Hirsi Ali compared the Islamic face-veil, or burqa, to a swastika and a flag for the Islamic state in comments to Australian television.
Why does anti-Islam activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali claim that Brandeis ‘silenced’ her when it didn’t? And why defenders come from the American Jewish right?
Brandeis University rescinded the awarding of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a women’s rights activist and politician who has been publicly critical of Islam.
It’s interesting to see that my previous post on Ayaan Hirsi Ali and the thorny issue of condemning women’s oppression in cultures other than our own sparked an insightful response from Sisterhood contributor Elana Sztokman.
People are always trying to trip up feminists. Like the time I was helping set up a room at a conference, right after I gave a talk about gender in Orthodoxy, and needed help moving a conference table. I asked the nearest person, who happened to be a man who was in my talk. He smirked when I asked, and then said, “You see, you need a man after all.” No, what I needed was a second pair of hands.
Thinking back what I’ve written recently on my blog condemning the prohibition on women drivers in some parts of the Jewish and Muslim worlds, I realized that ever since, I’ve had a strangely guilty conscience for having voiced my opinions on this issue.