'Israelis have been raping Palestinian women,' University of Illinois prof. claims

• Published date: 06 April 2024
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

The conference, titled "Palestine is a Queer Feminist Struggle Against Imperialism," took place at Rutgers University in New Jersey, and Professor Mikdashi was with Professor Nadin Naber, a professor of Gender and Women's Studies and Global Asian Studies at the University of Illinois, who delivered several controversial statements herself

"I have been in demonstrations where people told me, 'You do not know what Hamas would have done to you if you were in Palestine,'" Mikdashi recounted to students attending the conference, urging them to begin referring to this statement as "homophobic."

The topic of homophobia

"We need to start calling it homophobic. It is impossible to legitimize violence against queer people - it's an act of violence." Professor Naber backed her statements and accused Israel of "pinkwashing" and claimed that Israelis have been raping Palestinian women since the establishment of the Jewish state.

"We will need our organization to focus on queer and trans people not only because they are particularly vulnerable to colonial violence and racism, but because they embody a nuanced wisdom about Zionism as they live with all its complexities," Naber said, as can be heard in a video clip from the conference circulated on the social media platform X.

"Indeed, the methods of rape and sexual assault documented during the establishment of the State of Israel and continuing today are not exceptional in colonial violence," Naber continued. "They are part of the logic and practice of Israel's white colonial settlers who combine violence against women with the land and nature, assuming that to control the land, one must control the bodies of Palestinian women and their reproductive capacities, from 1948 until...