UNESCO's failed history test

UNESCO's failed history test - by Jordanna McMillan - http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/UNESCOs-failed-history-test-470364

 

The UNESCO resolution is a modern pogrom against the Jewish people's connection to its historic homeland.

 

UNESCO voted last Thursday to ignore thousands of years of Jewish history in Jerusalem, passing a resolution brazenly entitled "Occupied Palestine." The resolution reflects the general anti-Israel bias that pervades many of the UN's decisions.

 

The passing of the resolution comes at an ironic time as this week the Jewish people celebrate Succot - the Feast of Tabernacles. Succot is one of three pilgrimage festivals where the Jewish people were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem.

 

The biblical book of Zechariah prophesies: "...it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles."

 

During Succot this week members of parliament from many of the nations that voted on the UNESCO resolution - Sweden, South Africa, Brazil, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Spain and others - will come up to Jerusalem for the Israel Allies Foundation's Chairman's Conference. Annually held in Israel's capital city, its location and its international participants send a message that the world cannot ignore. When the UN and its bodies fail to recognize the Jewish connection, and by extension Christian heritage as well, to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, there is an international network of world leaders - from the US to Europe, from Latin America to Africa and down under to Australia - who refuse to "abstain" from engaging or succumb to political convenience.

 

In a preemptive measure urging opposition to the resolution before the vote, members from the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus in the US House of Representatives together with their colleagues in the Senate issued a bipartisan letter to UNESCO condemning "a resolution that would diminish the historic and verified Jewish and Christian ties to the Old City of Jerusalem in an effort to delegitimize Israel."

 

UNESCO is not just responsible for protecting these heritage sites, but for ensuring the preservation of their historical integrity as well, lest humanity's past become subjected to the current political and religious agenda of a few.

 

UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova released a statement last Thursday as well; the exact same statement was also released by outgoing UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon: "The Al Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram al-Sharif, the sacred shrine of Muslims, is also the Har HaBayit - or Temple Mount - whose Western Wall is the holiest place in Judaism, a few steps away from the Saint Sepulcher and the Mount of Olives revered by Christians."

 

Even in their criticism of the resolution, they failed to rightly identify that the Western Wall is not the holiest site in Judaism, but rather the Temple Mount itself, where Solomon's Temple once stood. It's as if the Jewish people randomly built a wall to pray at thousands of years ago and the 36-acre platform above it did not hold meaning until a mosque, centuries later, was built there.

 

The resolution does not end with Jerusalem - it goes on state how Israel refuses to remove two "Palestinian sites" - The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem - from its national heritage list.

 

The tomb of the matriarch Rachel, who is not mentioned by name in the Koran, is buried at the northern entrance of Bethlehem - the ancient city of King David. Bethlehem, the city where, despite Yasser Arafat's wildly successful propaganda to the contrary, a Jewish Jesus was born to Jewish parents.

 

Representatives of UNESCO's executive board sit back and condemn the audacity of the Jewish claim to Abraham's burial place as their heritage - the very man and his descendants that God deeded the Land of Israel to. Abraham purchased the cave that is today the "Tomb of the Patriarchs" some 3,700 years ago at full market value to bury his wife, Sarah. Hebron is not only the second holiest site in Judaism and the world's oldest Jewish community, but the Jewish people have lived in Hebron continuously throughout the Byzantine, Arab, Mameluke and Ottoman periods. It was only in 1929 that the city became temporarily "free" of Jews as a result of an Arab pogrom instigated by the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.

 

This resolution is not about heritage or preserving it, it's about replacing it.

 

It is a modern pogrom against Jewish history - a campaign of delegitimization against the Jewish people's connection to the land.

 

UNESCO's stated mission is to "build peace in the minds of men and women." Denying reality, the facts on the ground and thousands of years of history will not lead to peace.

 

It is this very attitude that currently exacerbates the Arab-Israeli conflict. If UNESCO wants, as its director-general states, to "foster this spirit of tolerance and respect for history" I suggest they begin by ensuring their judgments are based on historic fact, not deliberate denial to suit a religious agenda.

 

How can the nations and their elected representatives respond to a vote that either denies or overwhelmingly sits on the fence of history? By introducing legislation to begin the movement of their diplomatic missions and embassies to the historic capital of the Jewish people and the State of Israel - Jerusalem.

