Israel launches airstrikes as rocket fire from Gaza Strip persists
JERUSALEM – Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip and three people were reported killed there, while Palestinian militants fired scores of rockets into Israel in a fierce burst of violence overnight and into Thursday morning.
The flare-up comes as Egypt is trying to broker a long-term cease-fire between the two sides. At least three Palestinians died – a pregnant woman, her 1-year-old daughter and a Hamas militant, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The controversial “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, last year brought together a cadre of white nationalists and neo-Nazis. But the women of the far right were noticeably underrepresented.
The lack of female supporters at the August 2017 event, which ended in the death of one counterprotester and dozens of injuries, is linked to a variety of reasons, including how the leadership of far-right groups has portrayed women in the media and a culture of excluding women from certain groups and in certain instances advocating for violence against women.
Alt-right activist Richard Spencer, who spoke at the Charlottesville protest, has said he is not sure women should have the right to vote. Andrew Anglin, founder of the far-right website The Daily Stormer, who helped publicize last year’s rally, has a long history of posting sexist comments online – many of them unsuitable to repeat here.
So, why are women more involved this year for the second Unite the Right rally Sunday in Washington, D.C.?
For Avialae Horton, one of the event’s lead organizers, this year’s rally is a way to change the “rhetoric” of the far-right. “We’ve wanted everything to be different in terms of our tactics and our approach,” Horton said.
Horton and “three or four” female friends made up most of the women present at last year’s rally, where Heather Heyer, 32, was killed when a car crashed into a crowd. Horton said she wants to make Sunday safer.
“No violence should ever be necessary at any of these events, regardless of your political affiliation,” she said.
Multiple women have been instrumental in planning this year’s rally, Horton said. The 21-year-old said the 12-person team is almost evenly split between men and women.
Jason Kessler, who obtained the permit for both years’ rallies, said having women on the “front lines” of the movement is “invaluable.”
“I’m happy to include exceptional women in volunteer and leadership positions,” Kessler said.
But women getting involved in the leadership of far-right movements like Unite the Right is still rare, even if they agree with the movement’s beliefs, said Heidi Beirich, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“In some parts of the movement right now, in the alt-right, the misogyny is so rampant that it’s even worse than just thinking that women should stay at home and raise a family,” Beirich said. “There’s talk of things like legitimate rape and really egregious misogynistic comments about women.”
Beirich said women might be getting involved in the rally because many of the groups that participated last year aren’t returning this year.
This year’s rally will focus on “white civil rights,” according to Kessler’s permit.
Horton, who identifies as a conservative and a nationalist, said she is willing to work with extreme groups, even though some have sexist or misogynistic views, because they can all be united behind causes like freedom of speech.
“It isn’t necessary for us to agree on every single thing because we have this moderate understanding that we’re able to have a civil conversation and work together and cooperate without having to agree on all of these ideological differences,” Horton said.
Horton said the new rules organizers instituted this year also will help tone down the event. Attendees are not allowed to bring any weapons this year, and they can carry only American and Confederate flags.
But Beirich called the shift merely a “less obnoxious rebranding” and a tactic to engage more protesters this year.