Has Linda Sarsour Protested This Oppression of Women?

Linda Sarsour was interviewed in The Nation.

I'll be concise (as many are commenting) and to the point about her moral failure and political duplicity when it comes to Israel and Zionism.  And her hypocrisy.

Four excerpts of her in italics and my comments:

1.

When you talk about feminism you’re talking about the rights of all women and their families to live in dignity, peace, and security. It’s about giving women access to health care and other basic rights. And Israel is a country that continues to occupy territories in Palestine, has people under siege at checkpoints—we have women who have babies on checkpoints because they’re not able to get to hospitals [in time]. 

Checkpoints exist because Arab terrorism exists.  Remove the latter and no former.  Ghandi led a non-violent protest movement but ever since 1920, at least, the organized anti-Zionist Arab movement has been only violent and primarily directed to kill Jews and prevent any form of Jewish national identity.

No system is 100% successful - both in preventing suicide-intent female bombers who seek to kill and maim innocent children, women and men in their terror attacks and in assuring that innocent Arabs are not caught up in unfortunate situations that are not intended.

2.

[women in Palestine] are oppressed in many ways, including lack of access to health care and poverty. These are women who have to figure out ways to feed their children. They have limits on their travel. These are all things that women around the world want and many of us have the privilege of having access to in the United States. Women in Palestine are women that require other women around the rest of the world to stand with them. There are some [Palestinian] women who are denied access to scholarships. There have been Fulbright scholars banned from leaving the country to pursue higher education. There are just so many levels of oppression that all Palestinian people experience, but in particular, women.

And she ignores the internal societal problems women face that has no connection to the "occupation" as reported here in 2013:

Twenty-seven women are thought to have been killed last year in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by family members claiming reasons of  “honor” — more than double the 13 cases documented in 2012. The age-old rationale can serve as a cover for domestic abuse, inheritance disputes, rape, incest or the desire to punish female independence

and in their recent report, even Amnesty made a 

"brief comment on “violence against women... particularly within Palestinian communities in Israel.”

and this month we read the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) documentation that:

On the Palestinian internal level, women's suffering continues due to the ongoing state of gender-based discrimination and increased as well due to the poverty high rates and domestic violence. PCHR documented the killing of 6 women in security chaos incidents; two of whom were killed on grounds of the so-called “family honor”.

The situation of oppression is worse, however:

Palestinian women's rights groups are demanding the revocation of an article of Palestinian Authority law that they say allows criminals to get away with murder. According to Article 99 of Penal Law No. 16 of 1960, the family of a murder victim is permitted to "waive its personal right" to justice and forgive the crime. In such cases, the length and severity of punishment is significantly reduced.
 However, given that the vast majority of violence against Palestinian women is domestic, the family of the murder victim is often the family of the murderer as well. Thus, the Palestinian Director of the Women's Courts Project in the TAM organization Victoria Shukri explained, "In 95% of the murders of women in Palestine, the [victim's] personal right is waived."

and

Palestinian Media Watch reported on upsurges in Palestinian "honor killings" in 2012 and 2014. According to the official PA daily, 53% of Palestinian women have suffered from violence. In 45.9% of the cases, the violence was perpetrated by the victim's father, while in 25.5% of the cases it was perpetrated by her brother.  [Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 28, 2014]. 

3.

You’ve probably seen that any visible Palestinian-American woman who is at the forefront of any social-justice movement is an immediate target of the right wing and right-wing Zionists. They will go to any extreme to criminalize us and to engage in alternative facts, to sew together a narrative that does not exist. 

Well, criminals should be treated as criminals.  But here's a response from someone who makes a good point:

You yourself said in your now famous Women’s March speech, “When we fight for justice, we fight for it for all people”. Apparently, you meant for all people except for Jews who believe that they also deserve a state that protects them. Your statement that a woman cannot truly be a feminist if she is a Zionist excludes people and makes them feel unwelcome and unwanted in your version of feminism. It also shows your true colors and your true hate, your true discrimination and your true exclusiveness. I hope the world opens up their eyes and sees this and stops shining its spotlight on you as a feminist to follow and to emulate.

4.

You can’t be a feminist in the United States and stand up for the rights of the American woman and then say that you don’t want to stand up for the rights of Palestinian women in Palestine. It’s all connected. 