 

Moving embassies to Jerusalem will not only uphold a right afforded to every other nation in the world, but will send a message to the surrounding Arab nations that introduced this UNESCO resolution: while Jerusalem may be a city revered by three faiths, it has only ever been the capital of the Jewish people despite ample opportunity for conquerors to make it their own. Or in the words of the great statesman Winston Churchill: "You ought to let the Jews have Jerusalem; it was they who made it famous."

 

Despite UNESCO vote on Jerusalem, Israel hails small step forward - By Raoul Wootliff - http://www.timesofisrael.com/despite-unesco-vote-on-jerusalem-israel-hails-small-step-forward/

 

PA says decision reminds Israel it is an occupier, after UN cultural arm okays resolution that ignores Jewish, Christian ties to holy city

 

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday hailed the newly approved UNESCO vote on Jerusalem as a reminder to Israelis "that they are an occupying power," while Israel's envoy attempted to put a positive spin on the widely criticized decision.

 

The resolution, passed Thursday in the committee stage of the United Nations cultural body, referred to the Temple Mount and Western Wall only by their Muslim names and condemned Israel as "the occupying power" for various actions taken in both sites.

 

The resolution effectively disregards Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem holy sites, and has led Israel to cut ties with the cultural body.

 

In spite of an Israeli effort to delay a final vote, the UN cultural agency on Tuesday adopted the controversial Arab-sponsored resolution, though without the support of Mexico, which changed its "for" vote to an abstention in a surprise move.

 

The Palestinian Authority's deputy ambassador to UNESCO, Mounir Anastas, told reporters Tuesday the resolution "reminds Israel that they are the occupying power in East Jerusalem and it asks them to stop all their violations."

 

These violations include archaeological excavations around religious sites, Anastas said.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen said that although only Mexico changed its vote between Thursday and Tuesday, Israel is one step closer in its mission "to dismantle the automatic majority enjoyed by the Palestinians and Arab states."

 

The ambassador also praised Brazil for expressing reservations over the language of the resolution, even though Brasilia did not change its vote. Such reservations will make it harder to Brazil to support such motions in future, Hacohen said.

 

Mexico's changed vote means that 23 nations approved the motion on Tuesday, six voted against (including the US, UK and Germany) and 25 abstained.

 

Mexico's ambassador Andres Roemer, who walked out of last Thursday's session and considered resigning in protest at his country's initial support for the resolution, was fired from his post on Tuesday.

 

All resolutions passed at this year's General Conference were validated by the UNESCO executive board in a blanket vote.

 

Despite Israeli diplomatic missions being closed Tuesday due to the observance of the Sukkot festival around the world, the Foreign Ministry allowed the UNESCO mission in Paris to work in a last-ditch effort to try to prevent the resolution from being adopted, though a bid for a revote after Mexico's Monday night announcement of a change of heart was later withdrawn.

 

"Our [diplomatic] efforts will continue and we expect all countries to support our position on this issue," the ministry said in a statement after the resolution was adopted.

 

The resolution Thursday drew widespread Israeli anger, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the body "absurd" and others accusing UNESCO of backing anti-Semitism.

 

The director-general of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, also Friday signaled her dismay and opposition to the motion, saying that efforts to deny history and Jerusalem's complex multi-faith character harm UNESCO.

 

"The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city," Bokova said in a statement.

 

Bokova's statement came after Israel announced it was suspending its cooperation with UNESCO over the vote, with Education Minister Naftali Bennett saying the motion was a denial of history that "gives a boost to terrorism."

 

Israelis and many Jews around the world view the move as the latest example of an ingrained anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.

 

 

Outrage! UNESCO Resolution Rejects Jewish Connection to Jerusalem - By Barney Breen-Portnoy - http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=725

 

Major American Jewish groups and top Israeli politicians reacted with outrage on Thursday after the UN's cultural body approved a resolution that ignores the Jewish people's ties with Jerusalem holy sites.

 

"The theater of the absurd continues at the UN," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. "Today UNESCO adopted its second decision this year denying the Jewish people's connection to the Temple Mount, our holiest site for over three thousand years. What's next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?"

 

"Is it any wonder the UN has become a moral farce when UNESCO, the UN body tasked with preserving history, denies and distorts history? Israel will continue to fight the lies, hatred and double standards at the UN. Israel will prevail because truth will prevail."

 

24 countries voted in favor of the UNESCO Executive Board resolution and six -- the US, UK, Germany, Holland, Lithuania and Estonia -- voted against. 26 countries abstained and two countries were missing from the vote.

 

The vote on the resolution -- which was submitted by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan -- had been postponed from July. However, a previous similar resolution was approved in April.

