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Although her resume identifies her as a “Lecturer in Occupational Therapy at the University of Haifa,” Professor Dalia Sachs identifies herself as an “activist feminist,” one who uses the university atmosphere as a meeting ground to ply her opinions about women in Israel.

Unfortunately, like many radical leftist academics in Israel, this woman, whose expertise is in a form of therapy in which patients are encouraged to engage in vocational tasks or expressive activities, such as art or dance, usually in a social setting, fancies herself a research sociologist on the state of women in Israel and somehow ties it all in with the Security Fence and support for the goals of Israel’s enemies.

At the heart of her efforts as a “feminist” is a research report she co-authored about the state of affairs for Israeli women for Isha L’Isha and the Haifa Feminist Center that was presented to a receptive audience of feminists in New York. Dalia Sachs feels we all need to understand that the women of Israel are abused, abused in particular by men in Israel (who else?), but most importantly, this abuse is the result of the “occupation” and even because of the security fence. The report, that reads like something seen in a junior high school social studies class, makes revelations with statements such as “Analyses of differences between women and various degrees of proximity to violence showed that women who were victims or close to victims of either the political situation or violence generally against women were more depressed than women who were not.”

Well, duh!

Out of a sampling of just over 500 women (in a country with 7 million people) Ms. Sachs and colleagues studied a series of answers to multiple choice questions (that were not included in the report), as well as individual comments by women in Israel.

Ms. Sachs, who does not distinguish between Jewish Israeli women and what she terms “Israeli-Palestinians,” (she doesn’t call them Israeli Arabs), does not distinguish stark cultural differences between the two cultural groups (i.e. the plethora of “honor killings” by Arab Israelis, the concept of shehada and raising children with such ideas as support for suicide bombings, even not noting clothing restrictions for Arab women that lend themselves to a misogynist culture). We don’t know how many of the just over 500 anointed ones for her study were in fact Arab Israelis, just the fact that their mistreatment somehow ties in with the dominant male culture in Israel and “the occupation.” Even the Security Fence gets a mention as part of women’s problems in Israeli society. Why? Well, some woman said so on her questionnaire. Dalia Sachs conveniently ignores that terrorism that the Security Fence is designed to stop has killed many Israeli WOMEN, both Jew and Arab, not just men; She, as a feminist, is supposed to LIKE all women, even if they are only oppressive Zionist Israeli Jewesses. Most of the victims of missiles murdered in Sderot have been women, but where are Sachs’s protestations to the Palestinians for such atrocities or at least admonishments for causing stress and oppression among all Israeli women? And Sachs is indifferent to the fate of the women expelled by the Sharon-Olmert clique from Gush Katif, many of whom are still living in refugee status. What about their stress levels? Dalia Sachs is very selective about which women she feels compassion for.

Amazingly, the report smacks of reverse sexual chauvinism. At one point, it states, “Men are problem focused whereas women are emotion focused.” Ergo, women suffer more in Israeli society because they are emotionally involved in the lives of their family members who are victims of the ongoing problems with the Palestinian Authority next door. Tell that to the next Golda Meir who has to face Israel’s problems.

Such a passage as above reminded me of my last visit to Tel Aviv. I entered a mall where the guard at the main entrance was a little wisp of a girl, barely five feet tall, wanded me, then checked my ID and admitted me. I asked a burly Israeli security guard at my next stop what he thought of such a tiny waif being responsible for guarding a large shopping mall. It seemed to me a suicide bomber or terrorist would find her easy pickings to make his way inside. To my surprise the guard replied, “The women here in Israel go through the Army. When they come out, they are not what you are used to in America. They are a lot tougher than they seem and quite capable.” And you know what?

He was right.

The women in Israel do more than serve in the IDF; they are active in the Knesset and have successful careers. Two women’s names are on Israel’s Declaration of Independence that guarantees by law equality for the sexes. The Knesset has a Committee on the Status of Women that works to combat discrimination and violence against women and that promotes equality in all aspects of Israeli life.

