ActionAid Says Pregnant Women in Gaza are Faced with Impossible Choice
New
Age Islam News Bureau
15
October 2023
•
ActionAid Says Pregnant Women in Gaza are Faced with Impossible Choice
•
‘It's Slaughtering People For Fun’: NYC Mom, Hannie Ricardo, Of Woman Killed In
Israel Questions Americans Supporting Hamas' Cause
•
'They Bombed Everything': Palestinian Woman Describes Her Life Under Siege In
Gaza
•
Maram Al-Butairi, The Women That Built Eastern Flames Into A Saudi Women’s
Premier League Club
•
Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran Indicates Many Firsts For Indian Women’s Football
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/actionaid-pregnant-gaza/d/130905
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ActionAid
Says Pregnant Women in Gaza are Faced with Impossible Choice
Photo: Palestine Chronicle
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October
15, 2023
ActionAid
has expressed its profound concerns over pregnant Palestinian women in the Gaza
Strip, “as they make the impossible choice of fleeing with no guarantee of
safety or remaining at risk of almost certain death”.
The
international non-governmental organization ActionAid has expressed its
profound concerns over pregnant Palestinian women in the Gaza Strip, facing a
risk of forcible displacement under the threat of Israeli bombardment, the
official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
“As
thousands of Gazans flee in fear of their lives – abandoning their homes and
communities, it is deeply concerning to witness the threats to target hospitals
and critical infrastructure, an egregious violation of international law and a blatant
disregard for human lives.”
“We
are particularly concerned about the devastating impact on the 50,000 pregnant
women in Gaza right now and newborn babies, who are all left without essential
medical care and the safety they deserve as they make the impossible choice of
fleeing with no guarantee of safety or remaining at risk of almost certain
death,” Jafari added.
ActionAid
called for the immediate reversal of the evacuation order and the guarantee of
the full protection and safety of civilians.
2,329
Palestinians, mostly children and women, have been killed since the beginning
of Israel’s military aggression on besieged Gaza, on October 7. 9,042 more
Palestinians have been wounded.
Source:
Palestine Chronicle
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‘It's
Slaughtering People For Fun’: NYC Mom, Hannie Ricardo, Of Woman Killed In
Israel Questions Americans Supporting Hamas' Cause
Oriya Ricardo was one of the 260 people who were
killed by Hamas terrorists at an Israel music festival
(@oriya.ricardo/Instagram)
------
By
Sumanti Sen
Oct
15, 2023
“Freedom
of hate — is that good? Just give me one good reason for freedom of hate,”
Hannie Ricardo questioned
The
mother of a woman who was killed by Hamas has urged Americans not to back the
terrorist organisations' cause. Upper East Side’s Hannie Ricardo’s daughter
Oriya Ricardo was one of the 260 people who were killed by Hamas terrorists at
an Israel music festival.
The
party descended into chaos when the terrorists attacked the site, killing at
least 260 people and abducting many more. Thousands of people attended the
party, near Kibbutz Re'im close to Gaza. Palestinian gunmen attacked the site
and shot people down as they tried to escape.
“You
have terrorists and a lot of people in America support them. In the name of
freedom of speech, you let them talk and support these terrorists,” Hannie, 58,
told New York Post. “I know you have this amendment of freedom of speech, but
you also support that freedom of hate. What do you do with that? Freedom of
hate — is that good? Just give me one good reason for freedom of hate.”
The
New York City mom-of-three continued, “I am not holding up. I am collapsing. My
girl tried to run away and cried, but they caught up to her after 100 meters
from the car and shot her. They called me and they let me know that my daughter
is missing and I took the first flight back to Israel.”
Earlier
this week, Hannie returned to Tel Aviv. This is where his two older daughters
had been staying before the brutal attack was launched.
“She
was the most beautiful girl on this planet,” Hannie said. “I’m still waiting
for her to come through the door [or give] me a phone call saying, ‘Oh it was a
mistake, that’s not your daughter’ and I will see her with a boyfriend, getting
married. I’ll see my grandkids. I still hope, but, you know.”
“It’s
not going to happen so it breaks my heart, whatever is left of it. It’s broken,
shredded to pieces,” she added.
Calling
for the world to condemn Hamas’ actions, she said, “They are hateful people and
they live in order to kill. This is not war. In wars, as stupid as they are,
they have armies fighting against armies. This was a Nazi organized operation.
