In the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, women’s voices—whether Israeli, Palestinian, or Jewish in thediaspora—are often manipulated, silenced, or co-opted to serve state and nationalist agendas. Women’s suffering isappropriated to justify militarism, while their genuine efforts for peace are turned into “peace-washing” campaigns thatobscure systemic violence.
This essay critiques theexploitation of women’s narratives and explores how state-driven agendas perpetuate conflict by maintaining the status quorather than addressing the injustices at the conflict's root.
Instrumentalizing Women’s Suffering: A Political Tool
Women’s suffering has long been used as a tool for political gain in the Israel-Palestine conflict. One example isNoa Argamani, an Israeli woman who was abducted by Hamas during the 2023 attack at the Re’im music festival.Her story became a symbol of Palestinian violence in Israeli media, fueling support for military retaliation. However, when it wasrevealed that her injuries may have been caused by Israeli airstrikes, the media coverage of her story diminished. This reflects howwomen’s suffering is appropriated to justify militarism but erased when it no longer fits the dominant narrative.
Similarly, Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager who gained international attention in 2017 after slapping anIsraeli soldier, became a symbol for both sides of the conflict. While some in the Palestinian community embraced her as an icon ofresistance, Israeli right-wing media demonized her. Tamimi herself highlighted the complexities of her position when she stated, "Iam not a victim. I resist the occupation in all forms." Tamimi’s story illustrates how women’s experiences are oftenpoliticized and simplified, losing their personal and nuanced dimensions.
Shireen Abu Akleh, a renownedPalestinian-American journalist for Al Jazeera, was shot and killed while reporting in the West Bank in 2022. Her death became aninternational incident, with conflicting reports about who was responsible. While initially blamed on Palestinian gunfire, subsequentevidence suggested that Israeli forces were responsible. Abu Akleh’s killing drew attention to the dangers faced by journalistsin conflict zones and underscored the broader risks Palestinian women face under occupation.
These examples show howwomen’s suffering can be appropriated by the state or political factions, only to be minimized or erased when it no longerserves immediate political ends.
Silencing Jewish Women’s Dissent: A Threat toNationalism
Jewish women in Israel who criticize the occupation or challenge militarism often face swift retaliation. Forinstance, Women in Black, an anti-occupation movement formed during the First Intifada, faced intense opposition.The women, who held weekly vigils to protest the occupation, were often met with verbal abuse and physical attacks. GilaSvirsky, one of the founders of Women in Black, has spoken about how they were branded as traitors for their stance onpeace.
Orly Noy, a Mizrahi Jewish journalist and political activist, frequently critiques both the occupationand internal discrimination against Mizrahi Jews. Noy’s intersectional activism has made her a target for right-wing figures inIsrael who see her as undermining national unity. Her criticisms, particularly those challenging the status quo of occupation andinequality, reflect the difficulties Jewish women face when they challenge nationalist narratives.
Anat Matar,an Israeli academic and activist, has also faced significant backlash for her advocacy on behalf of Palestinian prisoners.Matar’s outspoken opposition to the occupation has made her a marginalized figure within Israeli academia, where dissent onsuch issues can be seen as a threat to the state’s security narrative.
Silencing Jewish Women in the Diaspora
Jewish women in the diaspora who express solidarity with Palestinians or critique Israeli policies often face ostracization fromtheir communities. Rebecca Vilkomerson, the former executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), facedaccusations of being a "self-hating Jew" for her organization’s support of Palestinian rights and the Boycott, Divestment, andSanctions (BDS) movement. Vilkomerson has written extensively about the personal and political costs of advocating for Palestinianrights within Jewish communities in the United States, where dissent against Israel is often seen as a betrayal.
NaomiChazan, a former Israeli parliamentarian and president of the New Israel Fund (NIF), was also targeted by right-wingcampaigns for her progressive advocacy for peace and civil rights. In one campaign, she was demonized in a high-profile ad,demonstrating the lengths to which nationalist forces will go to silence Jewish women advocating for peace.
