Support for Palestinian Women
Introduction: The Ongoing Crisis in Gaza
The Israeli-led campaign against Gaza is already in its ninth month. The UN has called this place “hell on earth,” where Palestinian women are subjected to unspeakable horrors and agony. Seventy percent of those killed by the Israeli army’s constant shelling were women and children.
Impact on Palestinian Women and Children
Women who are pregnant or nursing run a greater risk of malnourishment and illness. There have been accounts of high-risk deliveries, miscarriages occurring at previously unheard-of rates, and Caesarean sections performed without anesthesia. Additionally, Palestinian women have stated that Israeli troops who are detaining them have subjected them to sexual assault, abuse, and humiliation. A lot of schools and institutions have been destroyed by the Israeli army, depriving hundreds of thousands of young women and girls of an education.
Malala Yousafzai’s Stance and Contributions
It is horrifying how much violence and abuse Palestinian women endure. If you care about women’s rights, you should be concerned about this and take action. Indeed, many women’s rights supporters have raised their voices. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai is among them; in many of her speeches, she has denounced violence against civilians and demanded an end to hostilities. Additionally, she has given $300,000 to organizations that aid Palestinians.
Controversy Surrounding Malala’s Association with Hillary Clinton
However, many felt that Malala’s support for the Palestinian people was misplaced when it was revealed that she and Hillary Clinton were co-producing the musical Suffs. Given Clinton’s steadfast backing of Israel, denial of requests for a ceasefire, and significant involvement in other regional crises, the announcement incited great indignation. Malala has been criticized in the past for being a “puppet” of the West and a propagandist of the complicated story of the white savior.
She emphasized that there should be “no confusion” about her sympathy for the Gaza people and denounced the acts of the Israeli government in a statement released after the dispute. Although it is admirable that she made an effort to make her support for the Palestinian people clear, she was unable to disassociate herself from the influential individuals who were involved in the events in Gaza. She disregarded the role of the West, particularly the United States, by criticizing exclusively Israel.
The Role of the United States in the Gaza Conflict
The Biden administration has approved a $17 billion package of military aid to Israel since the start of Israel’s conflict with Gaza. It has disregarded UN agency condemnations and vetoed several resolutions at the UN Security Council calling for a ceasefire. It has disregarded a preliminary finding by the International Court of Justice suggesting that Israel might be carrying out genocide in Gaza chastised the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for pursuing the arrest of Israeli officials and threatened to impose sanctions on him. In his remarks, President Joe Biden even asserted that “what’s happening is not genocide.”
Malala’s Potential to Challenge Western Support for Israel
Malala can question the US and Western nations’ unwavering support for Israel thanks to her widespread popularity. She has the strength to oppose the colonial power systems that continue to inflict immense pain in Gaza and the Global South. Still, she keeps putting herself in their orbit. Her fundraising efforts may benefit from her silence about culpability, but in the long run, it is detrimental to her cause. Her calls and pronouncements on Gaza are also reduced to performative activism, which is dedicating oneself to a cause just through words and not through deeds.
The Importance of Intersectional Feminism
Her choice to co-produce a musical that discusses the suffragist movement but just briefly touches on its racism and the marginalization of Black women during the Jim Crow era is another example of her flimsy approach to activism. Historically, white middle-class women have been the main targets of the feminist movement in the West. Their issues have been given priority, with the experiences of marginalized groups being overlooked. Any recognition of their difficulties has frequently been performative and biased toward the performer.
This was evident in 2022 when celebrities, activists, and Western women’s rights groups spoke out in favor of the Iranian women’s rallies, with some even shaving off their hair in a show of support. However, many of them have now stopped speaking about the situation of Palestinian women and girls, including Clinton, who demanded that Iran be kicked off the UN Women’s Commission. Deprived women are generally set apart by the white liberal feminist movement. Therefore, one must question Malala’s motivation for lining up herself with this movement and its account as a Muslim woman of color. In place of caving into the repressive structures, she ought to be trying to undermine them.
If Malala abandoned white feminism and adopted intersectional feminism—which recognizes and respects the difficulties experienced by people who suffer multiple systems of oppression like sexism and racism—she would be of much greater service to the women and girls of color that she seems to want to assist. The colonial and racist systems of dominance that impact women’s and girls’ lives in the Global South and marginalized populations in the Global North cannot be ignored by activists who approach this idea in good faith. They resist oppression in all of its manifestations, particularly white imperialist oppression, by standing alongside women and girls of all races and religions.
Conclusion: Malala’s Potential to Support for Palestinian Women
Malala and similar activists would not be collaborating with Clinton on musical productions if they truly stood up for Palestinian women and girls. Rather, they would confront her about her racist and colonialist beliefs and condemn her for her part in the US’s destructive colonial endeavors. Malala has received recognition in the past for her fearlessness and unwavering commitment to the cause of girls’ education. She has every right to expand this campaign to include the women and girls of Gaza. She is capable of far more than just caving into white feminism, especially with her unmatched platform and power.