This sort of cruelty you saw doing the Holocaust. … Is this a war? It’s not a
war. It’s slaughtering people for fun.”
Source:
Hindustan Times
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'They
bombed everything': Palestinian woman describes her life under siege in Gaza
By
Camilla Alcini
October
14, 2023
LONDON
-- TalaImadHerzallah says she remembers every bombardment she has witnessed in
her 21-year-old life in Gaza.
The
Israeli government has cut off water, food, medical aid and electricity to the
Gaza Strip in response to a surprise attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The
Israel Air Force said it has dropped about 6,000 bombs throughout the region.
At least 2,215 people in Gaza have been killed in the strikes.
Humanitarian
conditions inside Gaza have been deteriorating by the hour for the past six
days, with a collapsing health system and an increasing shortage of basic needs
in one of the most densely populated areas in the world.
"No
electrical switch will be turned on, no water hydrant will be opened and no
fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home,"
Israeli Energy Minister Katz said on Thursday.
Herzallah
and her parents are surviving with the bread her father was able to get at the
local bakery and two gallons of reserves of water they saved before Wednesday,
when it stopped coming through the tap of their kitchen.
They
are sleeping on mattresses in the corridor, "the most sheltered place in
the house," as Herzallah described it. "The three of us, we just sit
and we keep staying there, covering our ears so that we wouldn't hear the sound
of bombing," she said.
Electricity
is only available for one hour a day, according to Herzallah, and her family is
one of just a few that can still access the internet. And when it comes, it’s
barely enough to charge phones to keep in touch with friends and family
members.
After
sunset, it is complete darkness in Tel Elhawa and in the rest of 140.9 square
miles of the Gaza Strip. "Dark again. Night again. Terror again,"
Herzallah said as she watched the sun set from her window.
"When
the night comes, when we cannot see each other, that’s when we fear," she
said. "We just start praying that we will all see one another in the
morning."
Herzallah’s
mother, a school teacher, instructed her daughter to prepare emergency bags at
the beginning of the siege last weekend. They are lined directly next to the
door.
Before
the siege, she was a senior student at the Islamic University of Gaza. The
university was bombed during the second day of Israeli strikes and is now
reduced to a pile of rubble.
Herzallah
said her dreams were destroyed like her university, where she was studying
English literature and translation. But she still has hopes for her education
and work.
"There
was a bomb, 160 yards from my house," she said. "My neighbor was
right there, getting food from the market. There were no warnings and he died
on the spot." The neighbor was 25 years old, she said.
A
few hours later, Herzallah's father went to the small funeral that he and other
neighbors organized in the street in front of Herzallah's family house.
"I
couldn’t go, I was too scared. But my father went. He said he saw the father of
the victim staring at the body and saying nothing. He was completely
shocked," she said.
At
least 423,000 people are now displaced in the Gaza Strip alone, according to
United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a situation already unmanageable for
humanitarian agencies.
"Even
if we had a chance with the corridor, we wouldn’t leave our land," she
said. "I haven’t even talked about it with my parents because it’s not up
for discussion."
On
Friday morning, she woke up to thousands of leaflets raining down from the
Israeli military urging residents in the north of Gaza to evacuate within 24
hours. "They are forcing us to leave our area and pushing us to go to
Egypt step by step. History is repeating itself. It’s like 1948 again,"
she wrote in a text message to ABC News.
"It’s
not about Hamas and it’s not about these days but about decades of
struggle," she said of Gaza, where every second citizen lives below the
poverty line, according to a World Bank report.
"For
Palestine, I still dream of freedom, employment, travel, electricity, water,
fuel and every necessity for a decent life. We don’t ask to solve all the
problems, but to give us basic rights," she said.
Herzallah
told ABC News on Saturday that she followed the evacuation instructions south
but was nearly bombed en route so has now gone back home.
"Please,
please try to let everyone know how much we are suffering, how we are dying.
Please let everyone know. We are dying. We have to move. The world has to move.
We are dying, guys," Herzallah said in a voice note.
Herzallah
described the chaos and confusion from Gazans trying to evacuate amid the
bombings. Without a car, she says her family is at the mercy of others but cars
won't stop to take them.
She
added in a video statement, "I don't know if we'll stay alive or not,
there's no cars. And if there's a car, it's for the people who are forced to
migrating and moving, moving from one place to another, literally letting us
leave all our places, all our areas. We are asking the car to stop and take us.
