{"id":12914,"date":"2017-03-19T11:06:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T18:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uspcn.org\/?p=12914"},"modified":"2017-04-24T15:04:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T22:04:00","slug":"rasmea-defense-response-to-ny-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/2017\/03\/19\/rasmea-defense-response-to-ny-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasmea Defense Committee response to racist NY Post piece attacking #Justice4Rasmea"},"content":{"rendered":"

This response to a vicious opinion piece in the New York Post was submitted on February 28th, but unsurprisingly rejected by the Post. We publish it ourselves now.<\/em><\/p>\n

On Saturday, February 25th, the New York Post published an opinion piece by Kyle Smith that openly ridicules<\/a> the idea of women striking on International Working Women\u2019s Day, March 8th. Smith also attacks our own Rasmea Odeh, one of the women calling for the day of protest. As usual, The Post is in despicable company, as ultra-right-winger and white supremacist Milo Yiannopoulos has also attacked the protest and vilified Rasmea.<\/p>\n

Smith says that the only thing the authors of the call have is outrage. Given the month that we\u2019ve had since Trump\u2019s inauguration, yes, we are outraged. He and everyone else should be outraged, too.<\/p>\n

International Working Women\u2019s Day is recognized throughout the world. It\u2019s a day that celebrates the women who have struggled for equality and against oppression. It is appropriate to respond with strikes and marches to an election of an openly male chauvinist president, one who has been accused by numerous women of assault, and has publicly admitted to sexual assault; one who campaigned on a platform that included overturning the right of a woman to control her own body; and one who threatens the rights of LGBTQ folks, oppressed nationalities, and working class women.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has executive orders flying out of the White House at a dizzying speed. Why must there be a second women\u2019s march? It\u2019s because every single one of the executive orders that Trump has signed affects women. The #MuslimBan affects Muslim women. Closing borders to refugees from war-torn countries affects refugee women. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rounding up immigrants without due process affects immigrant women. Therefore, a protest on March 8th is not only warranted, but absolutely necessary.<\/p>\n

The sensationalist headline Smith uses to tear down Rasmea Odeh is shameful. He writes that Odeh was a \u201cconvicted terrorist,\u201d while failing to disclose that an Israeli military court (which, according to its own records, as reported<\/a> by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, \u201cconvicts\u201d 99.74% of Palestinians who come before it) found her \u201cguilty\u201d based on a forced confession illegally obtained through torture and sexual assault. Smith doesn\u2019t include that Odeh is a pioneer in the women\u2019s movement, as she spoke publicly\u2014at the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva in 1979\u2014about the sexual torture that she experienced and survived.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, since Odeh moved to the United States, she has been integral in helping Arab and Muslim women in her community of Greater Chicago. In 2013, she received the Outstanding Community Leader Award<\/a> from the Chicago Cultural Alliance. She has been a fighter and protector of women for over 50 years, and slandering her is the work of a completely anti-Palestinian and misogynistic bigot.<\/p>\n

We urge everyone to organize for March 8th; to support Rasmea in her struggle against repression, as we prepare for an [April 25th] hearing in Detroit on a defense motion to dismiss the government\u2019s new indictment against her; and to continue fighting for all the rights that Trump is trying to take away. Together we are strong, and our voices loud and clear. Join actions across the U.S. on International Working Women\u2019s Day, strike for justice, and demand #Justice4Rasmea!<\/p>\n

Michela Martinazzi, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, NY, and Suzanne Adely, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, NY–for the Rasmea Defense Committee<\/p>\n

February 28, 2017<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This response to a vicious opinion piece in the New York Post was submitted on February 28th, but unsurprisingly rejected by the Post. We publish it ourselves now. On Saturday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-statements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12915,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12914\/revisions\/12915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uspcn.org\/wp\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}