Yes, it is all connected but isn't it amazing how many feminists, okay, let's be clear, Jewish American feminists support Arab women in Israel and in the territories?  Doesn't that tell you something about the value and quality of Jewish/Zionist feminism?

I blogged previously about your effort to raise funds for a desecrated Jewish cemetery in St. Louis. Excellent.  I thank you even from Shiloh.  But what about the Jewish cemetery in Jerusalem, ,more than 2500 years old, desecrated and vandalized by Arabs?  It started during the 19 years Jews were banned from Jerusalem under the Jordanian illegal occupation and continues.

Where was/is your voice on that?

Does your feminism sensitivity for injustice stop at that because you are Palestinian?

Are you hypocritical?

Can I discount your feminist credentials because all you are doing is manipulating and exploiting feminism to deny Zionism?

_______

More 'good' stuff.


And here's Mayim Bialik. 

And will Sarsour answer these questions:

where those feminists and John Kerry were when millions of Egyptian women needed their support when they marched against the Muslim Brotherhood, asking for America's help. Where were they when thousands of Syrian and Iraqi women were enslaved and raped by radical ISIS militants?

UPDATE

Sarsour responds to a FB comment by Sarah Tuttle-Singer and I picked out some of the conversation:

Avi Eisenman I'd be interested to hear Linda Sarsour directly respond to Sarah's question about condemning "violence and acts of terror that slay mothers inside their homes and little girls in their bedrooms "

Iris Richman Chiming in here, Linda Sarsour and I had a bit of a twitter discussion a couple of days ago. As a person who really wants us to be able to work together- and as a rabbi - I'd be happy to convene a meeting in NYC. The meeting is for those who want to work together and not for anyone who has prejudged. Linda, would you come?

Tiffany Loria My question as she affirms that you "...cannot be a supporter of Israel and not criticize and call for an end to the occupation...." ...so my question then Linda Sarsour....do you do the same and criticize the horrors that Hamas and the PA inflict

Noam Besdin Linda, on the off chance the trolls here haven't chased you away: I understand that you are particularly sensitive to Palestinian suffering, but do you see that when you say you are fighting for womens' rights all over the world (and more power to you ...

Linda Sarsour It's simple. It's because Israel receives the LARGEST US military aid package by far so our tax payer dollars pay for the oppression of Palestinians including Palestinian women. We help fund the occupation. It is our responsibility as Americans to demand that our government not aid the oppression of any groups. We do not fund Boko Haram who are a horrific group of people terrorizing women and communities, we do not fund Hamas, or Al Qaeda, etc.

Noah Ben Yes, please ignore the trolls. They're deplorable. Could you please just answer my very basic question however. There's a closed group of over 1500 people watching / waiting for a response.

David Seidenberg The truth about Linda Sarsour's interview in The Nation is that the Nation distorted her position to get more clicks. Here's what I wrote about it, before I saw Sarsour's confirming letter to Sarah Tuttle-Singer: "Sarsour and the left-right conspiracy: Did The Nation lie?"

"The actual question Sarsour asks, and answers in the negative, is this one: “Is there room in the movement for people who support the state of Israel and do not criticize it?” That’s a pretty important question....

"We are getting sucked into a trap. The funny thing is that the trap is not being laid by the right-wing but by people on the left...

"Here’s a final question to challenge anyone else who may think you can’t be a Zionist and a feminist. Do you think you can be an observant Muslim and a feminist? If radical leftists want to measure Islam in the same way that they measure Zionism, the answer has to be no. But if you recognize that what it means to be a real change agent for others is to also be a change agent for one’s own community and culture, then you will know that the answer has to be yes."

And I added this:

Sarah Tuttle-Singer Is this Linda Sarsour's comment? "...It's because Israel receives the LARGEST US military aid package by far so our tax payer dollars pay for the oppression of Palestinians including Palestinian women. We help fund the occupation. It is our responsibility as Americans to demand that our government not aid the oppression of any groups. We do not fund Boko Haram who are a horrific group of people terrorizing women and communities, we do not fund Hamas, or Al Qaeda, etc." Well, she's lying. (See here) and actually they were funding Hamas through tax-exempt societies and more (See) (and also)

All Sarsour knows is anti-Zionist lies and calumnies and she covers for terror groups. 

