Women in Black

Women in Black links autonomous local groups through a recognizable form of public protest rather than a centralized organizational structure.[4] Black clothing, public vigils, and a broad affinity of goals connect participants whose activities address peace, violence, and militarism.[1][2] Although silence is a defining feature of the network’s public identity, the early Israeli vigils were not always entirely silent.[5]

In Israel, the movement developed as a women’s protest against Israeli policy in Judea and Samaria, with vigils calling for an end to what participants described as the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.[1][2] Some groups brought together Israeli and Palestinian women, while the international network eventually included groups whose principal concerns were violence and militarism in their own societies.[1][2] The Israeli movement also worked with feminist and nonfeminist peace organizations and sought participation from women with different political beliefs and organizational affiliations.[3]

The first Jerusalem vigil took place in January 1988, shortly after the beginning of the First Intifada.[6] The initiative grew out of Dai Lakibush, or End the Occupation, when women associated with that group decided to demonstrate independently with signs calling for an end to the occupation.[6] Hava Keller was among the left-wing activists who founded Women in Black to protest actions by the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police against Palestinian protesters during the intifada.[7]

Judy Blanc recalled an organizing meeting on the first night of the 1987 intifada, when left-wing women and men discussed how to dramatize their opposition to the occupation.[5] In her account, an initial vigil outside Jerusalem’s Cinematec had seven participants, including two men; the following week, the demonstration moved to Zion Square and became women-only and more organized.[5] Participants drew inspiration from Argentina’s Madres of the Plaza de Mayo and South Africa’s Black Sash movement.[5]

The Israeli movement was distinct from an earlier Jewish Women in Black movement organized in the 1970s against the oppression of Soviet Jews, which had taken inspiration from South African women protesting apartheid in black sashes.[3] An account of Israeli protest history also connects the Israeli movement’s methods to a South American women’s protest organization.[8]

The vigils spread from Jerusalem to Haifa, Tel Aviv, and other Israeli cities and towns.[6] Within months, more than 40 groups had formed across Israel, including mixed groups of Jewish and Palestinian women.[4] By the end of the first year, a national conference attracted more than 500 women.[6] A photograph catalogued in the Dan Hadani Archive under 1990 shows Women in Black demonstrating in front of the Prime Minister’s Office.[9]

American-born Israelis were a significant part of the movement’s early constituency.[10] In his analysis of American immigrants and Israeli political activism, Avi Kay quotes Jerusalem Municipal Council member Anat Hoffman’s estimate that they constituted between one-quarter and one-third of active participants.[10] Kay also quotes founding member Judy Blanc describing a motivating principle as “the liberal feeling about racism held by people who were raised in the United States,” and characterizes the movement as an outspoken advocate of Arab rights.[10]

Participation changed during the 1990s: women left following the Gulf War in 1991 and the Oslo Accords in 1993, while some participants subsequently became involved in Machsom Watch and the Coalition of Women for Peace.[6] Kay describes a regular vigil lasting more than 300 weeks before stopping after the announcement of the Oslo Accords, followed by a shift toward greater contact and cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian women.[10] Friday demonstrations in Jerusalem are also documented in later accounts, including one published in 2007.[11]

Early Israeli vigils generally took place on Fridays from 1 to 2 p.m. at prominent public locations, including major crossroads.[5] Participants wore black and conveyed their message through placards; a common design featured a raised black hand bearing the words “End the Occupation.”[5] Other signs carried the slogan “Stop the occupation.”[4] The black clothing represented mourning, including mourning for all victims of the conflict.[3][12]

Jerusalem’s Kikar Tzarfat, or France Square, became a particularly visible location for the movement.[1] Commonly called Paris Square, it is a major junction near the Prime Minister’s residence on Balfour Street; its central position and proximity to the residence made it a focus for demonstrations.[13] The movement’s association with the location produced another nickname, “Women in Black Square.”[13] In 2007, demonstrators were reported to be gathering every Friday opposite the Prime Minister’s residence near the square.[11]

