It's a huge understatement, but the Islamic world has a problem with the way women are treated within its society.
Spin it all you want, send me hate mail, but it's true.
A site that up till now I was unfamilier with, the NGO Monitor, has this Alan Dershowitz article posted. That article was originally published by Canada's National Post.
Hat tip (again) to Dr. Steven Plaut of Moonbat Central.
An excerpt:
The hard left's compulsive need to single out Israel for what is often undeserved condemnation is damaging the human rights movement, weakening the anti-war movement and wounding other progressive causes such as feminism. By heaping disproportionate blame for the evils of the world on the Jewish state, these anti-Israel zealots are not only ignoring the real problems faced by many, they are also providing excuses to the perpetrators of real evils.
Consider, for example, a recent report by Amnesty International ("AI") on violence perpetrated against Palestinian women by Palestinian men in the West Bank and Gaza. The report purported to be "part of the global AI campaign to stop violence against women." Such violence is a serious problem, especially in the Arab and Muslim world, because so few leaders within these groups are prepared to condemn it and so many even justify it as a necessary means of maintaining family honour and male dominance.
The AI report documents honour killings of women who had been raped. In one such case, a 17-year-old girl was murdered by her own mother after she was "repeatedly raped by two of her brothers." In another case, a 21-year-old "was forced to drink poison by her father" when she was found to be pregnant.
The AI report places substantial blame for these and other killings on -- you guessed it -- Israel! Here is AI's conclusion, listing the causes of the violence directed against Palestinian women, presumably in the order of their importance: "Palestinian women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are victims of multiple violations as a result of the escalation of the conflict, Israel's policies, and a system of norms, traditions and laws which treat women as unequal members of society."
Dershowitz goes on to explain that he asked for statistical back-up from Amnesty International that could verify their charges against the Israel. AI wouldn't give Dersh anything.
Not surprising.
As far as those hard-leftists who are demonizing Israel, and acccording to Dershowitz, actually weakening the overall struggle for human rights, Alan names some names. They included Cindy Sheehan, London Mayor Ken "The Red" Livingstone, and Alexander Cockburn of the Nation.
The final words go to Dershowitz:
These are but the tips of a very large and ugly iceberg of bigotry. International conferences on feminism, apartheid, slavery and environmentalism have been unable to agree on anything other than condemnation of Israel. If real peace is to be achieved -- and if human rights movements are to retain credibility -- this obsessive focus by the hard left on Israel must end. There is no indication that, even as the Jewish state takes painful steps toward peace, these unjustified attacks are diminishing.
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