Sky News host Sharri Markson has pointed to the “hypocrisy” of protesters advocating for a free Palestine remaining quiet on the Taliban’s latest pronouncement that women’s voices must not be heard in public.
A plethora of new vice and virtue laws introduced by the Taliban include forbidding women’s voices and faces to be seen or heard in all aspects of society in Afghanistan.
According to the Taliban’s recently published “Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice” law, women’s voices are considered “Awrah” (intimate parts).
The 35-article law requires women to cover their entire bodies – including their faces – in fabric that is not thin or tight and that unrelated men and women are forbidden from looking at one another, to prevent “vice” and avoid temptation.
“Whenever a grown woman leaves her house out of necessity, she is obliged to cover her voice, face, and body,” the law states.
“It is necessary to hide the face due to the fear of temptation.”
Women are not to be heard reading aloud or singing from inside their homes.
Men are banned from wearing neckties, which are seen as a symbol of the cross.
Markson questioned why those who had been steadfast in their public protests against Israel, and in support of the Palestinian people, were not piping up about the plight of Afghan women.
“What I want to know is where were the protests? Where were the marches on the streets of Sydney, London, New York? Where were the rallies at college campuses around the world?” the Sky News host questioned.
“This exposes it’s truly not the plight of Muslim women or children the left cares about.”
Sharri claimed the pro-Palestinian movement was truly an “anti-Israel” or anti-Jew movement.
“How else can you explain the stunning hypocrisy where not one person stood up to march for the women in Afghanistan?” she said.
The Sky News host also lambasted President Joe Biden for the controversial withdrawal of US troops from the Islamic nation.
“This is the Taliban regime Biden wrongly believed had miraculously transformed into a modern movement when he pulled American forces out of Afghanistan,” she said.
“Yet the Taliban is more repressive and brutal than ever, banning women’s voices and faces.”
Former president Donald Trump began a withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2020, with the American government and the Taliban signing the United States–Taliban deal, a peace agreement that saw the US dramatically reduce its air attacks.
The Biden administration then completed a full withdrawal of all American forces from Afghanistan and the Taliban had taken back control by August 2021, ousting the government and declaring sharia law.
At the time the militant government claimed it had moved passed its former oppressive ways, but quickly reintroduced its religious police, barred girls from school, ordered men to grow beards and women to wear the hijab.
The High Representative on behalf of the EU said the latest decree “effectively deprives Afghan women of their fundamental right to freedom of expression”.
“This latest decision is another serious blow undermining the rights of Afghan women and girls, which we cannot tolerate,” the EU statement reads.
“We urge the Taliban to put an end to these systematic and systemic abuses against Afghan women and girls, which may amount to gender persecution, which is a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, to which Afghanistan is a State Party.”
The hypocrisy of extreme pro-Palestine movements has previously been scrutinised– when feminist movements that fight for victims of sexual violence to be believed remained silent about the rape, mutilation and murder of Israeli women on October 7.
Several incidents of sexual assault and rape from the Palestinian militant group’s attack on Israel on October 7 were documented by Hamas body camera footage and CCTV material uploaded to social media, as well as raw accounts from hostages since released.
IDF soldiers have also faced accusations of sexual violence since the Israel-Gaza war began last year, prompting the US State Department to call on Israel to investigate allegations of sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees.
