'I Am My Sister's Keeper'
By Tzippe Barrow
CBN News - Jerusalem Bureau
May 25, 2007
CBNNews.com - JERUSALEM, Israel - Six hundred delegates, mainly women, met in Jerusalem this week to launch a worldwide initiative aimed at promoting the status of women and alleviating their suffering, especially in Muslim-dominated societies.
Sponsored by the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus (KCAC), the summit was the fruit of a year's preparation by the steering committee of the Women's Council, composed of an Israeli and international board.
For two days, top professionals in their fields -- members of Knesset, attorneys, journalists, professors, women's rights activists, and many others -- briefed delegates on some of the most heartrending issues facing women today.
Topics included the status of Sudanese refugees, honor killings, domestic violence, trafficking of women, incest, female suicide bombers, FMG (female genital mutilation), slavery, and Islamic terrorism.
Author and Bible teacher Kay Arthur, who chairs the international board, laid a solid biblical foundation for the conference by tracing the role of women in Scriptures, showing that God intended man to be woman's protector, not her predator.
In the evening session, Jerusalem Post Deputy Managing Editor Caroline Glick gave delegates a comprehensive history and analysis of the Islamic terrorist threat to Israel and the world.
On the second day of the conference, Jane Hansen, president and CEO of Aglow International, a worldwide outreach to women in nearly 170 nations, spoke about the global plague of violence against women.
"The number of women who die in gender-related violence, deprivation and discrimination is larger than the casualty toll in all the wars of the 20th century combined," said Hansen, quoting Swiss Ambassador to the United Nations Theodor Winkler from a 2005 U.N. report.
At the end of the day, a police escort accompanied the delegates on a march to the Rose Garden in front of the Knesset for the summit's closing ceremonies.
"We came here to be in the beauty of Jerusalem," said KCAC director Josh Reinstein, "because Jerusalem is where our Judeo-Christian values lead us."
"If we were to host this conference in any of our neighboring countries, all of you would be under arrest…You can't speak about female genital mutilation in Egypt or honor killings in Jordan or domestic abuse in Lebanon," said Reinstein.
"…Israel is an island of democracy in a sea of intolerance. Israel was always meant to be a light to the nations and now you have to take that light and bring it to your community…to the people you know and mobilize them to help women across the world," he said.
Reinstein concluded by explaining why the Caucus chose to do a conference on the advancement of women, based on Judeo-Christian values.
"It's because women's role in society is the ultimate measuring stick of the freedom in that society," he said.
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