There are many Muslim countries where women are subservient to their menfolk – husbands, fathers, even sons; countries where wives can be severely punished if merely suspected of being “disobedient” to their husbands; countries where women cannot leave the house without the permission of a male relative or, in some cases, without a male chaperone. Israel, though geographically situated in midst of the Arab Muslim world, has nothing in common with those countries when it comes to treatment of women; Israel belongs to the advanced West, and Israeli women are fully equal, in every respect, to Israeli men.
The Guardian, the British newspaper that is hands down the most anti-Israel newspaper in the English-speaking world – surpassing even The New York Times and The Washington Post — has now exceeded all expectations by charging that Israel has rules restricting “women’s freedom to live, work, and study.” This claim not only sounds absurd — it is absurd — and a few minutes spent searching the Internet for information on the relevant laws and customs of the Jewish state would have shown that the charge was completely false. “The Guardian Claims Israeli Women Can’t Leave Their Homes Without a Male Guardian,” by Rachel O’Donoghue, HonestReporting, July 19, 2023:
According to The Guardian’s website, its mission since its founding has been to deliver “fearless, investigative journalism” that is “free from political and commercial influence.”
Unfortunately, there was little in the way of fearless and objective journalism displayed when the outlet published an article that falsely claimed Israel has “rules restricting a woman’s freedom to live, work and study.”
The piece is based on a report by Human Rights Watch that includes Israel in a list of countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait that impose restrictions on women “preventing them from moving freely in their own country and from traveling abroad without the permission of their male guardians.”
There is not a sooterkins of truth in this charge. The Guardian reporters and editors did not do any investigation of their own about a claim made by HRW that, on the face of it, ought to have aroused deep suspicion. Instead, they based their claim about Israel’s “restrictions on women’s freedom” solely on a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of the two Western NGOS – the other is Amnesty International — known most for its lies about Israel, especially when it was under the leadership of Kenneth Roth (now happily ensconced at Harvard’s Kennedy School with a fat fellowship, which goes to show that crime does pay).
Sadly, the international media’s tendency to treat HRW’s word as gospel means outlets like The Guardian all too often ignore the organization’s nakedly anti-Israel agenda and uncritically reprint its most outrageous and verifiably-false claims.
And this is apparently the reason why the Guardian journalists who wrote the piece failed to do a modicum of fact-checking, which might have helped them realize that Israel has no business being mentioned in the same sentence as Saudi Arabia and Jordan when it comes to women’s rights.
The Guardian even went as far as to republish a faulty HRW map that jaw-droppingly included Israel as one of the “15 countries where women can face sanction if they leave the home without male guardian permission.”
The Guardian might also have included the succinct statement that the Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry gave to HRW when approached: “Israel is a modern democracy and therefore the questions are not relevant at all regarding it and its population.”…
Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, in other words, in its laconic reply to HRW made clear that it was not going to be drawn into treating such a preposterous charge seriously; to answer it would be to dignify the charge, and the government of Israel, quite rightly, dismissed HRW’s statement as absurd and calumniating. Why did The Guardian not include this telling dismissal in its own reporting on the matter?
There is no evidence that Israel prevents women from going out without a male relative’s permission. A handful of cases where an Israeli woman was prevented by her husband from going out to work without his permission were exceptions that prove the rule – the women sued for the right not to be under a man’s control, and in every case they won.
In fact, Israel’s inclusion in the report appears to be based on HRW gazing into a crystal ball and prophesizing that some members of the Israeli government might push for legislation that would “permit gender segregation at publicly funded events or public spaces.”
Israel “might” push for legislation in the future that would permit gender segregation? But there is not the slightest evidence to support this hypothetical. The most religious and “right wing” members of the Israeli government, such as Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have never uttered a syllable about supporting such gender segregation in public spaces or at publicly-funded events. The Guardian is simply trying to find an excuse for its original bizarre and malevolent claim, by still claiming that after all, there might in the future be an attempt in Israel to impose such segregation.