_________

And Annika Hernroth-Rothstein

^

Feminism Gone Wild or Nosey N?

Haaretz pumped up a first-page story of wild sex on the beach and that it was rape.

...A government worker who says she witnessed the gang rape of a mentally ill young woman on a Tel Aviv beach in broad daylight insists that police never responded to her report of the incident, while police say they responded and saw nothing. The ongoing sexual activity on Bograshov Beach that N. described to Haaretz was similarly described by employees of a nearby restaurant, though none of the employees thought to call police, as N. did.

The incident occurred two weeks ago, when N., a Jerusalem resident who works in the State Prosecutor's Office, took a day off and went with a friend to Tel Aviv...At some point, N. and her friend noticed a circle of people who had gathered not far from them. They were mostly men and a few young women, who seemed to be applauding and cheering something going on inside the circle.

After a few minutes, a young woman and one of the men came out of the circle and walked toward the water. As they got a bit closer, N. noticed that the woman was wearing a blouse and a jacket, but was naked from the waist down. Within seconds, N. saw the two have intercourse right on the shore, with everyone in the vicinity looking on. They then got up and went back to the circle.

N. decided to find out what was going on and she and her friend moved their towels closer to the circle..."After those two came back to the circle, other men started stroking the girl and convinced her to remain. Each one, after speaking to her for a couple of minutes, proceeded to have sex with her within the circle."  At a later stage, she said, some of the men started shouting, "Anyone who wants oral sex can pay a shekel and get in line."...apparently because it looked like the girl was agreeing to it," N. said. "At no point did she scream; she was actually laughing the whole time. But I wanted to put a stop to it." She approached the men in the circle and started to tell them off.  "I tried to talk the girl into leaving, but she started screaming at me, and said 'I'm a free woman, I'll do what I want with my body.'...But from the short conversation N. had with her, it was clear that the woman was mentally disturbed. Being familiar with the law, N. knew that this could turn what on the surface seemed like consensual sex into the gang rape of a helpless person...Shortly after 3 P.M., N. called 100 to report the incident. "I didn't tell the operator that it was rape, because it still wasn't clear what was going on, but I told her that there's a woman on Bograshov Beach having sex with a lot of men on the beach. I figured she'd understand it was rape from the way I described it."

Well, the extreme Left here had taken this on and at this Facebook page, you can see (in Hebrew) a call for action.

Between 1:30-4 there'll be a gathering of "Prayer and "Protest at the Loss of Human Dignity" at Bograshov Beach, Tel Aviv.  And so far, 151 people will be attending it seems.
However, it turns out the lady was a hooker on a day off (so far, Hebrew source) and was offering, of her own free will, freebies.

If I am not mistaken, women's liberation does provide for a woman to control her own boby, including granting sexual favors.

Nows, I am not implying that N. was a nutty prude.  But, coming from the State Prosecutor's Office I think it might have been that she felt she could throw her legal weight around and interfere.  Or, she just did not know what was going on.

In any case, the police are now dealing with the issue after Haaretz put it up as front page news.

^

Could Those Be Jerusalem Hareidim in Berlin?

Are there Hareidim in Berlin?



Reference point.

And counterpoint.


^

The Tahrir Square Rape

Yes, rape, not demonstration nor rally.

Kippah tip (k/t) to Challah.

Snap shots from the video:

Blondes do not have more fun, at least among some Egyptian men.

P.S.  Don't forget, though, virginity tests by police supposedly have been halted.  And for those who seem to feel I was being flippant about a serious matter, let's just say I am amazed that women are surprised by such attacks (there were three others that same evening as above and a well-publicized one on Mona Elthaway.


^

And Then There Are Other Women...

Like her



(k/t=IMRA)

^

Hillary Heaps On Israel

From Steve Plaut:-

...Hillary Clinton recently decided to speak out against the mistreatment of Middle Eastern women, she singled out Israel for condemnation, and then turned around to welcome a delegation of Saudi
feudalists with cordiality. If Hillary considers Israel a force of anti-feminine darkness and repression, just imagine how awful she must regard Scandinavia...

