This study investigates the gendered dimensions of freedom of expression restrictions experienced by Palestinian citizens of Israel in the context of the ongoing War in Gaza, particularly since the escalation of violence on October 7, 2023. Amid increasing state severe constraints on speech, Palestinian women have disproportionately faced repressive measures, revealing a complex interplay between gender, nationality, and state control. The dismissal and brutal arrest of prominent female academics further underscore the heightened vulnerability of women within this oppressive environment. By synthesizing existing scholarship on state power, the socio-political status of Palestinian citizens, and feminist analyses of repression, along with data from human rights organizations, this study aims to explore how repression and conflict are deeply gendered phenomena. It examines the unique challenges faced by Palestinian women in their struggles for expression and the ways in which they are subjected to political violence by the state. Ultimately, this research contributes to an understanding of the systematic silencing of women during periods of conflict and highlights the mechanisms through which such repression is legitimized by the legal and political systems.
Rawia Aburabia is a senior lecturer at the School of Law at Sapir Academic College. Her research focuses on critical and feminist analyses of law, particularly at the intersections of family law, constitutional law, and human rights. She has published extensively in leading journals on family law issues concerning Muslim women in Israel. Her book, Within the Law, Outside of Justice: Polygamy, Gendered Citizenship, and Colonialism in Israeli Law, was published in Hebrew and shortlisted for the Bernstein Prize. Aburabia has received several prestigious scholarships, including the "Maof" scholarship for outstanding young Arab scientists from the Council for Higher Education (2020-2023). With extensive experience in human rights law, she previously worked at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, engaging in litigation before the Supreme Court and international forums.
Schirin Amir-Moazami works as a professor of Islam in Europe at the Institute of Islamic studies at Freie Universität Berlin. She studied Political Sciences and Sociology in Frankfurt/Main, Berlin, Aix-Marseille and Paris and holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence of the Department of Social and Political Sciences. Amir-Moazami’s research interests encompass critical secular studies, political theory, post- and decolonial studies and politics knowledge production. She has published widely on topics related to Muslims in Europe, especially in Germany and France with a focus on political secularism, body politics and governmentality. Her latest monograph Interrogating Muslims. The Liberal-Secular Matrix of Integration was published in 2022 with Bloomsbury Academic. In her current research she analyses the relationship between Staatsräson and the securitization of knowledge production in Germany.