In response to our complaints, The Guardian appended the following to its story:
This article was amended on 19 July 2023 to clarify that Human Rights Watch says it has included Israel in the report because some religious courts can have jurisdiction over marriage and divorce, and deprive women of spousal maintenance. A graphic in which Israel was listed alongside 14 other countries “where women can face sanction if they leave the home without male guardian permission” lacked adequate context and was removed….
Actually, there was no “context” in which such a charge against Israel would be true. It was false, period, and The Guardian’s refusal to fully own up to its meretriciousness is apparent even in its quasi-apology.
How did The Guardian ever think it could rely solely on that most anti-Israel of NGOs, Human Rights Watch, for anything to do with Israel? And did no one at The Guardian suspect that the charge HRW made against Israel for supposedly allowing Israeli women to be ruled in such a fashion by Israeli men was among the most ludicrous charges yet made against the Jewish state?
The Guardian is read only by leftist elites, school teachers, college lecturers and university professors.
Meaning that its read by a wide swath of opinion-maker/enforcers–through the English-speaking world. This, in turn, fosters anti-semitism and anti-zionism.
In any event, the accusation is garbage. Orthodox Jewish women–even unmarried ones–leave home alone, work and interact with male non- relatives.
The only consolation here is that the Guardian craps on all non-commies, America, Britain generally…and not just Israel and Jews.
Why do you call these leftist communists ‘elite’? They are only elite in their own minds, nobody else’s. And when you call them such, it just perpetuates what they think of themselves, instead of calling them what they are…..failed, miserable leftist communists.
Um, read the backgrounds of those in power in DC today. Start with Comey….. a true communist since at least college. The little book “Red Thread” by Diana West will help you with this.
What we are seeing today in USA is a powerful communist elite who, to quote the self proclaimed communist, Van Jones exchanged the garb of revolutionaries for the power of working from within the system.
Because they think they are the good guys, they need to know that we consider them elitist and as a result we will not obey them.
In short, the dumbest people in the room.
In other words, it’s a rag.
The Guardian has been anti Semitic and anti Israel for decades
For all of the Gaurdian’s foaming at the mouth against the Jewish state, I found this little tidbit while researching.
The UK, the Guardian needs to report, has twice the rate of rape that Israel does. This is a skewed study in any case, because the study does not separate arabs from Jews. They Jews will always have an enormously lower rate of rape than the arabiya.
What they DON’T say is who’s doing the raping, Muslims.
I guess no one at The Guardian knew that Israel had a popular female Prime Minister – Golda Meir. What a bunch of mendacious idiots they are.
Golda Meir was also the first female prime minster to become head of government in her own right. Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jaharawal Nehru, India’s first prime minister. The prime minter of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) became prime minister in 1960 after her husband died.
The Guardian lies about Israel. I wonder if it tells the truth about the status of women in Islamic countries (in particular, Barack Hussein Osama and Dementia Joe’s favorite incipient nuclear power, iran and Hamas ruled Gaza). Will The Guardian lash out against the dozen or more Islamic countries where homosexuality is not only illegal, but a capital offense (including Iran)? Will it support Iranian women who’ve been arrested and even killed for removing chadors in public?
After spending considerable time in Israel some time back, I can attest that Israeli women are as a free to leave home as American women. Their considerable advantage, being inside the hornet’s nest, is women’s compulsory service for ethnic Jews. This is a great thing for Israeli women. Met several in and recently out of service while I was there. Strength of character and love of country is evident in all. Wonderful people who could teach Americans a thing or two.
At one time, Amnesty International was reasonably impartial, and I waa a proud, dedicated member, in
fact, a case co-ordinator.
Im surprised the Fake News Guardian didn’t want to mention the Brave Female Fighter Pilots or Ranking Members of the Army and Air Force who never leave home without packing a piece, while leaving their Husbands at home to take care of the kids.
Israel females are mostly strong independent smart educated and down right beautiful and if you dont believe me look up female Israeli Military and see for yourself.
However Arabs ”females” are covered up in a black garbage bags so we will not get excited and rape them due to them causing such sexual tensions.
Ya dont wanna fight with an Israeli woman unless you are a Kick Boxing Champion…. And even then…