...The treatment of women in Arab and Moslem countries is so atrocious that space here would not allow for even a superficial survey. In the very same week that Iran announced that a woman convicted of adultery would be mercifully hanged to death instead of stoned to death, the Obama team could find nothing more deserving of condemnation than the treatment of women in the only country in the Middle East in which women are treated as humans deserving of equal rights.

^

Finally, Good News For Women in the Middle East

Egypt court ends virginity tests on female detainees

An Egyptian court ordered on Tuesday that forced virginity tests be stopped on female detainees in military prisons.

The case was filed by Samira Ibrahim, a woman who said the army forced her to undergo a virginity test in March after she was arrested during a protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

..."The court orders that the execution of the procedure of virginity tests on girls inside military prisons be stopped," said judge Aly Fekry, head of Cairo Administrative court. Hundreds of activists inside the courtroom cheered after the ruling was read out.

(k/t=IMRA)

^

Saudi Arabia Eyes

There's I Only Have Eyes for You, and Bette David Eyes, and New York Eyes and there's When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Now, there's

Saudi Women with Sexy Eyes May Be Forced to Cover Them Up

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover them up, the news website Bikya Masr reported, in a move that could mark the latest repressive measure taken against women by the Islamic state.

A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, said the committee had the right to stop women revealing "tempting" eyes in public.

Women in Saudi Arabia already have to cover their hair, and, in some regions, their faces while in public. If they do not, they face punishments including fines and public floggings.

Anyone for lyrics?

^

Is This An Islamic Joke?

How many female Saudi Arabians can fit behind the steering wheel of a car?

None, but 5 arrested for trying.

^

Will Obama Be Involved In The Next Political Sex Scandal?

Check this:

...Obama recognized [Rep. Debbie] Wasserman Schultz [(D-Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee] while speaking Monday at a Democratic National Committee fundraising event held in a private home in Miami, part of the chairwoman’s congressional district.


“To Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thank you for letting me in your district,” the president said. “If you're in the foxhole, you want Debbie alongside you, because not only is she charming and has that dazzling smile, but she's tough as nails. And that’s what’s needed during challenging times.”

At another fundraiser that day at the Adrienne Arsht Center, Obama drew attention to what he called Wasserman Schultz's “cute smile.”

“What do you guys think of our new DNC chair, Debbie Wasserman Schultz?” the president asked the audience. “We are so thrilled to have her. You want Debbie on your side. She’s a mom, she’s got that cute smile and all that, but she is tough. Don’t mess with Debbie. We are so glad of her leadership.”

Though Obama's remarks were meant to be complimentary, feminists, the media and Democrats would have reacted differently if a conservative politician had said this, said Charlotte Hayes, a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum.

Aw, come on.  There was nothing bulging there, was there?


Was there?

^

Calling Someone "Jewish" Turns A Mob Murderous

Here's the follow-up to my earlier mention of the Logan rape interview:

She said that two to three hundred pairs of hands, one after the other, grabbed at her breasts, crotch and behind, and kept raping her non-stop from the back and the front. The mob had torn off all her clothing and the more she screamed the more excited they became. When someone yelled that she was an “Israeli, a Jew,” the frenzied mob turned murderous. They continued to beat her with flagpoles and sticks. They tried to tear her apart, limb from limb. They were tearing her muscles in every direction. They tried to tear her scalp off her skull. They were inside her everywhere. She believed that not only was she going to die but that she would die a long, slow, torturous death.  This went on for 25 minutes.

Think about that.

(k/t = Phylis Chesler)


UPDATE  I

Saw the interview (here) and at 4:10, the interviewer does mention that the crowd called out she was Israeli, a Jew and that was like a match to gasoline.

But Lara doesn't say that on camera in her words.  Why?

Why did they edit that out?


UPDATE II

She also caught it.
^

Islamic Logic

Via MEMRI:

Yousuf Al-Badri: "In Islam, the marriage contract is a contract of pleasure, which allows both husband and wife to derive pleasure from one another. So if deriving pleasure lies at the core of the contract, how can we possibly call it rape when a husband derives pleasure from his wife?!"

To read in full, visit here.

^

Hezbollah and The Female

Caught this on the relationship of Hezbollah to women:-

But now, suddenly, the organization is again behaving in a way that evinces deep insecurity about the decorum of Shiite women.