It’s a peculiar trait of radical leftists like Dahlia Sachs that they believe they are the only arbiters of who is oppressed in this world, and that they are the champions at fighting oppression. Dalia Sachs, in particular, would have us believe she is concerned about oppressed women in Israel as a result of the conflict with the Palestinian Authority, meanwhile she signed a petition expressing “Solidarity with the People of Lebanon and Palestine” that was put out during the summer’s war with Hizballah, as missiles were launched to kill Israeli women as well as men in 2006. She also is active with every crackpot phony “peace group” that lends aid to the enemy out there, crazies like Women in Black ( probably because their title says “Women,” eh?). In fact, given her signing a petition “in solidarity” with Arab entities that cheer on Israel’s destruction, one seriously has to wonder if Dalia Sachs had to choose between Golda Meir, Hasan Nasrallah and Ahmadinejhad just who she should support. Would she prefer the misogynist Muslim leaders over the oppressive Israeli leader who was a true feminist.

Dalia Sachs, the self-appointed champion of the abused Israeli woman by a male dominated, “militaristic” Israeli society that oppresses the poor, poor Palestinians also has no concern for the mothers and wives of IDF soldiers like Gilad Shalit, Elded Regev, or Ehud Goldwasser whom the Hizballah and Hamas refuse to let the Red Cross see or even to show signs of life. Let me stress that Dalia Sachs shows her “solidarity” with the people of “Palestine” in the wording of the petition she signed. To the radical leftists and the Arabs, “Palestine” is all of Israel, not just Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Of course, as a radical leftist feminist, a member of the Coalition of Women for Peace (which should be renamed the Coalition for Israel’s surrender), Dalia Sachs also blames the Arab-Israeli conflict on the misperception by Jewish Israelis that a threat exists from the Palestinian Arabs at all (tell that to the Israeli woman murdered on Jaffa Street last week by an Arab dope addict and felon who decided to make his way to heaven through suicide by killing a Jewess and screaming Allahu Akhbar!, a sure-fire way for a Muslim to get his 72 virgins. Dalia Sachs blames the problems with the Arabs on Israeli militarism, you see. If Israel just laid down its arms and let the Arabs have what they want, there would be peace and women would not be so stressed and abused by men.

In fact, Dalia Sachs and her feminist ilk actually support the goals of the misogynists that make up Israel’s hostile enemies from the Arab world. Her support for misogynistic “Palestine” and the equally misogynistic Hizballah “civilians” fighting IDF soldiers was proven by her signing that petition. The Arabs mean all of Israel when they say Palestine and Arab treatment of women as chattel is well documented worldwide, but we of the Israeli public are to believe that Israel, by defending against the Palestinian Muslim pan-Arab movement against the Jews and democracy, are responsible for the depression, abuse and mistreatment of women in Israeli society. Dalia Sachs also opposed getting rid of Saddam Hussein by the United States, despite Hussein’s regime being one of the most oppressive of women in the world.

Without Israeli taxpayer support to at least keep her employed at the University of Haifa showing people how to make macramé or dance to express their oppression, Dalia Sachs might not have the time and wherewithal to tell the women in Israel from a secure feminist conclave in New York how abused they are by a male dominated Israeli society that refuses to surrender to the Arabs. Let’s face it: women in every Arab country are really abused and oppressed, and while the dictators who run these countries would have their own people believe it’s all Israel’s fault, it is not so.

One thing Dalia Sachs’s report failed to take into consideration besides the anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder felt by Israeli women is that it isn’t because of Israeli men or because Israel fights to protect her people from the Arabs that PTSD exists in Israel. It is because people like Dalia Sachs give support and hope inside Israel’s universities at gatherings where such drivel is the norm and encourages Israel’s enemies to keep up the pressure and real abuse on all Israelis, both male and female.

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Op-Ed articles appearing on IsraCampus.org are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinion of IsraCampus.org