Draft:Farhana Khorshed


Farhana Khorshed is an Executive Board Member of The American Muslim & Multifaith Women's Empowerment Council (AMMWEC),[1] formerly The American Muslim Women's Empowerment Council (AMWEC). She is also the executive director of the New England Bangladeshi American Foundation.[2]

Khorshed has promoted increased dialogues between Muslims and Jews. She states: “We need to look beyond our religious beliefs,” Khorshed said. “We are all Abrahamic roots. Our faith comes from the same origin. We are human first, so [Jewish women] are our sisters as well.”[2]

She also opposed Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, stating: “I was horrified what was taking place, especially violence against women, the brutality of the rape.”[2] Khorshed, along with Soraya Deen, Raheel Raza and Zainab Khan, co-authored an op-ed in Newsweek magazine stressing the need to bring awareness to the violence committed by Hamas against women: “We as Muslim women have condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, including the brutal and systematic rape and sexual violence against dozens of women and girls in southern Israel—and we have all faced criticism and threats for doing so, even as we now all live in democratic societies in North America. Our faith demands that we speak out and ensure that there is no justification for these atrocious acts. We stand together to denounce them, and the fact that they were carried out by a movement that identifies with Islam.”[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Leadership". https://ammwec.org/leadership/
  2. ^ a b c Jewish and Muslim women unite to change Israel-Hamas war narrative. NBC 10 Boston. March 29, 2024.
  3. ^ Khorshed, Farhana; Deen, Soraya; Raza, Raheel; Khan, Zainab. "As Muslim Women, We Must Keep Talking About Hamas' Sex Crimes on Oct. 7". Newsweek. January 25, 2024.