Here's one example. Two months after Israel interdicted the Mavi Marmara, another aid flotilla is preparing to set sail toward the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory of Gaza. This Lebanese fleet, slated to depart in the coming weeks, is led by the Miriam, a vessel manned solely by females...Yet it turns out that not all Lebanese women are welcome on the cruise. In June, the Kuwaiti daily As Siyassa reported that the curvaceous Lebanese diva Haifa Wehbe—perhaps the most famous woman in all of Lebanon—tried to sign on, but was rebuffed by Hezbollah. Why? Apparently Hezbollah was concerned that Wehbe’s “immodest” attire would “harm the reputation of all the women participating in the trip.”

The militia's rejection of Wehbe was remarkable. Not only would her presence have raised the profile of the voyage, it would have dramatically increased the public relations cost to Israel if it again mishandled the boarding. Moreover, Wehbe—a Shiite Muslim from Hezbollah’s home turf in south Lebanon—is a strong supporter of the “resistance.” In 2006, she praised the militia for defending Lebanon from Israel; in 2008 she declared that she was “under the command” of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Funny, I foresaw this clash between Haifa and Hezbollah last November (almost NSFW pics).

But it gets really serious here:-

Even more distinctive is the recent campaign that the militia has launched to convince women to don the veil. Females in Dahiya, a Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut, haven’t been covering up in sufficient numbers for the resistance, so Hezbollah, via its youth advertising affiliate, the Islamic Cultural Knowledge Association, has launched a massive poster campaign targeting those who have yet to adopt the hijab. The ubiquitous bright orange posters—on overpasses and roadside billboards—all depict a faceless woman wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf, and a series of slogans urging the attire. One of the more popular placards reads, “Your Hijab my sister is more precious than my blood.” Yet another notes that the veil “[p]rotects the position of women.” Still a third describes hijab as the “[f]ortress of chastity,” an adage the sign attributes to the late Iranian theocrat Ayatollah Khomeini.

They just can't stop oppressing, can they?


UPDATE


They're paying beauties to stand in at their rallies!

So, NOW, We're Misinformed?

If you will recall, I noticed that the head of NOW, America's largest feminist organization (I think), was awarded an all-expenses paid junket to visit our little acre here. The US Consulate had her visit with Arab women's groups in the territories aka Judea and Samaria. Jewish females were excluded.

Now, in America, I think that would be termed "discrimination" or "marginalization". I can imagine her asking her hosts: "do I get to see what Jewish women are doing in their communities and how they are coping with Arab terror? can I visit their special programs and observe their own self-empowerment efforts?". You know, things like that.

Well, Ms. O'Neill's response to inquiries on the subject went like this:

Hello Yisrael Medad,

In fact, I did meet with numerous Israeli women's organizations during my
visit to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. You were misinformed on that issue, as
well as on my name.

With best wishes,
Terry O'Neill

Terry O'Neill, President
National Organization for Women
1100 H Street NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005
Office: 202-628-8669, xt 120
Cell: 301-233-8582
president@now.org

Misinformed?

As one of my friends presumed, it is quite doubtful that the NOW President met with women living in the Jewish communities in Judea or Samaria. I haven't heard of it and I am pretty sure I would have been in the know (not NOW).

Not only that, I am going to make an educated guess that the women she did meet with in Israel held to a very identified political - not feminist - agenda. One that is left, progressive, radical and one that ignores the severe problems Muslim women suffer because of their own society and culture. One that foremost blames all the problems of women on Israel and its "occupation".

Oh, where are the real liberals, those open-minded rationalists?


Did she at least meet with Tali Fahima, last seen in a kaffiyeh demonstrating on behalf of Sheikh Rayad Salah?



- - -

Look Who Is Skirting the Issue

She's skirting the issue of peace, that is.

Has she met the females of Yesha?

President of Leading U.S. Women's Rights Organization Meets Palestinian Leaders and Activists

Terry O'Neill, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW) participated in a series of discussions, workshops, and meetings with Palestinian activists and community leaders in Ramallah, East Jerusalem, and Nablus. The purpose of Ms. O’Neill’s three-day visit, sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, was to share her experience as a political organizer and activist for women’s rights and social justice. During her visit, Ms. O’Neill and Palestinian women leaders and activists engaged in lively discussions about the challenges facing Palestinian and American women in their respective societies, and how to sustain commitment to progress on these issues.

