Israel’s Increasingly Extremist Turn to Misogyny is Pinkwashed, while the Press Stereotypes Muslims

Belfast (Special to Informed Comment) – Pinkwashing of discrimination against women in Israeli politics and society has led western politicians and media to ignore the issue. Israeli news sites, in contrast, are frank about this worsening problem, which is spearheaded by the far right. In this article I will look at misogyny within the political parties making up the Israeli government.

It is worth noting that the slack cut to anti-women Israeli fundamentalists is not extended to Arabs and Muslims.  Large sections of western media are no different from the political establishment when they deal with the Middle East. Reactions and coverage of recent events in Syria and occupied Palestine have been no different especially when it comes to misogyny.

For example, Syria’s newly appointed leader Ahmad Sharaa caused a controversy when he avoided shaking hands with Germany’s foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, in line with his socially conservative views. Yet when Joe Biden was US president, he didn’t feel offended when Israeli female singer Yuval Dayan refused to shake his hand. He admired her adherence to her religious teachings which prohibits any physical contact with the opposite gender. Yet it became a big deal when a conservative Muslim did exactly the same thing.

Not only are conservative Arab and Muslim men labeled as misogynists but also liberal ones — as if any Arab and Muslim man is guilty of sexism until proven innocent. For example, Palestinian liberal politician Dr Mustafa Barghouti was shouted over by British TV host Julia Hartley-Brewer while she was interviewing him, after which she unfairly accused him of being uncomfortable listening to women speaking.

Since I grew up in the Middle East, I must point out that there are liberal men and women who might give you a hug and there are conservatives who would avoid a handshake and others who fall between the two. When some women avoid shaking hands with me, I respect that, since none have the right to impose their own views on others. Now that I live in Europe, I can see daily the ways in which such stereotypes have a negative impact on Arab and Muslims communities.

Let us turn to Israel, where ultra-Orthodox males have sometimes forced women to ride at the back of the bus. Nor is the problem one of a few religious fanatics. Representatives of this point of view are key cabinet members. Fundamentalist historical allies of the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu include far right religious extremists represented by Religious Zionism, Jewish Power and Noam as well as Ultra Orthodox Haredi and Hasidic religious parties including Shas, Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah.

A Jewish religious women’s group called Women of the Wall urged Netanyahu not to appoint the leader of the extremist Jewish Power party, Itamar Ben-Gvir, as National Security Minister. The Women of the Wall group holds a monthly womens’ prayer at the Western Wall, in violation of the site rules set by the rabbis, which bar women from carrying and reading from the Torah. The women complained of Ben-Gvir’s harassment of and incitement against them, and his participation in violent protests that endangered women’s lives. Netanyahu ignored them and elevated Ben-Gvir to National Security Minister. (Ben-Gvir, who had on several occasions blocked cease-fire agreements in Gaza, recently resigned over the halt in hostilities).

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the leader of the Religious Zionism, put misogyny and racism together when he said that Jewish and Arab women should have segregated maternity wards, apartheid style. On gay rights, Smotrich described himself as ‘ proud homophobe’. He was also involved in organizing the anti-gay “beast parade” in Jerusalem, driving sheep and goats through the streets and comparing homosexuality to bestiality.

The tiny anti-LGBT far right Noam party was brought to the corridors of power by Netanyahu when he appointed its leader Avi Maoz as Deputy Minister, as well as giving him the the ‘Jewish identity’ portfolio. Not only does Noam support gay conversion therapy and consider LGBTQ people as abominations but  the party also objects to women serving in the military. Its leader Maoz said that a woman’s greatest contribution is to marriage and raising a family.

“Oppressed,” Digital, Midjourney, 2024

Haredi and Hasidic fundamentalists are not any better. For example, despite being ordered by the Israeli High Court of Justice to change its regulations that prohibit women from standing as candidates for elections, a source from the predominantly Hasidic Agudath Yisrael faction United Torah Judaism said that they will comply with the court decision by changing the wording but without changing the policy of excluding women, which is based on a decision made by leading rabbis from the time Israel was founded. Additionally, the Council of the Torah Sages, which determines the party decisions and makeup, wouldn’t allow female candidates for office.

It goes on and on.  Aryeh Deri, leader of the ultra-Orthodox or Haredi Shas Party, defended not having women on the party election list by saying that politics is not the natural place for women. Additionally, former Shas candidate for the Knesset Rabbi Baruch Gazahay said that breast cancer and miscarriages were caused by women wearing immodest clothes and that women who exposed their bodies will be reincarnated as cows. Later he alleged that what he said was taken out of context.

This chauvinistic coalition of extremism, misogyny, homophobia and supremacy is the alliance that Israel Prime Minister wanted. He was the one who forged the electoral alliance between religious Zionism, Jewish power and Noam in order to maximize the far-right representation in the Israeli Knesset. It is therefore no wonder that Netanyahu’s own Likud Party was criticized as misogynist because in the 2022 Knesset election there was only one woman among its top 10 candidates. Yaer Gloan from Meretz (which no longer exists as a party) observed on the day the Likud candidate list was announced that it was a good day for rapists.

This is the government that the West is happy to support and arm in committing genocide, even while hypocritically lecturing others on women’s and human rights.