This article is the second in a two-part series examining the March on the DNC, a four-day, pro-Hamas protest that took place outside the Democratic National Convention. To read Part One, click here.

Please note: Contains brief description of terrorist atrocities.

Candidates’ stance on “women’s rights” will undoubtedly influence the November presidential election, but voters appear increasingly divided over what those rights should look like.

This divide was especially visible this week outside the Democratic National Convention (DNC), where Planned Parenthood offered women free abortions and self-proclaimed feminists defended Hamas.

Some women’s organizations, such as Code Pink, actually draw a connection between the two issues. They argue that supporting women’s rights also requires supporting access to abortion, and “the right of Palestinians to resist the violent Israeli occupation of Palestine.”

The Coalition to March at the DNC, which Hamas calls “the Palestinian resistance,” also supports access to abortion, which it calls a “reproductive right,” according to its list of demands:

Hamas, of course, doesn’t care about these issues. Yet Code Pink, Chicago for Abortion Access, the Palestinian Feminist Collective, and other women’s groups enthusiastically participated in the March on the DNC 2024, a four-day pro-Hamas protest event. Here are some highlights:

Beneath the protesters’ attempts to rebrand the war between Israel and Hamas as a “feminist issue” is an argument that goes something like this: Women in Gaza suffer under indiscriminate Israeli bombardment, and many do not have access to maternal health care. If you care about women’s rights, you should care about the women suffering in Gaza, which means you should support Hamas.

Women and children in Gaza are absolutely suffering and deserve our prayers, compassion, and help. But you don’t have to support a terrorist organization to care for their plight. This should be painfully obvious, but pro-Hamas feminists like those outside the DNC tend to omit context and expose Hamas as the real terrorists.

Israel is portrayed as the aggressor, but the war between Israel and Hamas began only after it had killed 1,200 Israeli civilians and kidnapped another 250 in a massive surprise attack. Despite multiple attempts at negotiation, 105 hostages remain in Hamas prisons — 15 women, two children under the age of five, and 33 dead who have not yet been returned to their families.

Israel is accused of bombing civilians, but Hamas hides behind civilian targets to maximize casualties. A 2019 NATO assessment of Hamas’ use of human shields said:

Hamas relies on the Israeli government’s goal of minimizing collateral damage and is also aware of the West’s sensitivity to civilian casualties. Hamas’ use of human shields is therefore likely aimed at minimizing its own vulnerabilities by restricting the Israeli Defense Forces’ (IDF) freedom of movement. It is also aimed at gaining diplomatic and public opinion-related influence by portraying Israel and the IDF as an aggressor that indiscriminately attacks civilians.

The report goes on to say that one of Hamas’s most common strategies is “firing rockets, artillery and mortars from or near densely populated civilian areas, often from or near facilities that should be protected under the Geneva Convention (such as) schools, hospitals or mosques.”

So Hamas started the war and sacrifices civilians to make Israel look brutal — why would feminists defend them? Would women be better off under Hamas control?

You only have to look at October 7 to see that this was not the case.

Hamas committed widespread sexual violence in its attacks on Israeli civilians, with Israeli authorities documenting and publishing evidence of gang rape, genital mutilation and necrophilia. First responders told the UN of murdered women found with bloody or missing clothing, crushed pelvises, gunshot wounds through their breasts and foreign objects in their genitals.

As if that weren’t enough, human rights organizations (even anti-Semitic ones) openly acknowledge the inequality of women under Hamas. Gazan women are often victims of honor killings, which Reuters defines as “the killing of a female relative under the presumption that she has brought shame or dishonor on her family, often through expressions of sexual autonomy.”

In its 2023 report, Amnesty International found that 59% of married women and girls in Gaza experience domestic violence — a number expected to rise during the war between Israel and Hamas. Fewer than 2% of abused women ever report it to the police. In one harrowing case, Hamas arrested two women trying to escape their father’s abuse and returned them to his home.

In short, Hamas—not Israel—oppresses women. Stirring up the so-called “resistance” only strengthens a terrorist group that sees women as expendable.

While this information is freely and widely available, I doubt many pro-Hamas feminists will change their minds. Code Pink and the Palestinian Feminist Collective are deeply confused if they think that supporting Hamas will make life better for women in Gaza — and that level of mental gymnastics is hard to undo. Instead, let this be a lesson to conscientious citizens: the term “women’s rights” gets thrown around like a football, but it doesn’t always mean what you think it does.

If you’re not thinking clearly, someone might convince you to support a sexually violent terrorist group in the name of feminism.

Related Articles and Resources

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Double Standard? Calls for Israeli Ceasefire May Mask Anti-Semitism

Antisemitism – What It Is and Its Connection to the Israel-Hamas War

Israel is under attack – here’s why Christians must support its defense

Women’s rights group silent on Hamas sexual violence, analysis finds

More Antisemitism — Legacy Media Suggests Israeli Rescue Mission Is War Crime

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