’t clear what, if any, connection they had to the nine main subjects of the documentary.
The film’s style is agitprop. It juxtaposes a heartfelt girl-power session with numerous videos showing women who’ve been hung, whose faces have been disfigured by acid attacks, and who’ve been murdered in honor killings. There is little sociological analysis of the problem or suggestions about how to end it other than general consciousness raising. The only clear enemy suggested is Muslim men and society.
One example of the sloppiness of the film is the denunciation of female circumcision. This is not a rite of Islam. Nor is it a religious rite in the cultures where it is practiced. Though genital mutilation is a barbaric practice, it cannot be associated with Islam. This distinction is not made clear in the trailer I viewed. Another glaring distortion has an interviewer claiming honor killings are an alarming phenomenon even in the U.S. and “increasing” in occurrence. I’d challenge this claim, which is never buttressed with any evidence. In yet another segment, an Iranian-American woman says:
“Muslim women are deprived of their humanity”.
There are tens of millions of Muslim women who would disagree with this statement. A statement, I might add, which is never supported with any evidence other than news clips of U.S. honor killings. There is a presumption that the men who committed these heinous crimes did so out of some allegiance to Islam. Another unfounded assumption.
An example of the naivete of Paula Kweskin, the public face and producer of the film is that she closes the clip above by soliciting $10,000 to have the film translated into Arabic so it can be shown in Muslim countries like Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Why in God’s name would any Muslim society be willing to screen a film that disparages virtually all of its adherents?
Though they would deny it, one of the end results of this film will be a spike in anti-Muslim hate crimes. The tone of this film encourages the acts of the imbalanced haters in our communities. It empowers them to engage in anti-social behavior like shooting into mosques (which occurred several days ago near Chicago). So instead of liberating women from the shackles of Islam, it’s liable to put Muslims in harm’s way.
What’s unprecedented for a Clarion film is the level of co-optation they’ve managed with the feminist and human rights community. Haaretz claims Amnesty hosted a London screening and that the UN Human Rights Commissioner received a copy of the film in Geneva. The film has been screened at film festivals all over the western world. Their stealth marketing strategy earned them a screening at the University of Michigan Dearborn, right in the heart of the Arab-American community. When asked by naive campus administrators to participate in a panel discussion both CAIR and the ADC refused wisely. They didn’t want to give the film any further credibility by appearing. Surely, their participation would’ve been used by the producers to claim even they saw it as a legitimate portrayal of Muslim attitudes toward women. I understand the screening was wisely “postponed” by campus officials.
If you are a feminist or human rights activist on campus or elsewhere, beware any attempt to bring this film into your organizations as a documentary worthy of screening. I am sure there are legitimate films that discuss this issue without the animus inherent in this one.
Another dubious development is that Haaretz liberal Zionist blogger, Ilene Prusher published a credulous profile of the film which actually treats it like a real documentary, rather than a piece of Islamophobic agitprop. I’ve noted here previously Prusher’s tendency to diminish or discredit the achievements of Israeli Palestinian cultural figures at the expense of Israeli Jewish artists. Now, Prusher champions an overtly Islamophobic film and propaganda outlet. She does so while barely acknowledging the reams of online published research exposing Clarion’s ideological biases. Haaretz too becomes a tool to promote these wares before its liberal Zionist audience.
Notes and links
Decriminalisation of Adultery and Defences
From End Violence Against Women and Girls
UN Women
In 2011 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree suspending a law that had previously provided for greatly reduced sentences (or even complete exoneration) for perpetrators of “honour” killings motivated by a female relative’s adultery or perceived sexual impropriety. The decree applied to Article 340 of the Jordanian Penal Code, the penal code in force in the West Bank. However, other provisions of the Jordanian Penal Code, such as the article excusing killings committed in a fit of fury, continue to allow perpetrators of “honour” crimes to obtain reduced sentences. Specifically, Article 98 allows for lower punishment for offenses committed out of rage, and Article 99 decreases a sentence by half if the victim’s family pardons him.
Robert Fisk: The crimewave that shames the world
‘It’s one of the last great taboos: the murder of at least 20,000 women a year in the name of ‘honour’. Nor is the problem confined to the Middle East: the contagion is spreading rapidly.’
Fisk says the largest number of young women killed by male relatives are in families of Iraqi Kurds, Palestinians in Jordan, Pakistanis and Turks.