But no one agrees because it's really dangerous."
Source:
Abcnews.Go.Com
-----
Maram
Al-Butairi, The Women That Built Eastern Flames Into A Saudi Women’s Premier
League Club
Paul
Williams
October
14, 2023
Have
you heard the one about the Saudi Arabian businesswoman and US Mexican expat
who built a women’s football club in Saudi Arabia?
Maram
Al-Butairi, a successful Saudi businesswoman, and Karina Chapa, a long-time
expat from Houston, are officially the president and vice-president,
respectively, of ShulatAlsharqia FC, or Eastern Flames, the Dammam-based club
in the eight-team Saudi Women’s Premier League.
Name
a role within the club and you can bet they have done it; from filling the
water bottles and preparing the kits, to holding babies and feeding the
players. All the while they were also coaching, organizing tournaments and
building the club and its strategy. All in a day’s work for this pioneering
duo.
Single-handedly,
they have transformed the club from its origins as recreational pursuit to the
professional club it is today; with youth and futsal teams, and a fully
professional structure.
“We’re
not an amateur club anymore,” said licensed coach Al-Butairi, who has a
bachelor’s degree in finance and recently completed her MBA in Spain, which
included an internship with the Spanish football federation.
“We
were able to transform a team that met with random girls playing, to a team
that competes internationally. Because back then we didn’t have anything
locally, and slowly but surely (we’ve) become the leading team in the Eastern
Province.
Al-Butairi
and Chapa may come from worlds apart, but to witness the strength of their bond
is to witness the power of football to bring people together. Sisterhood does
not feel strong enough. Family is how they describe it.
“Everyone
knows her in my family,” Al-Butairi said of Chapa. “And I think I know most of
her family. My kids call her auntie and I think she’s more than an auntie.
“You
were there when I met my husband,” Chapa added with a laugh. “It really is
something a little bit more powerful than sisterhood.
“As
an expat, you find all different kinds of expats. I’m the type that I want to
know and connect (with) where I am. From learning the language, being part of
families … as (Maram) said, her family has adopted me years ago, right at the
very beginning.”
It
is a relationship that was formed from the moment they both joined Eastern
Flames which, as fate would have it, was on exactly the same day way back in
September 2013.
“I
had to find opportunities to (connect) and that was the link through Flames.
When we started off in 2013, Maram and I connected (straight away).”
Back
then, the landscape for women’s football in Saudi Arabia looked vastly
different to what it does 10 years on with a professional league consisting of
eight teams — soon to grow to 10 — and a rapidly developing second tier with as
many as 30 clubs.
“I’m
very happy that the vision came and allowed, or I wouldn’t say allowed because
it wasn’t prohibited, it was just not organized. You know, it was simply not
organized.
“As
soon as the the (Saudi Arabian) Football Federation opened up (applications),
immediately they had a league and first division with 30 clubs. No one can make
that up. It just means that it was there, it just was not organized. That’s
it.”
“Karina
calls me the dreamer, and I always dream big, and it’s always scary. But if it
doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough. That’s what I always say to myself.”
The
dreams she and Chapa had for Eastern Flames, and women’s football in Saudi
Arabia more broadly, are playing out in front of their very eyes.
“Even
though friends or family would say, ‘what are you all doing? Why are you working
this hard?’ That vision was always there, and in 2015 Saudi people thought we
were crazy. ‘What do you mean, pro? Come on, like, let it go’.”
But
they could not let it go. How could they? They had poured their hearts and soul
into creating something special. This is a club for women, by women, as
Al-Butairi said.
“Being
females and understanding what females need, and being a mom, I have a
14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son, I understand what being a mom means.
“I
say if you have a big family, that’s what you get when you join (Shulat). You
come with your whole self, your family, if you have a husband, you have kids,
whatever you have, you come and we take you, all of you, and we become part of
that.
With
the second season of the Saudi Women’s Premier League beginning this weekend,
Shulat are looking to build on last season when they finished above only
relegated Sama, with just two wins from 14 matches.
Spaniard
David Cabildo has been tasked with spearheading the new campaign, while there
are a host of impressive foreign signings, among them US-born Pakistan captain,
Maria Khan, experienced Nigerian goalkeeper, TochukwuOluehi, who was part of
the Super Falcons squad at the recent Women’s World Cup, former Blackburn
defender, Erica Cunningham, and Tanzanian international, EnekiaLunyamila.