Attendance varied substantially over time.[6] An undated account gives a figure of 60–70 women at the Jerusalem Friday demonstrations and also records demonstrations elsewhere in Israel.[1] A 2008 retrospective describes more than 30 Israeli vigils at one stage and more than 100 weekly participants in Jerusalem at its strongest; activists interviewed for that article estimated that about 30 women were then attending regularly.[6]

The Israeli movement operated informally rather than as a formally registered association, with no chairperson; Gila Svirsky served as an informal leader.[1] Internationally, individual vigils remained autonomous, and the network avoided a central governing structure.[5] Groups used signs and leaflets as well as black clothing, and their work was not confined to vigils.[5] Israeli participants sought to retain a spontaneous character while drawing women from different political affiliations and organizations.[3]

The use of black also attracted attention as a form of political visual communication.[14] A student project involving photographer Assaf Evron followed the movement in Israel and interpreted black as a symbol of mourning, while also exploring its associations with femininity and elegance.[14] A 2011 account of that project identified Women in Black as part of the Coalition of Women for Peace and described its opposition to violence through nonviolent means.[14]

During the 1990s, Italian women who visited Israel in solidarity with Israeli and Palestinian women took the vigil format back to Italy.[5] Italian activists subsequently helped carry it to Belgrade as Yugoslavia descended into war.[5] Women in Black vigils were taking place in Bangalore by 1992, and international gatherings also brought together thousands of women around the United Nations women’s conference in Beijing.[5]

Groups developed in countries including the United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Japan, Italy, and Spain.[4][1] The network also extended to Turkey and the former Yugoslavia, and international conferences were held in different countries.[1] Some groups maintained a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while others applied the vigil format to local conflicts and other forms of violence and militarism.[4]

At the time of the research for From Where We Stand: War, Women’s Activism and Feminist Analysis, groups were estimated to exist in at least 30 countries and 300 locations.[5] These were estimates rather than membership totals: groups appeared and disappeared, and not all registered their existence.[5] The network had no official membership system through which a comprehensive count could be made.[4]

The movement’s activities extended beyond its original Israeli focus.[5] Demonstrations included opposition to American bombing in Iraq and to Serbian policy in the Balkans.[1] Its international peace work also brought a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.[2]

Women in Black formed part of a growth in grassroots Israeli feminist organizing characterized by consciousness-raising and independence from direct political-party control.[15] It emerged in a setting where feminist organizations had difficulty gaining access to male-dominated security and peace policymaking.[15] Its weekly Jewish and Palestinian vigils were also part of wider efforts by women’s groups to address conflict and create a different political situation.[2]

The Israeli vigils supplied a protest format that inspired groups elsewhere in the world.[3] Their combination of black clothing, public visibility, and recurring demonstrations became a shared practice adaptable to different national settings.[3][14] Kay assesses the weekly protests as an important feature of Israel’s political landscape and political consciousness.[10] Political scientist Sam Lehman-Wilzig credited the movement with raising public consciousness and adding a moral argument to debate, while judging its effect on government policy to have been limited.[6]

The movement’s history also includes activists engaged in other forms of social and humanitarian work.[16] A November 2023 Senate statement referred to a longtime Women in Black activist named Lilach, who worked in trauma relief focused mainly on children and was murdered by Hamas.[16]

The movement’s opposition to Israeli policy brought it into conflict with Women in Green and other right-wing settler movements.[3] Participants recalled gendered insults, heckling, and attempts to tear down signs at early vigils.[6] Their accounts also included a meeting disrupted after a Kach supporter learned of it and a threat against an activist’s children.[6]

Within the international network, participants disagreed over the broadening of its agenda beyond opposition to the occupation.[5] Some regarded the expansion into other conflicts and forms of violence as diluting the original focus, while others saw it as enabling a wider international movement.[5]