Why Israel shouldn’t sign a seemingly harmless treaty
Led by Yair Lapid and Gideon Saar, the cabinet is considering committing Israel to sign the Istanbul Convention, which advertises itself as the first global pact that “creates a comprehensive legal framework and approach to combat violence against women.”
While the stated goal is noble, critics say Israel is fully capable of passing and enforcing laws to protect women, and warn that the pact has become a Trojan horse for antireligious forces seeking to foist anti-family values on member nations under the guise of protecting the vulnerable.
“The Istanbul Convention represents a fundamental threat to religious communities in Israel, and the implications for chareidim would be far-reaching,” said Dr. Eugene Kontorovich, who heads the international law department at Jerusalem’s Kohelet Forum.
Kontorovich contends that once Israel becomes a signatory, it will strengthen the hands of those who have filed petitions before Israel’s Supreme Court for the purposes of diluting religious practices.
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