Speakers At Gaza Conference On 'Global Plots To Destroy The Muslim Family': The UN CEDAW Agreement Is Evil, Seeks To Destroy Arab, Muslim Society; Giving Women Equal Rights And Duties As Men Is Illogical And Against Islamic Law

On August 30, 2023, Palestine Today TV (Palestinian Islamic Jihad) aired the Gaza Conference on "Global Plots to Destroy the Muslim Family", at which speakers criticized the UN's Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) agreement. Sheikh Hassan Ali Al-Joujo, the President of the Supreme Council of Shar'ia Judiciary, said that the agreement hurts the Personal Status Law because it calls for "total equality between men and women." He said that it is "illogical" for women to have the same rights and duties as men, particularly when it comes to marrying multiple partners, receiving inheritances, the right to initiate divorces, and other fields covered by Islamic law. Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr said that the CEDAW agreement is an "evil act" that seeks to destroy Arab and Muslim societies under the guise of slogans such as women's liberation, social freedom, and "other tools of destruction." For more about Palestinian condemnation of the CEDAW, see MEMRI TV Clips Nos. 9253, 9190, 7631, and 2122.

Sheikh Hassan Ali Al-Joujo: "The infamous [CEDAW] agreement harms the Personal Status Law that is applied in the shari'a courts in our country because in its second article, the agreement explicitly calls for complete equality between men and women in matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, financial support, guardianship, and so on.

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"The call for total equality between men and women – to the point of total symmetry – constitutes a violation of natural human disposition. It is illogical for women to have the same rights and duties [as men] in matters concerning personal status. Should women be allowed to marry four men, like men are allowed to marry four women? Are women allowed to grant themselves a divorce whenever and wherever they want? Are women supposed to have a share of the inheritance that is equal to that of men?"

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Hamas MP Ahmad Bahr: "We view CEDAW as an evil act, and as an international effort to destroy Arab and Muslim societies and the structure of the family within them, under shiny slogans about equality between men and women, the liberation of women, reclaiming women's rights, spreading social freedom, and other tools of destruction."