...NOW is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States, and is dedicated to bringing about equality for all women. As president of NOW, Ms. O'Neill advocates on a multitude of issues affecting women on national and global levels, including discrimination based on sex, race, and socio-economic background, women's health, combating domestic violence, economic empowerment, and constitutional equality. A former law professor, Ms. O'Neill taught at Tulane University and at the University of California at Davis, where her courses included feminist legal theory and international women's rights law, in addition to corporate law and legal ethics.

Ms. O’Neill’s visit is one of many programs sponsored by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem throughout the year to promote dialogue and mutual understanding between Americans and Palestinians in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

I am sure that the women of Yesha, that is the Jewish female residents of Judea and Samaria, could have learned something from Ms. O'Neill and for sure, she could have learned something from them.

But is the US interest in feminism, women's rights, etc. or in making sure discrimination between Jews and Arabs is institutionalized?

Is Hillary Clinton really so much against women?



- - -

A Hot Female In the Saudi Kingdom

1. That's Maureen Dowd of the New York Times, (the one with the shorter neck):



2. A fashion safety warning:



3. Instructions:






Sources:

1

2

3


- - -

How Else Would You Describe Her?

Ms. Ford, dressed in a powder blue J. Crew sweater, jeans and a mottled Nina Ricci scarf...“I am not an Upper East Side heiress,” she said emphatically.

Source

Feminism alive and well?

Not Quite Pal. Feminist Liberation

Flourishing Palestinian sex trade exposed in new report

Young Palestinian women are being forced to into prostitution in brothels, escort services, and private apartments in Ramallah and Jerusalem, including areas inhabited by Jews, according to a report released Wednesday. The Palestinian organization SAWA (All Women Together Today and Tomorrow)[don't mix that up with Poland]...urging Palestinian society to break its silence over its sex industry....The report, which is titled "Trafficking and Forced Prostitution of Palestinian Women and Girls: Forms of Modern Day Slavery," was released in conjunction with the ?Global 16-day Campaign to Combat Violence Against Women."

The report claims that women are trafficked from different areas of the West Bank, in particular urban areas, as well as from the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem. Women from Eastern Europe who are sold into the sex trade in Israel are also occasionally brought to the West Bank, where they work in designated apartments. There are a number of legally registered hotels and cleaning companies that offer "double services," which include sexual services for men.

...In a number of cases that came to the authors' attention via the press, fathers sold their daughters through "back door" marriages, in which an announcement of marriage is made without the involvement of a religious official. When one girl is seen to be married repeatedly in the same way, it is clear that it is a cover for sex trafficking.

...The report urges the Palestinian authorities and Palestinian society to acknowledge the existence of the problem. It calls on Palestinian non-governmental organizations to propose a bill that would treat prostitution as sexual violence and to work for the enactment of this law.

Sawa was founded in 1998, and provides services, including an emergency hotline for women and children. It provides teaching and training in schools and with the police on the issue of violence against women.

Well, the good news is that they don't seem to blame the "Jews".


(Kippah tip: FB)


=============

Arab Israeli Feminism:



Nadine Hamed of Nazareth, 1st female Israeli Arab sportscaster: Generalizations drive me mad

The New Marines

Does a lady wear an Afghan in Afghanistan?


(Credit: David Furst)

Source

Pro-Feminist But Not Quite Pro-Israel?

Sharon Bertsch McGrayne:



She may be pro-feminist, but is she not quite pro-Israel?

To the Editor:

Re “Three Americans Share Nobel for Work in Cell Biology” (news article, Oct. 6):

How wonderful that three Americans, including two immigrants, shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday. But even more exciting, this is the first time in the history of the Nobel Prizes that two women have shared a science award. And if we add Ada E. Yonath, who won a chemistry Nobel on Wednesday, to Elizabeth H. Blackburn and Carol W. Greider in medicine, three women won science Nobels this year.

Perhaps this is Nobel’s answer to Lawrence H. Summers’s question when he was president of Harvard: where are all the women scientists? In the case of these women, they were busy doing Nobel-level research.

Sharon Bertsch McGrayne
Seattle

Sharon, Ada E. Yonath is Israeli.

You noted Americans, why not Israeli???