Reimagining Feminism in a Time of Genocide Against Palestinians: Beyond Intersectionality

In the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, feminists have been explicitly singled out for censure by states, universities and individuals for our condemnation of the genocide. The targeting of feminist groups for censure and specifically for an alleged failure to care about Israeli women who may have been sexually violated, rests on several assumptions, chief among them the idea that the sexual violation of Israeli women counts more than any violence done to Palestinians. More concerning, the idea that Hamas committed mass rapes on October 7, a situation about which it is impossible to even ask questions without incurring censure, is meant to render the genocidal violence in Gaza legitimate and acceptable. An obvious racial distinction is in place in this political calculus: one group of women, Israelis (popularly understood as Jewish and white/European in contradistinction to Palestinian women who, in turn are always understood as non-white and Muslim) counts more than the other group of women. The broader analytical foundation that supports this racial hierarchy is the idea that feminists should care the most about sexual violence, leaving other forms of violence to others to think about. The exigences of the present moment demand that we examine how narratives of sexual violence are apprehended through race and what an alternative analytical framework about violence should be in this time of genocide. In effect, what does feminist solidarity look like in this time of genocide?