"Leave the land so we won't rape you"

An Egyptian blogger points to comments by a female Egyptian lawyer (who apparently heads up a "human rights NGO") urging that Arab men "sexual harass", and possibly rape, Israeli women, as a form of "resistance" to Zionism. Excerpts from the interview:

Interviewer: Egyptian lawyer Nagla Al-Imam has proposed that young Arab men should sexually harass Israeli girls wherever they may be and using any possible method, as a new means in the resistance against Israel.

[...]

Interviewer: We have with us the lawyer Nagla Al-Imam from Cairo. Welcome. What is the purpose of this proposal of yours?

Nagla Al-Imam: This is a form of resistance. In my opinion, they are fair game for all Arabs, and there is nothing wrong with...

Interviewer: On what grounds?

Nagla Al-Imam: First of all, they violate our rights, and they "rape" the land. Few things are as grave as the rape of land. In my view, this is a new form of resistance.

Interviewer: As a lawyer, don't you think this might expose Arab youth to punishment for violating laws against sexual harassment?

Nagla Al-Imam: Most Arab countries... With the exception of three or four Arab countries, which I don’t think allow Israeli women to enter anyway, most Arab countries do not have sexual harassment laws. Therefore, if [Arab women] are fair game for Arab men, there is nothing wrong with Israeli women being fair game as well.

Interviewer: Does this also include rape?

Nagla Al-Imam: No. Sexual harassment... In my view, the [Israeli women] do not have any right to respond. The resistance fighters would not initiate such a thing, because their moral values are much loftier than that. However if such a thing did happen to them, the [Israeli women] have no right to make any demands, because this would put us on equal terms – leave the land so we won't rape you. These two things are equal.

[...]

I don't want young Arab men to be interrogated. I want these Zionist girls with Israeli citizenship to be expelled from our Arab countries. This is a form of resistance, and a way of rejecting their presence.

Yikes. Even if this was "limited" to sexual harassment, it'd be repulsive, and despite a mild backtrack by Ms. Al-Imam, it is clear that she thinks rape of Israeli women should be tolerated as legitimate "resistance".

I've been trying to figure out who Ms. Al-Imam is. Obviously, most of the google hits are in reference to this story. However, I did come across this story in which Ms. Al-Imam appears, in reference to Egypt's first successful prosecution for sexual assault. Ms. Al-Imam is cited as an attorney who initially supported the victim, but later turned on her:

Nagla Al Imam, a lawyer who initially voiced support for Rushdi, has also taken to the airwaves, claiming the young woman lied about her charges and argued that she is an Israeli and should be deported for "unsettling Egyptian sentiments".

Women's groups in Egypt have been scrambling in response to this "allegation", affirming that the victim is not Israeli while still stating that "Even if she were an Israeli tourist it wouldn't matter. She still got assaulted."

In any event, it's pretty clear that Ms. Al-Imam is a rather repellent individual, who is perfectly willing to let rampant anti-Semitism manifest itself in the form of violent misogyny. The fact that she styles herself a human rights activist makes matters only worse.

Via AAB