First
up for Shulat is a huge test at home against an Al-Ittihad side featuring an
exciting array of foreign talent, including English-born Ashleigh Plumptre, who
was a teammate of Oluehi with Nigeria at the Women’s World Cup, former
Liverpool defender Leighanne Robe, and Moroccan Women’s World Cup star Salma
Amani.
Whatever
the result, Al-Butairi and Chapa will be there, as they always are, wearing
multiple hats championing women’s football in Saudi Arabia. It is the only way
they know.
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2391151/saudi-football
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Dr.
Shaji Prabhakaran indicates many firsts for Indian women’s football
October
14 2023
The
AIFF Women’s Football Committee meeting, chaired by Ms. Valanka Natasha Alemao,
was held at the Football House on Friday, October 13, 2023.
Along
with the Chairperson Ms. Alemao, AIFF Secretary General Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran,
Deputy Secretary General Mr. Satyanarayana M, AIFF Treasurer Mr. Kipa Ajay
(Special Invitee), Deputy Chairperson Ms. ThongamTababi Devi, and members, Ms.
ChitraGangadharan, Ms. Ansha, Ms. Abha Jain, Ms. Shabana Rabbani, Ms.
TseringAngmo, and Ms. Sudipta Das. Another member, Ms. MadhureemaRaje
Chatrapati, attended the meeting virtually.
Welcoming
the members of the committee, Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran said: “We are determined to
improve the landscape of women’s football in India. This season, we are
planning to have 90 youth leagues involving U-13, U-15 and U-17 age groups,
which is going to be a two-fold jump compared to the last season. For the first
time, we will have a proper Women’s League, and thus, this season will create
many firsts for women’s football in India.
“We
have to involve more women in the game, and in this regard, we have to start
new initiatives specifically to increase participation at the grassroots level
and develop more women coaches in the system. Our Women’s Committee members are
putting their best efforts into starting new initiatives in women’s football.
We appreciate their commitment and hard work to improve women’s football in
India.”
The
AIFF Secretary General further said: “Our women’s National Team has put up
encouraging performances at the Asian Games against two higher-ranked sides,
which reflects that our team is making progress and our players are gaining
confidence with each passing day.”
The
Committee analysed the performances of various Women’s National Teams including
the Senior National Women’s Team, who played in the recent Asian Games. It also
deliberated upon the discussions going on with FIFA, UEFA etc. regarding
various developmental projects in women’s football and the schedule of the
National teams for the present and coming seasons.
The
Women’s Committee also held parleys on the Introduction of Women’s Festivals in
more cities, widening the Blue Cubs movement (8–12 age group), the appointment
of Women Leaders/Committee Members as Ambassadors for Blue Cubs, allocation of
part of the AIFF Fund to State Associations for Women’s Football activities,
plan to introduce futsal and beach soccer for women, scholarships to women’s
coaches for advanced coaching courses, subsidies to IWL teams and the start of
IWL 2, relaxation of eligibility criteria for coaching licences of women
coaches of Khelo India League teams and many other issues pertaining to women’s
football.
After
the meeting, the Women’s Committee chairperson, Ms. Alemao, said: “The Women’s
Committee had a very interactive and fruitful meeting at the AIFF headquarters
in Delhi, discussing various aspects of women’s football. We are extremely
grateful and thankful to our President Mr. Kalyan Chaubey, Secretary General
Dr. Shaji Prabhakaran and the entire AIFF Executive Committee for taking great
initiatives towards building a better future for women’s football in India.
“For
the first time, we are going to have U-13, U-15 and U-17 Khelo India girls
football leagues. This sets the right path to nurture young talent. We are also
going to have a longer league for IWL on a home-and-away basis and subsidies
for the teams.
“Overall,
it remained an extremely inclusive meeting where all the members deliberated
and took decisions after thorough discussion. The Women’s Committee has always
worked as one team with the AIFF and will continue to do so in the future. I
feel all members of the Women’s Committee have certain expertise and given
definite roles, they will be able to take Indian Women’s football ahead,” added
the chairperson.
Source:
Khelnow.Com
https://khelnow.com/football/2023-10-indian-football-aiff-indian-womens-football-development-meeting
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/actionaid-pregnant-gaza/d/130905