EmilySiegel, a member of IfNotNow, was banned from entering Israel in 2018 due to her participation in protests against theoccupation. Siegel’s deportation underscores how Jewish women who challenge the status quo of occupation, even from abroad,face systemic retaliation.
Co-opting Peace: The Trap of Peace-Washing
Even genuine efforts for peace led by women arevulnerable to co-option by the state. The Women Wage Peace movement, which began in 2014 after the Gaza war, unitedIsraeli and Palestinian women in calls for nonviolence. However, as the movement gained attention, its message became increasinglyappropriated by the Israeli state, which used its language of peace to deflect criticism without addressing the root causes of theconflict, such as the occupation and settlement expansion.
Israel’s adoption of theWomen, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, promoted by the United Nations, is another example of peace-washing. WhileIsrael touts its inclusion of women in peace processes, it continues to perpetuate policies that violate Palestinian women’srights. The use of WPS rhetoric allows the state to maintain an image of progressiveness while avoiding the deeper structural changesneeded to resolve the conflict.
Feminist Resistance: Rejecting Militarism and Patriarchy
Despite these co-optingefforts, feminist movements in both Israel and Palestine continue to resist the intertwined forces of militarism and patriarchy. InIsrael, New Profile, a feminist organization that advocates for the demilitarization of society, challenges thecentral role militarism plays in shaping Israeli identity and gender norms. New Profile argues that true peace can only be achievedby dismantling the systems of militarization that dominate Israeli life.
In Palestine, the Union of PalestinianWomen’s Committees (UPWC) fights not only for national liberation but also for gender justice. Palestinian womenactivists have consistently rejected the narrative that their roles are limited to symbols of victimhood or martyrdom. Instead, theyhave positioned themselves as key leaders in the struggle for both political and social liberation.
Reclaiming Women’sVoices for True Peace
The exploitation of women’s suffering and the co-opting of their peace efforts ultimatelyundermines any real progress toward resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, feminist movements—whether in Israel,Palestine, or the diaspora—continue to resist this co-option and reclaim their voices. These women are not passive symbols;they are agents of change advocating for justice, equality, and dignity for all.
True peace requires addressing the systemicviolence that fuels the conflict and centering the voices of women who resist militarism and patriarchy. As feminist activists in theregion have demonstrated, peace is not merely the absence of conflict but the presence of justice and equality.
For Further Reading
For readers interested in exploring the themes of gender, conflict, and state manipulation ofwomen’s voices in more depth, the following works provide critical perspectives and expand on the ideas discussed in thisessay:
- Cynthia Enloe, Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics.Enloe’s foundational work explores how women’s experiences are shaped by international politics, war, and militarism,providing a feminist lens on the manipulation of gender in conflict zones.
- Lila Abu-Lughod, Do MuslimWomen Need Saving? This book critiques the use of women’s suffering in Middle Eastern conflicts as a justification for Westernintervention, offering parallels to how women’s experiences are instrumentalized in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
- Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Security Theology, Surveillance and the Politics of Fear. Shalhoub-Kevorkian examinesthe ways in which Palestinian women's bodies and lives are weaponized and controlled through surveillance and militarized securityregimes, highlighting the intersection of gender, power, and occupation.
- Simona Sharoni, Gender andthe Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Politics of Women's Resistance. Sharoni’s work provides a detailed analysis of feministresistance movements in both Israeli and Palestinian contexts, discussing the ways in which women's activism challenges bothoccupation and patriarchy.
- Rebecca L. Stein and Adi Kuntsman, Digital Militarism:Israel’s Occupation in the Social Media Age. This book examines the role of social media in shaping narratives around theIsraeli occupation, including how women's voices and suffering are often co-opted and exploited for political gain.
- Angela Davis, Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement. Davis drawsconnections between struggles for liberation across different contexts, including the Palestinian struggle, emphasizing theimportance of intersectionality and solidarity in movements against oppression.