Jewish and Muslim women unite to change Israel-Hamas war narrative

A new global grassroots movement known as The Collective is uniting Jewish and Muslim women’s rights activists in conversation about Israel and Gaza.

It all started on Oct. 7 when Hamas terrorists attacked Israeli civilians. According to Israel, Hamas killed over 1,200 people and abducted 240 hostages who were brought into the Gaza Strip.

“I was horrified what was taking place, especially violence against women, the brutality of the rape,” said Farhana Khorshed, a founding member of The Collective. “And I don’t hear anybody condemning Hamas as a terrorist group.”

Khorshed, who serves as the executive director of the New England Bangladeshi American Foundation and is also a board member of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC), took a trip to Israel with other Muslim women to show support.

With rockets flying overhead, she recalled, “I felt like I walked into a horror movie set.”

It’s on that trip that Khorshed met Paula Kweskin, a Jewish American documentary filmmaker and human rights attorney who lives in Israel.

“I really fell into a very dark place. How could something like this happen?” Kweskin said of the Hamas attack.

But what helped her through was dozens of women in her network --  many of them Muslim – reaching out to her in support. One friend suggested getting a group of women together to discuss the attack, they hopped on a Zoom call, and The Collective was born.

“We realized there’s something very powerful that can come out of these authentic conversations,” Kweskin said. “To say in one loud voice as women, we do not stand for this.”

The 49%

The Collective is a subset of “The 49%,” a women’s rights nonprofit founded and directed by Kweskin, aimed at telling women’s most urgent stories through film. Kweskin said the goal is to raise awareness of women’s and social issues to try to change people’s minds and laws.

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, the Palestinian enclave health ministry reported about 32,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Defense Force. Calls for a ceasefire are echoed around the world as the bombing continues and more than 100 hostages remain in captivity.

“We should include women in Gaza and women in Israel and what they’re going through. Maybe that would be a better message for people to comprehend that we are not biased. We are actually voicing out for all women,” Khorshed said.

The women in The Collective are from all different countries including Pakistan, Israel, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt and America.

They started meeting after Oct. 7 ever week and now meet every other week over Zoom. Conversations have shifted from support calls to figuring out real solutions, planning events, hosting interfaith iftars and writing op-eds about their perspectives.

Khorshed and other members of The Collective will be speaking at the Harvard Chabad on Monday to speak to students and Jewish community members about antisemitism and extremism.

“We need to look beyond our religious beliefs,” Khorshed said. “We are all Abrahamic roots. Our faith comes from the same origin. We are human first, so [Jewish women] are our sisters as well.”