“Militant Feminists” at the Rackman Center
Just when you thought the Rackman Center for the Advancement of Women’s Status at Bar-Ilan University wasn’t going to be attacked any more, the following from Arutz Sheva.
MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich (Kadima) has published letters she sent earlier this week to Welfare Minister Moshe Kachlon and Bar Ilan President Moshe Kaveh, asking them to rethink a conference that is to be held at the university on January 3.
The conference is hosted by the university’s Rackman Center, which is headed by militant feminist Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kadari. Another leading speaker will be Dr. Dafna Hacker of Tel Aviv University’s Gender Studies program, a militant feminist with strong ties to the New Israel Fund.
Whether the conference has a political agenda or not, I loved INN’s “militant feminist” designation. Previous discussions about Rackman Center related controversies can be found here and here.
December 22nd, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Gender departments are generally very politicized – generally from far left to looney left. I remember back when I was in a Master’s program looking at the Nashim issue on war. Quell surprise, it was overwhelmingly about how horrible the army is to women or about far left feminist “peace activists”.
There’s also usually very little deviation from a standard political line in the gender wars that often borders on or includes misandry. I remember commenting to a student in Bar-Ilan that gender studies seems like the Catholic Church – with dogmas, priestesses &c. She agreed, strangely enough.
December 23rd, 2011 at 5:50 am
MK Yulia Shamalov-Berkovich (Kadima) has published letters she sent earlier this week to Welfare Minister Moshe Kachlon and Bar Ilan President Moshe Kaveh, asking them to rethink a conference that is to be held at the university for January 3.
The conference is hosted by the university’s Rackman Center, which is headed by militant feminist Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kadari. Another leading speaker will be Dr. Dafna Hacker of Tel Aviv University’s Gender Studies program, a militant feminist with strong ties to the New Israel Fund.
The conference is timed to coincide with the release of the conclusions of a government committee that is expected to recommend canceling the Tender Years Clause that gives mothers automatic custody over young children in divorce. Israel is said to be the last country in the world where this clause is still in effect.
Shamalov-Berkovich notes that the first part of the conference is intended for social workers. In it, Hacker and former judge Saviona Rotlevi, both of whom oppose equality between divorced fathers and mothers in parenting arrangements, will speak to the social workers. In addition, an Australian researcher, Prof. Jennifer Mackintosh, will address the social workers and is also expected to speak against the idea of joint parental custody over children.
Shamalov-Berkovich notes that the conference is biased and that the social workers should also be exposed to the views of experts who support the cancellation of the Tender Years Clause.
In divorce cases that involve disagreement over parenting arrangements, social worker’s reports and recommendations are crucial to shaping the court’s decision.
Bar Ilan U’s militant feminist leadership suffered some setbacks in the past year, in the wake of growing criticism of its ultra-leftist leanings.
December 23rd, 2011 at 6:02 am
At said conference in Bar Ilan University, the highlight is a lecture by Chief Male Basher Jennifer McIntosh (tfooy!). McIntosh is the most reviled feminist in Australia responsible for the praise of parental alienation, and impoverishment of fathers.
Here’s the letter Jennifer McIntosh received:
You are kindly requested to decline participation in the Israeli Rackman
Center conference on January 3, 2012 by videoconference. The fathers’
rights organizations in Israel intend to protest both inside and outside
against your meddling with the internal affairs of Israel and the rights of
Israeli parents to a happy, peaceful, loving and caring relationship with
their children post-divorce on an equal basis. You may have no idea about
the ruthless oppression of men in Israeli Courts and by social workers,
police, psychiatrists and even the rabbinical courts. You have no idea how
prevalent the “contact centers” are in Israel. It is enough that a woman
creates a “lack of trust” situation for the SW and judges to send normative
men to contact centers. You have no idea how many men commit suicide here
because of the incitement of hatred by organizations such as the Rackman
Center. You also have no idea how hate mongering propaganda emanating
from the Rackman Center is being used to suppress the lives of men, and
you appear to willingly join the war against men in Israel.
We will the videotape or record the conference, and we will use it as
evidence in a litigation which is already filed in Texas based on Alien Tort
Claim Act (“ATCA”) on the allegation that that the you and the ferocious
feminist organizations incite hatred and perpetrate crimes against humanity
by separating men from their children.
The complaint may be amended to include you as a Defendant and La Trobe
University as well. ACTA does provide for extraterritorial jurisdiction in
the United States Courts, for violations of international human right
standards and norms, and American citizens in Israel have standing to sue
you, LaTrobe University and Rackman Center.
We advise you to get yourself familiarized with whatever material is
available in English about parental rights in Israel, and the butchery of
men in Israeli family courts, from a source which is not authored by ladies
with agenda. You may also want to get yourself familiarized with a recent
recommendation of the United Nations’ Committee of Economic Social and
Cultural Rights issued on December 2, 2011, which directed Israel to change
its policies and rescind the discriminatory tender years presumption, and
lower child support. See,
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=249068
We find that what you are about to speak of, at said conference, is nothing
but junk science, and a despicable one as well, dressed up as “academic
research”, when in fact, it is purely hate speech and incitement to commit
crimes against humanity, incitements to perpetuate conflicts between women
and men, incitement for woman to file false domestic violence complaints to
create “high conflict”, and the encouragement of parental alienation on a
grand scale.
You and your cohorts have already gave Australia a very bad name in the
international community, and especially here in Israel, since your garbage
ideas have no academic merit whatsoever. Let it be known by all men and
children in Israel that Australia is responsible for a generation of
fatherless children in Israel.
In conclusion, please govern yourself accordingly, and convey this message
to your sponsors at La Trobe University, that you and La Trobe may be
exposing yourself to litigation, that everything you say at said conference
will be preserved as evidence, and that your messages are certainly not
welcome in Israel. It is best that you limit your hate mongering speeches
for dissemination in Australia only. We feel sorry for every Australian kid
that is separated from his father because of you. We understand that you
have created much damage in Australia already. Let the damage stay in
Australia.
December 24th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
I haven’t read the links, but I think “Militant Feminist” is probably quite an accurate description – as anyone who has sat through a class with Rackman Head Ruth Halperin Kadari can testify. She even makes a point of only speaking Hebrew using only female conjugation – which makes it almost unbearable. Please note…I am not saying my views on Rackman’s aims..just stating that “Militant” is more than justified.
December 24th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
You will NEVER see views like this expressed in Gender Studies (this was written by a woman, BTW):
http://owningyourshit.blogspot.com/2011/07/patriarchy-shmatriarchy.html