In a region exhausted by fear, our Women Champions for Change (WCC)  delegation returned from Abu Dhabi with a different report: the dangers are real, but so are the partners, the possibilities, and the women determined to keep walking toward hope.

Last week’s parashah reading, Sh’lach, tells the story of twelve leaders sent by Moshe to scout the land. They return with a mixed report: the land is fruitful, but the cities are fortified and the people are powerful. Ten scouts say: we cannot do this. Only Yehoshua and Calev see the same danger and say: it will be difficult, but we can.

The men spend the night crying, asking why God brought them out of Egypt only to be killed by their enemies. But the women did not cry in despair. They did not ask to go back. They remained determined to keep walking toward the promised land.

This week, as our Women Champions for Change (WCC) delegation returned from Abu Dhabi, I could not stop thinking about those women of the desert.

The WCC delegation from Israel, the UAE, Lebanon, Iran and Bahrain participated in the 3rd International Dialogue of Civilizations and Tolerance Conference in Abu Dhabi, held under the theme “The Impact of New Media and AI on Family and Community.” The conference sponsored by the Emiratis Scholar Center for Research and Studies and the Abrahamic Family House brought together more than 4,500 participants, with more than 100 speakers and representation from over 120 countries — a rare global platform for discussing how technology, media, identity, family, faith, and community are reshaping our world.

For WCC, this was not just another conference. It was an opportunity to show that women’s........

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