 

Rabbi Abraham Cooper - the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles -- spoke with The Algemeiner from Jerusalem on Thursday following the resolution's approval and said, "This was a full-blown assault on Jewish history and the rights of the Jewish people. And it's something that we're going to have to do our best to combat and make sure that this false narrative isn't allowed to gain further traction around the world. I think this is one of those situations in which all Jewish groups have to join with the State of Israel in ensuring that the truth gets out."

 

"The real problem is that the language of the resolution is much worse than the one that [was postponed in July]," Cooper said. "The language of the resolution does not mention the Temple Mount once, using just the Arab connotation. The Western Wall was only mentioned in quotes, using the Arabic designation, and it threw in the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb for good measure."

 

One piece of good news, Cooper said, was that no European country voted in favor of the resolution. Cooper also noted the irony of countries like Morocco, Qatar and Sudan -- "three paragons of human rights," as he sarcastically put it -- backing the resolution.

 

Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog said in a statement, "Whoever wants to rewrite history, to distort fact, and to completely invent the fantasy that the Western Wall and Temple Mount have no connection to the Jewish people, is telling a terrible lie that only serves to increase hatred. On this matter there is no disagreement among the people of Israel, and I urge UNESCO to withdraw this bizarre resolution and to engage in protecting, not distorting, human history."

 

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said in a statement, "I was outraged to hear of UNESCO's vote today which denies thousands of years of Jewish connection to Jerusalem's Western Wall. Would UNESCO vote to deny the Christian connection to the Vatican? Or the Muslim connection to Mecca?"

 

"The UNESCO vote claims that there is no connection between the Jewish people and the Western Wall. In fact, it is the UNESCO vote that has no connection to reality."

 

Ahead of the vote, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued a statement calling the resolution a Palestinian bid to "rewrite the Judeo-Christian history of Jerusalem."

 

The resolution "purposefully distorts, denigrates and ultimately seeks to deny the millennia long historical reality of the profound Jewish connection to sites which are among the holiest in Judaism, Christianity and other faith traditions," the statement said.

 

In an interview with The Algemeiner last week, Malcolm Hoenlein -- the executive vice president of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations -- said UNESCO's disregard of the Jewish people's historic connection with Jerusalem represented a "war on Jewish history."

 

"It's an attempt to deny our past in order to deny our future," he said.

 

In a statement released on Thursday, World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder called the passage of the resolution "shameful."

 

"What happened today in Paris is anti-Semitism on steroids," he said. "It is a total travesty and an insult to the Jewish people to pretend that the holy sites in Jerusalem are only Muslim sites, and to ignore the fact that the Temple Mount was already the holiest place of Judaism well before the advent of Islam...

 

There are Hebrew names for the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, and they exist for a reason: because these are Jewish holy sites. One would expect a body like UNESCO, which was created to safeguard important sites like this, not to succumb to political pressure from governments that want to play politics with UN bodies."

 

Furthermore, Lauder noted, "next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. Since then, the State of Israel has protected that all major religions with ties to the city -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- enjoy access to their holy sites. The text adopted by UNESCO in Paris today shows that these sites cannot be entrusted to other governments."

 

American Jewish Committee CEO David Harris said in a statement, "A minority of UNESCO members, led by the Palestinian Authority and Arab countries, has sought for a long time to exploit this body to castigate Israel. The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Estonia have asserted moral leadership by firmly and unequivocally rejecting this blatant historical revisionism. 

 

Let's be clear what's at work here: This is another attempt to undermine the very foundation of the State of Israel and the documented, age-old historical Jewish connection to the land. And unlike previous such resolutions, notably, not one European nation lent its support this time."

 

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) characterized the UNESCO resolution as an "affront to the truth and a crude attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state."

 

"By approving such an untruthful and one-sided resolution, UNESCO undermines efforts to seek a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by giving support to forces in the Palestinian community that reject reconciliation," the AIPAC statement said. "Unfortunately, this resolution is also demonstrative of Palestinian efforts to circumvent direct negotiations by manipulating international institutions."

 

And in a congratulatory message to Antonio Guterres of Portugal on his election as the next UN secretary general on Thursday, Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said, "On a day when UN agencies have again chosen to slander Israel and UNESCO adopted a resolution which attempts to sever the historical connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, I expect the new secretary general to be a fair leader.  We hope that he will end the obsession with Israel, and will work together with us against the antisemitic and anti-Israel forces in the UN."